The Receipts Are Already Showing Up: Daniel Banjoko Backs Up the Hype
Before Daniel Banjoko had played a single game for WCPA, head coach Sunny Sooch was already comparing him to Hudson Ward, arguably the program's best player in history. That's not a comparison you hand out lightly, and it's the kind of thing that invites skepticism until you actually watch the guy play.
This past weekend in Edmonton was the first real look at Banjoko in a WCPA uniform, three games worth, and by the end of it, the skepticism was gone.
Start with the obvious.
He was the most athletic player in the gym across the entire three-day event. Not close to it, the most athletic player in the building, full stop, in a weekend that had no shortage of high-level bounce on display.
Q'ai Gresham, who put on his own show this weekend, was the closest thing to a rival on that front, and even that was a clear second. Banjoko plays above the rim, finishes lobs, and gets off the floor in a way that separates him physically from essentially everyone else at this level.
What actually moved the needle, though, wasn't the athleticism, since that part of the profile was never really in question. It was the jump shot. Three games of evaluation later, the read has changed completely. His shooting mechanics are clean, the ball comes off his hand well, and he can catch and shoot off movement or spot up in rhythm at a level that wasn't expected walking in.
He's not yet creating consistently off the bounce, and that's the next piece of the development puzzle, but a high-flying athlete who can also really shoot the basketball is an entirely different category of prospect than a high-flying athlete alone.
The interest is already following the production. In the immediate aftermath of the weekend, one Division I program out of the America East conference reached out with real interest, sparked off nothing more than a video clip and word of mouth. No offer yet, but that level of program moving that fast off that little exposure says plenty about where his recruitment is headed.
Just as telling was what happened away from the games.
On the Sunday, with WCPA not playing at all, Banjoko spent the day working the scorer's table, locked in on the action, smiling, approachable, present, no phone, no distractions.
It's a small thing, and it's exactly the kind of small thing that separates a prospect who simply passes the eye test from one who backs it up in every corner of how he carries himself.
Between the frame, the flashes of skill, and the way he shows up when nobody's grading him on it, betting against Banjoko being a Division I prospect by the end of this year would be a bad bet to make.
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