HALL OF FAME FEATURE: James Contreras Jr. '18

A quick glance at the list of the USA South Athletic Conference Players of the Year in men’s basketball over the past decade or so and one thing is a common trend. The league’s top honor usually went to a post player or scoring wing. The one glaring break from that mold? Averett University’s James Contreras Jr. ’18 in 2017-18.

Contreras maybe didn’t look the part, but he sure played it. By the time he finished his four years with the Cougars, he also was named the D3hoops.com Region Player of the Year while climbing up to third all-time on the program’s scoring list. Now, Contreras is set to be inducted into the Averett Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 14 during Homecoming Weekend. 

However, early on during his time at Averett, Contreras’ path to the Hall of Fame wasn’t as clear cut. It took honest conversations with the coaching staff, a budding relationship with another star student-athlete and a commitment to academics in addition as athletics to put him on the right track where he went on to flourish. He finished his career with 1,530 points, two of the program’s highest single-game scoring totals and multiple free throw records.

“To be honest, I don’t know how I did all that,” Contreras said. “It just shows that if you put in the work, if you put in the time and effort, if you just do the right things, a lot of good stuff will happen. I do think that last year or so — junior and senior year — making the right decisions and getting myself in the books and doing my education well. That’s kind of what jelled everything together. Performing in the classroom translated right to the court.”

When Contreras arrived at Averett in fall 2014, it took some time to adjust. Current head coach David Doino had just been hired to take over the program and Contreras wasn’t sure where he stood because he had been recruited by the previous coaching staff. The native of Virginia Beach, Virginia, was also joining a roster filled with established players.

“We got humbled really quick,” Contreras recalled. “But getting there and learning from Coach Doino, not only on the court but as a man in general, it was like a bigger brother with his arms wide open.”

Contreras ended up starting 26 of 27 games played as a freshman. Statistically, he didn’t have to be the go-to guy with a talented junior class and sophomore Charles Bryant — a fellow 2023 Hall of Famer — handling a bulk of the load. Still, Contreras averaged a respectable 6.9 points and 3.0 rebounds a game.

“It was more of trying to be the best athlete that I could be,” Contreras said. “Going in, I didn’t think I’d be playing much or actually see the court. But getting there and grinding and putting in the work, it actually worked out for me. Again, the level of play from all the other upperclassmen just made me get to that next level sooner rather than later.”

Doino saw the potential in Contreras, but it took some good conversations to unlock it.

“In his freshman year, it was about the details,” Doino said. “We knew if he could ever just get the details, he would turn into what he turned into. It takes everybody a little bit of time and everyone is different. For James, it took him those first two years. He had some experiences in his first two years where, because of where he was at as a young man growing, he had some adversity he had to face because he wasn’t as focused as he needed to be all the time.”

Contreras remembers one of those conversations with Doino after his freshman year.

“Coach Doino and I had some conversations about what’s the end goal, what’s he path and what do you want to be in life,” Contreras said. “We weren’t even talking about basketball at that point. ‘What do you want to be because the work ethic and the way you lead now will get you to where you want to be in life.’”

Doino said being direct with his communication also got through to Contreras.

“With that military background that he has in his family, for him sometimes putting those things in line and really looking at them and thinking about those goals or what he wanted to become helped him change that mentality and his focus,” Doino added.

Around the time Contreras was finishing up his sophomore season where he averaged 9.6 points while helping Averett win the 2015-16 USA South regular season title, another big influence came into his life. That spring semester, Contreras began dating his now-wife, women’s volleyball standout Hannah Shields, who is also a member of the 2023 Averett Athletics Hall of Fame class. 

Shields would go on to shatter most of Averett’s volleyball records in her All-American career in which she was named the USA South Player of the Year three times.

“Once I met her and saw what she accomplished, it was one of those things where I asked myself, ‘Why can’t I get those things?’” Contreras recalled. “What is she doing that I could be doing to not only be a great player but a great teammate to everybody?”

The two, who got married in 2019, both were named USA South Player of the Year as seniors and both earned Averett’s respective Male and Female Student-Athlete of the Year at Night of Champions.

The two believe they brought out the best in each other.

