As LeBron, Heat continue to pile up wins, book looks back at stinging high school loss

As March Madness heats up, MaxPreps presents an excerpt from "The Chosen Ones: The Team That Beat LeBron," which tells the unheralded story of the 2002 Roger Bacon (Cincinnati) basketball team that beat LeBron James and St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron) in the Ohio Division II state final. Roger Bacon was the only Ohio team to ever beat LeBron, who finished 81-1 against in-state competition. Here, author Tony Meale describes Roger Bacon's reaction to LeBron's Sports Illustrated cover debut in February 2002, which came less than two months after the Spartans lost a closely contested regular-season game to St. Vincent-St. Mary. The book, billed as "Hoosiers meets Remember the Titans," is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

If any person – sports diehard or otherwise – in this vast land didn't know who LeBron James was already, then on February 18, 2002, there was a good chance he or she found out. Because on that day, perhaps the greatest prep basketball player in history appeared on the cover of perhaps the most reputable sports publication in the world – Sports Illustrated.

There was LeBron. The 17-year-old prodigy palmed in his right hand a basketball, a glowing orb faintly illuminating the gold of his Irish jersey. His eyes widened; his lips puckered. He possessed a now-you-see-it, now-you-don't expression, one conjured by only the most mesmerizing of magicians. His left arm reached out to touch you, his hand frozen in shadows. Across his body read the words, "The Chosen One." The subtitle? "High school junior LeBron James would be an NBA lottery pick right now."

If the cover seemed over the top, the story explained why it wasn't. SI writer Grant Wahl chronicled the quaint yet extraordinary spectacle of LeBron engaging in small talk with Michael Jordan in a tunnel at Cleveland's Gund Arena, which later became Quicken Loans Arena. It was that surreal, singular scene when soon-to-be past collided with on-the-rise future – only the future was now. The on-court laurels came fast and furious. Comparisons were being made between LeBron and the greatest of greats, between LeBron and the most titanic of titans. People all across the country – from the Indiana farm boy to the New York street baller in Rucker Park – read fervently of the boy wonder. This was huge. This was beyond huge. This was Beatlemania multiplied by Jesus Shuttlesworth.

"I won't lie; my first thought was, ‘That is pretty darn cool,'" (Roger Bacon senior shooting guard) Josh Hausfeld said of the cover. "Here's a guy, basically my age, and he's on the cover of Sports Illustrated. You know that's a big deal because they don't put just anybody on (there). I knew at that point that (LeBron's) fame and the admiration people had for him was on a whole other level. But in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but think, ‘This is gonna make our rematch even sweeter.'"

Everybody was talking about The Chosen One. Michael, Kobe, Shaq – everyone. No prep basketball player had ever gotten this much attention, especially not before his senior year. The Irish were seemingly living the lives of NBA All-Stars. Wherever they were became the place to be. Whoever they were with became the person to see. Their home games had been moved to the University of Akron to accommodate their ever-increasing fan base. Game tickets were going for hundreds of dollars. People flooded hotel lobbies. Girls tried sneaking up to the players' rooms. Hundreds of people begged for autographs before games, after games. They all wanted to witness greatness, to touch it and be a part of it. David Letterman was calling St. Vincent-St. Mary for interviews. Everybody wanted a piece.

And the Irish, understandably, ate it up. These were high school kids thrust into the national spotlight. People knew who they were. The players watched their game highlights on team bus rides, almost marveling at what they could do and at just how good they were. After a dunk or pretty play, LeBron would sometimes shimmy his shoulders. He'd flex. There was attitude behind it.

It was irresistible.

Even if the Spartans wanted to get away from the cover, they couldn't. Fellow students taped it on a couple of the players' lockers as a joke. Local media asked the Spartans what they thought of the cover and of LeBron and what a potential rematch would mean. For the last two months, Roger Bacon had operated with the quiet conviction that it belonged on the same court with LeBron and SVSM. When the SI cover hit newsstands, when the players got their copy in the mail or saw it plastered to their lockers, it would have been easy for them to lose the psychological confidence – not edge, but confidence – they had in potentially facing SVSM again. Suddenly, everything seemed bigger. The balls bounced a little crisper. The lights shined a little brighter. If Roger Bacon were, in fact, to play LeBron again, the entire nation, the entire basketball world, would be watching. That's when the Spartans realized this wasn't just Ohio high school basketball anymore.

This was history.

It's one thing to face a highly touted teenager who many feel has a bright future ahead of him. It's another to see him on the cover of Sports Illustrated. It's another to see him with the words "The Chosen One" attached to his name – words that imply this boy wonder is in some way majestic, in some way destined, in some way appointed by a higher roundball power to fulfill a prophesy spurred by the basketball gods.

Roger Bacon wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Maybe he's gotten a lot better in the last two months. Maybe we caught him on an off night. Maybe he wasn't trying his hardest. Maybe we were lucky the game was that close. Truly, what is this kid capable of?

It would have been easy for the Spartans to think that. Some of that. All of that. But those thoughts never crossed their minds. The Spartans knew who LeBron was. They knew who he would become. But they wouldn't let him – or the hype surrounding him – affect their goals. The cover made them want LeBron that much more. If he was going to be dethroned, they wanted to be the ones who did it. They might not make Sports Illustrated, but they didn't care. They remained undeterred.

"Outside our locker room, there were probably a lot of doubts," Josh said. "But inside our locker room, we knew what we were capable of."

(Roger Bacon junior point guard) Dave Johnson and his parents hosted several team dinners that year. Players and parents would convene to talk, eat and grow closer together. After dinner, the players would hang out in Dave's basement – playing pool, playing darts. Taped to the front of that dart board was a cover from Sports Illustrated, a cover dated February 18, 2002, a cover adorned by the greatest prep basketball player the world had ever seen.

The Spartans took turns casually chucking darts at The Chosen One – not in anger, annoyance or animosity, but in playful confidence, knowing that soon, very soon, in a little over a month, the rematch of all rematches would be theirs.

Tony Meale, author of the book 'The Chosen Ones: The Team That Beat LeBron,' is a freelance writer and MaxPreps.com contributor. He may be reached at tony.meale@gmail.com.