March 7, 2011
Keith Benson was just another one of those big-man projects when he entered college 4 1/2 years ago.
He was thin, weak and introverted.
He rarely even started in high school at Detroit Country Day.
"He was 6-foot-9, 185 pounds, wasn't being highly recruited, but the bottom line is that he was a long, athletic kid," Oakland University coach Greg Kampe said. "And we were trying to become long and athletic.
"Did I think he'd turn into a first-round draft pick? No. My expectation was that with a lot of hard work, this kid could help us win a championship."
Benson, now a 6-11, 230-pound fifth-year senior, has turned into one of college basketball's great success stories.
He is averaging 17.7 points, 10 rebounds and 3.8 blocks entering Monday's Summit League tournament semifinal game against South Dakota State in Sioux Falls, S.D. (7 p.m. on Fox Sports Detroit).
His presence inside is the biggest reason the Golden Grizzlies proved in December they could step up in class. Oakland won at Tennessee and lost by only a point to Michigan State, when both of those teams were still ranked in the top-10.
Benson went on to be named the Summit League's Player of the Year for the second straight season. He is projected as a likely NBA draft pick in June.
"We've had an average of five NBA scouts at every game we play," Kampe said. "I've talked to almost every team there is. There are five or six teams out there that have told me he's a lottery pick. There's five or six teams that have told me he's a mid-second-round pick, and there's people that have told me he'll go to a real good team late in the first round who doesn't need a guy that's going to come in and play right away.
"So I've heard the whole gamut on him. I know this. He's 6-11, he's long, he's athletic. He can score it any way you want it scored. He dominates the game defensively by rebounding and by blocking shots. And he can block a shot on the guy he's guarding. He's not coming over and blocking someone; he's blocking the guy he's guarding.
"I don't think there's a lot of those guys out there. My guess is he's going to go pretty high."
It's been quite a transformation for Benson to reach a level where that's even a consideration.
Teammate Will Hudson was a senior in high school when Benson got redshirted during his first year at Oakland.
Hudson played in open gyms and worked out with some of the Oakland players before getting to college. From his perspective, Benson wasn't someone who stood out in any way at that point.
"I wish they had a tape of him back then, when we were running the hill (during workouts), to where he is now," Hudson said. "I didn't know what type of player he was going to be then. With some guys, you just know.
"To see how far he's come, it's amazing. He's a self-motivated player. Our team feeds off that."
Benson's steady, if not dramatic, rise is a testament to his work ethic.
When he first got to high school he was a guard, before a significant growth spurt turned him into a power forward/center. It took him a while to adjust and develop the strength needed to play in the post.
Those ballhandling skills from when he played in the backcourt are helping to make him a more versatile big man now. His perseverance is at least in part a result of always feeling he had something to prove when he was younger.
"I think other players were getting a lot (of playing time, recognition, etc.) when they were younger," Benson said. "I didn't get to play as much. I always had to try to work hard to try to get better so I could get out there.
"In high school, I had a lot of Division I players on my team. It was a battle for playing time all the time. I had to constantly keep working.
"I would have liked to go to Michigan or Michigan State if they had recruited me. But you have to start where you are and try to get where you're going. I had to take advantage of this opportunity."
The Oakland coaching staff was relentless in trying to push him to get stronger and tougher, especially when he only practiced during his first year.
It wasn't just Kampe. Former assistants Jeff Smith (now at Utah) and Jon Borovich (now at Dayton) were the ones who were really on him "for every little thing."
"I think that made me a lot tougher," Benson said. "I ran so many times, I didn't even remember what I was running for. I disliked them for doing it. I felt like I was being picked on, but it helped me to have a chance to go to the NBA now."
The toughness and strength are two areas that scouts will continue to analyze before the NBA Draft in June.
Kampe believes Benson gets an unfair rap on toughness. Kampe said Benson played the final 3-4 months last season despite three torn ligaments in a thumb that required offseason surgery, along with playing earlier this season on a sprained ankle that would have kept lesser competitors out of the lineup.
"He's a tough son of a gun, and he doesn't get any credit for that," Kampe said.
As for the strength factor, Benson admitted, "To be a center in the NBA, I'd have to get a lot stronger."
Still, Benson is a little annoyed when he hears some of the second-round projections.
"I'm trying to get to the NCAA Tournament so I can get that exposure and show I can do the things they don't think I can do," Benson said. "I want to show I can be a first-rounder."
Now is the time to show it.
"What they want to know is how tough is he, how big is his heart, is he a guy you want to be in a foxhole with?" Kampe said. "Everybody wants to know if he can win.
"If we don't, they're going to say, 'Oh, man, he can't even win the Summit League.'"
Benson has come too far, worked too hard, improved too much to ever let that happen.