“Both of us are really competitive people to the point where sometimes we have to stop playing board games,” Contreras joked. “But it wasn’t really a competition between us. I wanted her to be the absolute best person she could be on and off the court, and she felt the same back toward me. If I saw her do great things, I thought to myself that I needed to do great things as well. It wasn’t a competition but that we were both feeding off each other and thinking how good could we be? That’s what drove us our last couple of years there.”

Because they played at different times of the year, it made it easier for the two to avoid comparing each other. However, their friends had fun with it.

“It was fun to kind of pick at each other at times,” Hannah Shields Contreras said. “I know a lot of our friends picked and would compare our accolades. To this day, James even enjoys bragging to all of his friends and Marines that we meet. He plays in all these rec league sports with the Marine Corps and they are all impressed with his athleticism. He’ll joke to them that ‘the real athlete is my wife.’ He’ll go into some of the awards that I’ve gotten, and I just have to tell them that I’m not an athlete like James is. He can play anything and I was just skilled at volleyball only.”

Contreras began to really shine during his junior season, averaging 17.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists as he and Bryant led the Cougars to the 2016-17 regular season title in the conference. Contreras took an even bigger step the following year as a senior after Bryant graduated. He scored a career-high 23.6 points with 4.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists a game to earn USA South Player of the Year, D3hoops.com Region Player of the Year, Virginia Sports Information Directors Player of the Year, National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division III All-South District First Team, USA South All-Conference First Team and VaSID All-State First Team accolades. He also earned an invitation to the 2018 Reese’s Division III College All-Star Game.

All of those seemed like “sneaky” accomplishments when you take into consideration Contreras’ appearance and style of play, Doino said.

“Honestly, there was nothing about James that was flashy,” Doino said. “If you looked at his game, he wasn’t coming into the gym and putting multiple crossover moves and step-back 3s and just highlight reel stuff. It was downhill, get to the rim in your face, get to the free throw line. In his senior year he shot the 3 a little bit better. But really, it was just fundamental, basic and aggressive. I think that’s why it sneaks up on you a little bit because it wasn’t him hitting seven 3s. No, it was get downhill and have thee and-ones. It wasn’t pretty and there was nothing flash about it. … And then his presence. He’s only like 6-foot. He was strong, but you’re not looking at a 6-foot-4 high-flyer. Those things were just unorthodox and that’s why he sneaks up on you because that’s how his game was. You’d fall asleep for a second and the next thing you know, he’d have two or three and-ones and get on a roll.”

Contreras said some of his favorite memories were getting to play his final two seasons with his younger brother Vince, as well as high school and college teammate Brandon Baker’s first game back from injury where Contreras passed Baker the ball for a corner 3-pointer to open the game. The Reese’s All-Star Game also stands out. And, yes, of course collecting those same major awards as Hannah when they were both seniors is another favorite moment.

After college, Contreras continued the family trend by joining the military. Although his father was in the Navy, Contreras joined the Marines. He was first at the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina for three years. It was during that time when he and Hannah got married. After a period of deployment, the couple then welcomed a daughter, Everleigh, around the time they moved to the Washington, D.C., area where Contreras is currently stationed at the Marine Barracks Washington. There, he’s a deputy comptroller and a parade adjutant. 

Contreras said Averett helped him tremendously when he joined the Marines. Skills like working with teammates and adapting to new team members each year while playing basketball translated well, in addition to the leadership skills he developed. 

Although he enjoys his post, he said the best job is being a dad. 

“I never knew I could love something as much as I do now,” Contreras said. “Hannah and I still talk about how it’s unreal. Everleigh has already turned 1 and it’s like, holy cow, time is flying by. But it’s the best duty and best thing ever to be a dad.”

Doino feels like a proud ‘dad’ as well when he thinks about Contreras’ growth in college and the man, husband and father he has become.

“The biggest thing I’ll say about James is that he was one of the guys that I could say has grown the most from his freshman to junior year in the maturity and the mental aspect as far as becoming a man, becoming a leader, taking it really seriously with all the details,” Doino said. “It’s probably one of the greatest developments that I’ve seen from a player I’ve been around in all of my years of coaching.”