LARAMIE -- Only a last-minute test score allowed James Johnson to go on to a Division I basketball program.

The death of his head coach -- one of few who didn't cast him aside in high school -- rocked his rookie season before it even began.

But none of that stopped the former Cheyenne East standout from proving his doubters wrong with a standout freshman year that helped turn the Wake Forest program around.

"All I was doing was working hard," Johnson said in a phone interview on Tuesday. "They were telling me I was a good player, good enough to start and play, so I was just working hard and when it came time for me to play and put on a show, I did."

He averaged 14.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game as a freshman, leading the Demon Deacons to a 17-13 record, including a 15-2 mark at home.

In Wake Forest's 94-48 season-opening win over North Carolina Central on Friday, Johnson scored 18 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out five assists. He had 25 points in the Demon Deacons' victory over UNC-Wilmington on Wednesday.

Johnson's rookie performance was enough to get him on the Wooden Award Preseason List, a list of 50 candidates for an honor given annually to the nation's top player.

"It's a big accomplishment for me," Johnson said. "I know I worked hard enough to deserve the preseason awards, but those are just awards to me. It really all matters what my team gets, and when we win, that's more than getting any single award."

That's just one of a few lessons the 21-year-old has learned over the past year and a half.

After most of his Division I suitors backed off of him down the stretch of his senior year as he struggled to get his SAT scores up, he finally earned a high enough score in time to sign with Skip Prosser and Wake Forest.

Just over a month later, after Johnson had been in summer school only about two weeks, Prosser died from an apparent heart attack.

"Even though my academics wasn't all that good as a senior in high school, he still stuck by me even though all the other schools dropped out on me or told me to go (junior college) first," Johnson said. "He believed I could make it as a freshman.

"It was rough for me, like it was for everybody else, because if it wasn't for coach P, a lot of us wouldn't have been here."

Soon after, the school named assistant Dino Gaudio as Prosser's successor and the new head man quickly met with Johnson and the then-freshmen to ensure them they were still going to play a pivotal role.

They did. And they will again, as the Deacons try to take that next step.

"Our first goal is we're going to try to win the ACC," Johnson said. "If that goal happens or doesn't happen, I'm going to set another goal for the tournament. I'm not going to set individual goals because one person can't win the whole thing, or the league, or win games."

That doesn't mean there aren't a few games circled on his schedule.

He'll get to see plenty of family members at the 76 Classic tournament in Anaheim, Calif., later this month.

And Wake Forest has a date at BYU to open the new calendar year. The Cougars boast the nation's longest active home winning streak, 48 games, and will have won 57 in a row at the Marriott Center if they keep the streak alive until Johnson arrives.

"BYU's going to be a fun game," Johnson said. "We got them last year and I know they want some revenge on us. And I heard they've got a winning streak in their (arena) and I want to get that."

But more than anything, he wants to continue to be the same guy that won Wyoming's Mr. Basketball back in high school.

Johnson's doing his best to make sure his star status doesn't change who he is, and was excited that nothing had changed when he returned to Cheyenne for four days over the summer.

"We got a lot of basketball in all four days," Johnson said. "To (the guys), I'm just a regular dude and I kinda like that better than being some kind of role model or something like I am here.

"To them I'm just a regular person. They congratulated me and then I just went back to being James."

And the Demon Deacons won't mind if they see more of the same James, either.

 

Contact sports reporter Eric Schmoldt at (307) 266-0578 or eric.schmoldt@trib.com.

 

JOHNSON TRACKER

WEDNESDAY: Cheyenne native James Johnson scored 25 points in the Demon Deacons' victory over UNC-Wilmington on Wednesday.

WOODEN WATCH: After a standout freshman year, the former Cheyenne East star was one of 50 players named to the Wooden Award Preseason List. The award is given annually to college basketball's top player.

HOMECOMING: Johnson returned to Cheyenne for just four days over the summer and the closest he'll likely get to home this season is a trip to BYU on Jan. 3, 2009.

HE SAID IT: "(The coaches) were telling me I was a good player, good enough to start and play, so I was just working hard and when it came time for me to play and put on a show, I did." -- Johnson.