Bryce James didn’t play a single second of his first college basketball season at the University of Arizona.
With the way the rules are written, that was the only way for the Wildcats to preserve that year of eligibility by making Bryce a redshirt. Once it was clear he wouldn’t be a main factor in the rotation, Bryce was held out of action entirely to maximize the college basketball future for LeBron’s son.
That left it totally up in the air what would come next for Bryce, too. There was speculation that he might transfer. There was also curiosity over how much he’d play in his first season of action.
Those questions will start to get answered soon, but Arizona played three exhibition games that provide us a hint or two — along with at least one surprise.
Arizona Makes Surprise Bryce James Decision
The first thing that stands out from looking at Arizona’s three exhibition games is that Bryce started all three.
After not playing a single second in his first year on campus, Bryce didn’t seem like a candidate to start for one of the country’s perennial contenders, but that’s what the Wildcats have done so far.
You’d expect, then, that Bryce would also have made a decent impact. That’s where this gets even odder, though.
Bryce James Exhibition Stats
If we go through the exhibition games one by one, a concerning pattern emerges. Bryce starts but then plays by far the fewest minutes of the Wildcats’ starters.
Against San Francisco, Bryce got 14 minutes and shot 1-of-3 from the floor, all from 3-point range. He had one steal and one turnover.
Against San Diego State, Bryce got just 10 minutes and was 0-for-1 from the floor with no other stats.
And against Eastern Washington, Bryce played 15 minutes, shot 1-of-3 from the floor — again all 3-point attempts — and nabbed one steal.
Somehow he never grabbed a rebound across 39 minutes in the three exhibition games even though he was a starting forward for Arizona in three games they won against lesser opposition.
It makes you wonder if Arizona and the James family decided that it was OK to redshirt Bryce last year if he got to start this year.
But going back to his time in high school, Bryce has never seemed to have quite the same ceiling as even his brother Bronny. Bryce is a little bigger, but he lacks the skillset, hand-eye coordination and instincts to really impact games.
It’ll be fascinating to see if he remains a starter during the regular season for Arizona, because nothing he did in the exhibition games on the floor would warrant that.
Arizona Wildcats’ Bryce James Starting Surprise Isn’t Paying Off