INDIANAPOLIS -- David West remembers the Cincinnati Gardens fondly. His freshman season at Xavier was the final year the Musketeers called the Gardens their basketball home.
"We actually enjoyed that last year in the Cincinnati Gardens because that was the last year of playing basketball in there," said West, recalling that 1999-2000 season when the Musketeers won 14 of their 15 games in the Gardens, including a 66-64 victory over then No. 1-ranked crosstown rival Cincinnati.
The next season Xavier moved its games back to campus in the Cintas Center. It's won 87.4 percent of its games in the cozy 10,250-seat arena, including going 40-3 during West's final three seasons in the program, a career that concluded with him being named the 2003 National Player of the Year by both the Associated Press and United States Basketball Writers Association.
Eleven years later, West will again play at the Cintas Center.
West and the Indiana Pacers will be the visitors on the scoreboard Wednesday night when they face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in a NBA preseason game. The game itself holds little meaning - it's one of seven preseason games for the Pacers and one of six for the Cavaliers as they get ready for the opening of the regular season at the end of the month.
He may not play that much but it will be a homecoming for West, who hasn't played an organized game at the Cintas Center since his Senior Day, a 96-65 win against Temple on March 8, 2003. His jersey No. 30 hangs in retirement in the arena alongside those of Byron Larkin (23), Tyrone Hill (42) and Brian Grant (33).
West is now in his 12th NBA season, his fourth with the Pacers. This is a different Pacers team from the one that had the Eastern Conference's best regular season record last season at 56-26 and reached the conference finals for the second straight season before losing in six games to James and the Miami Heat. This Pacers team is a roster in transition. Shooting guard Lance Stephenson, the former UC Bearcat, signed as a free agent with Charlotte and forward Paul George suffered a compound fracture of his right leg in a horrific accident during an intrasquad for USA Basketball in August.
It's going to lean a lot on West. That's what teams in transition do with players who are eight minutes shy of reaching 24,000 minutes played for their career, who are 100 points shy of 12,000 and nine rebounds shy of 5,400.
"What David brings is not only strong player leadership but what I would always say about David is that coaches always ask for guys in the locker room who can put somebody in their place when they get out of place. People don't get out of place when David's around," said Indiana coach Frank Vogel. "That's even more powerful for what we have from a leadership standpoint.
"Often times your leaders are not the guys on the court who will hit the big shot. David's done that for us. He's going to be the guy on the court that can deliver as well as lead in the locker room. That's very rare. He's meant everything to our culture."
West learned that winning culture at Xavier. The Musketeers have a history of sending big men to the NBA. West is in a lineage that includes Hill, Grant, Aaron Williams, Derek Strong and current Cavaliers assistant coach James Posey. It was a guard, however, who was one of the first influences on West.
Darnell Williams was a senior coming off an ACL injury that forced him to redshirt the previous season. 'Flight' was his nickname. West still considers Williams, now an assistant coach at Kentucky State, a close friend.
"He always steered me in the right direction. Even after he graduated he was one of those guys who was around the program, who was around me," said West. "He was a part of my four-year run there even though he wasn't part of team anymore. Flight was always one of those guys who was motivating me, keeping me grounded. He really helped me come into my own in terms of my development at Xavier."
Xavier coach Chris Mack was the program's director of operations under head coach Skip Prosser when West arrived on campus. When the Musketeers played in Indianapolis last season against Butler, West showed up at the shoot-around earlier in the day to talk to the players and then brought teammates Paul George and George Hill to the game at Hinkle Fieldhouse, a 64-50 Xavier win. Despite a busy schedule, West stays in contact with Mack and the program.
"Tony Dungy calls it regenerative leadership, where your oldest players are able to teach your youngest players. Whether that's life lessons, college lessons, offense, defense or how to handle yourself on our campus, I think that goes a long, long way, especially at a place like Xavier," said Mack. "It was (Williams') fifth year and I think he had seen a lot in his four years at Xavier. I think he shared those lessons not only with Dave but also Lionel Chalmers and David Young as well. That was a really good recruiting class and I think Darnell was the guy that was wise beyond his years and the guy that really embraced those freshmen when they came in."
West was a first-round draft pick of the New Orleans Hornets in 2003 and played eight seasons for the franchise before signing with Indiana as a free agent in 2011. The Pacers reached the Eastern Conference semifinals and gave the Heat a tough 6-game series before losing. The Pacers had suffered five straight losing seasons before West arrived.
Not as much is expected of the Pacers this season. If they don't make the playoffs, it won't shock many people. West understands. The Pacers fought the label of being a title favorite last season. He's been quoted as saying this team reminds him more of the team he first signed with, a team that has more to prove and will play with a chip on its shoulder. Never count David West out.
"We're at a different spot," said West. "We're not at the elite level like we've been the last couple of years but we'll figure this thing out as we roll."
