Big Baby’s growing up

When James Southerland arrived at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, he didn’t know what to expect. Sean Crawford did. His younger cousin was going to initially hate prep school.
“At Notre Dame Prep there is nothing to do -there’s school and basketball,” he said. “Socially, you don’t go out, you can’t go anywhere. It takes a toll.”
“He,” Crawford added, “didn’t like it at all.”
However, Southerland, unlike Crawford, had a friend to lean on. In their free time, they did pushups and played cards together. Crawford dragged Southerland to work out with him and lectured him on the importance of the year away from home before he attends college at Syracuse University.
“I said it’s a building ground,” Crawford recalled. “You got to man up, you got to do it now. When you go to Syracuse next year, nobody’s going to be there for you.”
Unlike Southerland, Crawford didn’t have a choice but to go to Notre Dame Prep, national prep school champions the last two years. The 19-year-old Laurelton native had run out of eligibility at Cardozo and needed those extra two years to improve his grades and develop into a natural point guard.
The sharp-shooting 6-foot-7 Southerland, meanwhile, abruptly left Cardozo prior to his senior year. It was a decision, the Floral Park product said, that had to be made. He was barely receiving passing grades at the Oakland Gardens school, getting by in basketball on natural talent but likely not enough to be ready for the Big East.
Therefore, he bolted Cardozo for Notre Dame Prep. It has only been a few months, but Southerland, nicknamed “Big Baby” in high school, has already added muscle and is learning what it takes to thrive at an elite level.
“It was time to [sink or swim],” Cardozo Coach Ron Naclerio said. “You either do it or don’t go to Syracuse. Hopefully, one day soon he will be wearing an orange uniform - unfortunately for me it won’t be Cardozo, it will be Syracuse. I can’t wait to see him play in college.”
Playing with kids two years his elder, Southerland has gradually started to work harder - the knock on him at Cardozo - and push himself.
“It took prep school to bring it out of me,” he said. “At Cardozo there’s not a lot of competition. I would start getting lazy. But other guys are always getting better, working hard, so I have to work hard to get better.”
He is starting for Notre Dame Prep with Crawford, but that is hardly the most important part of his journey away from home. He is also maturing, having left the nest for the first time.
Back home, his father always had to tell him study or work out. After a few weeks of Crawford picking up that role, Southerland has adjusted.
“Now,” he said, “I have to give myself a kick in the butt.”
“James is different in that he’s had to grow up in a hurry,” Notre Dame Prep Coach Ryan Hurd said. “He played a lot of video games when he arrived.”
“He understands he’s found a level where guys have caught up with him and he needs a lot of hard work. Originally, our guys were dragging him to the gym, but now he’s more than happy to get there himself. His work ethic is showing every day. He absolutely will be a tremendous player if he continues doing the things he’s doing.”