Bernard James didn’t play basketball at Savannah’s Windsor Forest High before dropping out of school.
He earned his GED and joined the Air Force, where he grew five inches and began playing the sport while serving three tours in the Middle East.
After six years and soaring to 6-foot-10, James left the Air Force, enrolled at Tallahassee Community College and then at Florida State, where he has become a driving force to the Seminoles’ rise to prominence.
James turned 27 on Feb. 7, just four days before outplaying Miami big man Reggie Johnson and tying his career high with 18 points to help the Seminoles (17-7, 8-2 ACC) defeat the Hurricanes.
“He’s a man out there. He strong, and he’s very much emotionally in control,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said afterward. “He doesn’t seem to get flustered by anything.”
James is FSU’s second leading scorer at 10.6 points. He leads the team in rebounds (8.4) and blocks (52) and the ACC in maturity.
“What he brings is the fact that he’s a man,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He’s 27 years old. There’s nobody in our league who brings more maturity to the court than he does. Physical. Mental. Emotional. He’s a tremendous shot blocker and offensive rebounder. He’s a very unselfish player. Everybody in our league would want him on their team.”
Hot shot
Of Duke’s three Plumlee brothers, Mason, a junior, generally does most of the damage. He has started every game and averaged 11.6 points and 9.9 rebounds.
But Miles, a senior who has started seven games, had 22 rebounds in Duke’s victory over Maryland on Saturday, the most in the ACC since 2008 and the most for a Duke player since Krzyzewski was hired in 1980.
In fact, both Mason and Miles had double-doubles in that game for the first time in their three seasons together.
Mason had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Miles scored 13 to go with his boards.
Marshall Plumlee, a freshman, hasn’t played this season.
“The Plumlee brothers were dominant,” Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. “Their big guys kicked our big guys’ tails all day.”
Have not
Maryland’s Terrell Stoglin is the ACC’s leading scorer at 21.6 points and let his Twitter followers know his unhappiness with playing 30 minutes — only 13 in the second half — in the loss to Duke.
The Baltimore Sun reported Stoglin tweeted: “Loved sittin that bench today,” after the game, but it was removed later Saturday.
Stoglin sent another tweet: “Never tweet after a loss. not a bad dude just frustrated. Love terpnation! My fault,” the Sun reported.
He scored 13 points against Duke, and the Terrapins have lost six of their past eight games.
On a roll
- Matt Humphrey, who transferred from Oregon, has scored at least 13 points in five consecutive games and is the only Boston College player who has averaged double figures, at 10.4 points per game.
- Virginia Tech's Dorian Finney-Smith averaged 11.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in the Hokies' past three games and made the game-winner at the buzzer Sunday against Boston College.
- Kenny Kadji has reached double figures in 10 consecutive games and 14 of Miami's past 15 games. He led the Hurricanes with 14 points in the loss to FSU.
Around the conference
North Carolina’s John Henson leads the ACC in rebounds (10.3) and blocks (3.1). … Clemson won at Wake Forest on Saturday for the first time since 1989-90, snapping an 18-game losing streak at Joel Coliseum. ... North Carolina coach Roy Williams tied John Wooden for 23rd in career coaching victories at 664 when North Carolina defeated Virginia on Saturday. ... FSU has won three games in a row at N.C. State, where the Seminoles play Saturday. They have never won four consecutive games at any ACC facility.
Must-see TV
- N.C. State at Duke, 9 p.m. Thursday (WATL)
The Wolfpack (18-7, 7-3) have won three in a row, but it might not matter against fifth-ranked Duke (21-4, 8-2), which appears to be gearing up for tournament time with consecutive victories against North Carolina and Maryland.
Quotable
“As a former member of the media, one thing I do know, is Joey Brackets, who I love, his lists will change at least a hundred times between now and Selection Sunday. So all those things are fun, and there’s a lot of chatter about who is in, who is out, and the way that you get into the tournament is to win games. You have to earn your way in.” — N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried on the Wolfpack being listed as one of the last teams in the NCAA tournament by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi
By the numbers
10 Miami players who have scored in double figures at least once this season.
66 Consecutive free throws for N.C. State's Scott Wood, whose streak ended last week as the fourth-best mark in NCAA history.
About the Author
