On the verge of a Norcal Open Championship, the season came to a sudden halt for the Bishop O’Dowd Dragon’s and freshman phenom Jalen Lewis.  We first heard of the name Jalen Lewis back in September 2019 prior to our New Arrivals Camp for incoming freshman. While Jalen was not present his name was brought up as the top incoming freshman numerous of times throughout the day. 

We finally got to see Jalen Lewis live at the Pangos Frosh/Soph All-West camp. With influential scouts Dinos Trigonis, Frank Burlison, Ronnie Flores, Eric Bossi and more in attendance. Jalen earned top 30 honors in a camp with close to 200 participants from all over the west coast. 

Jalens impressive play didn’t stop there as he had a dominating freshman season for the Dragons. Averaging 14 points and 6 rebounds during the regular season and playoffs. Throughout the season he showed an impressive combination of a soft touch around the basket and behind the 3-point line.

Jalen earned the following accolades during his freshman season. 

2 x Player of the Game – Norcal Tipoff (vs Modesto Christian) first game of Jalen HS career, MLK Showcase at St. Marys College (vs Campolindo)

1st Team All-West Alameda County Athetlic League

1st Team All-Eastbay

Ranked 11th in the Nation for Class of 2023 by Nothing But Net Magazine

Get to Know Jalen Lewis Q&A

You had an amazing freshman season; did you expect to dominate like you did? What was your mindset going into your freshman season?

My goal was definitely to dominate this year and after the game vs Modesto Christian at NorCal Tip-off I knew this was going to be a good year.

Who are some players you look up to and model your game after?

I try to model my game after Anthony Davis and Karl Anthony Towns. I have definitely always looked up to KD and tried to model after him as well.

The corona virus has changed everyone lives in the last month. Your season ended without being able to play the Norcal Championship game. How has Covid-19 changed your outlook on basketball & life?

Covid-19 has definitely changed my life a lot and a lot of others too. Who knows when we’ll be back in a packed gym playing again. It really sucks that we didn’t get to play in the NorCal championship after the great season we had but at the end of the day everyone’s health is more important than basketball. 

What was the highlight of your freshman season?

I think my highlight of my freshman season was either my game winner against Campo, the lob I caught against Dublin, or just my game against Mitty.

You already have offers from CAL & UC Davis, after a big freshman season have other schools started recruiting you?

No, as of now I have no other schools recruiting me.

You were supposed to run with Team Why Not this summer, will this be your first time playing on the EYBL circuit and what were you expectation for the summer?

I played on the Jr Eybl with the soldiers 2 years ago and last year I played on gold Adidas gauntlet with Team Lillard. I had very high expectations for Team Why Not this year. We have a lot of top players in Cali on that team and we were definitely going to be contenders to win Peach Jam this summer 

What are you doing to stay in shape and keeping your game sharp during this shelter in place?

I run about two miles every day and I do sprints up a steep hill near my house. I do push-ups and sit ups and core work every other day. I work on my ball handling and shooting with my dad in the drive way.

Lots of great players have played at Bishop O’Dowd. Have you spoke with any of them and have they given you any advice?

I have spoken with Ivan Rabb, Paris Austin, and I have spoken a lot with Brian Shaw. They all gave me great advice earlier this season and I actually still talk to them now every once and a while. I am about to start working out with Ivan and Paris to get ready for next season.