LeBron James, an NBA superstar who's made himself available as tool for Ohio State football recruiting and whose brand sponsors Ohio State basketball, will not be cheering for the Buckeyes when they play the Akron Zips at 7:00 on Tuesday night in the opening round of the 2016 N.I.T. tournament.
As predicted on Monday by Akron coach Keith Dambrot, James will be pulling for his former high school coach and hometown Akron Zips.
From cleveland.com, who caught up with the Cavs forward after Cleveland's Monday night loss to the Utah Jazz:
"Obviously I'm torn," James said late Monday night, after the Cavs lost to Utah, 94-85. "You know, being a huge supporter of Ohio State, but I'm also a big supporter of my high school coach in Keith Dambrot.
"He (Dambrot) helped shaped me into who I am today as a basketball player, and it's where I'm from, so I'm going with the Zips for sure."
Credit to LeBron for not giving a mealy-mouthed answer. There is, however, no word yet on when Thad Matta will hold the pregame pyre for all of Ohio State's LeBron shoes.
As of this writing, the Golden State Warriors are favorites (-140) to win the 2016 NBA title.
