West Is Satisfied to Be Standing in the Shadows

David West would love to be heard and not seen.

If he had to make a living away from the basketball court, one of the country’s most renowned college players would pick an anonymous profession -- studio announcer.

“You know how when you watch the movies there’s the preview guy? I want to do that,” said West, who has the smooth voice to pull it off. “You can’t see him. You don’t know what he looks like, but you hear his voice. I’d love to be the guy in the background doing the voice.”

As much as he wishes he could, Xavier’s 6-foot-8 center can’t stay in the background anymore.

Playing at a small Jesuit school that values degrees over dunks, West has become a star while resisting stardom. NBA scouts watch every game, national publications list his name and giddy fans approach for autographs wherever he goes.

It’s a taste of what players on the nation’s top-ranked teams deal with regularly. West would rather sit and have a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream in his apartment than go out on the town and savor celebrity.

“I don’t think I could deal with what Kansas or Duke goes through,” West said, his easy smile replaced by a frown. “That’s not me. I just don’t like to be in the spotlight. I’d rather be in the shadows. I want to be successful, but I’d rather just do what I do quietly.”

He’s been able to do that most of his life. Attention took its time finding him.

There was nothing to stamp West as a future star when he was growing up in a middle-class neighborhood of Teaneck, N.J. In addition to sports, he was first-chair tuba in the school band and played the drums at the church his family attended.

West has two brothers, one sister and few friends who remain close. Much of his boyhood was spent on the blacktop in the family’s backyard, where his father put up a homemade backboard anchored to a tree.

Amos West admired the Lakers’ James Worthy for his no-frills approach, and he passed his philosophy along to his second-oldest son.

Just play, he told him. Don’t show off.

“He’s not shy. He just doesn’t glory in himself,” said Amos West, a retired postal supervisor. “He doesn’t pat himself on the back. He just plays the game. If anybody else wants to make a big deal, fine.

“When he has a game and then calls here, we ask how he did. He says he did all right. That’s all he says. We have to go on the Internet to look up his stats.”

West was small enough to play guard in grade school. That changed between his freshman and sophomore years at high school, when he grew five inches and got moved under the basket.

It took time to learn to his new position. The growth spurt left him gangly and uncoordinated. He wasn’t considered a top college prospect.

He spent a year at Hargrave Military Academy to strengthen his grades and his game, and Xavier was one of the first teams to show a strong interest. He wouldn’t forget it.

West blossomed as the season went along. Bigger schools came calling and offering scholarships.

West was loyal to Xavier, a 6,500-student school that felt right. His mother, Harriett, liked the school’s emphasis on academics -- every senior player has graduated since the 1985-86 season.

It didn’t take him long to settle in. West led the Atlantic 10 in rebounding as a freshman with 9.1 per game. He also averaged 11.7 points and started getting national attention.

He made dramatic improvement as a sophomore, scoring 17.8 points per game with 10.9 rebounds as he led Xavier to the NCAA tournament. His numbers have been comparable this season (18.3 points, 10.4 rebounds) despite a severe ankle sprain early in the season and double- and triple-teams by defenses determined to stop him.

Xavier has no other prominent front-line player, so West gets most of the attention -- off the court as well as on.

“It’s interesting to me to watch my little boy go somewhere and people are calling his name -- ‘Oh, that’s David West!”’ Harriett West said. “So far, he’s dealing with it. I told him, ‘David, you just have to learn. This is part of your life now. It’s not going to get any better.”’

The attention has taken a new twist. Everywhere he goes these days, West gets asked if he’ll break Xavier’s tradition and become the first to leave early for the NBA.

“I get asked that five to 10 times a day,” West said. “Yesterday I was in the grocery store and a guy said, ‘How are you doing? Are you coming back next year?”’

West tries not to think about it, focusing on tournament time while leaving the big decision for later.

“Tell him it’s not a decision,” said one NBA scout, sitting courtside for a recent game. “He should stay for one more year. That one more year would really help him.”

Scouts won’t talk for attribution because he’s an underclassman. They concur that he won’t be a lottery pick if he leaves school early, but could develop into one if he stays at Xavier for another year, adds 10 or 12 pounds and gets more experience playing away from the basket.

West’s father believes that is what his son will do. Xavier has emphasized front-line players in recruiting, so West should have more help if he stays for his senior year.

“I think he’ll go back,” Amos West said. “They have a big class coming in. And he likes being with those guys.”

His parents will support him in whatever he decides. They’ll also continue to give the advice that has shaped him.

“When I talk to him before games,” Harriett West said, “I tell him, ‘Be blessed and do your best. And remember who you are.”’