By PAUL KAMPE
Of The Oakland Press

ROCHESTER — In many ways, Oakland molded Keith Benson into the player he is today: A 6-foot-11 NBA prospect who elicits fear from opponents for his scoring and his potential for shot blocks. And in many other ways, it was Benson who took it upon himself to take the time and effort to become the league’s best player, which will in turn shape the Oakland program for years to come.

“His freshman year, I was pretty tough on him,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe admitted. “He got through that and he made some decisions about how good he wanted to be and this is where he is today. He’s done it because he’s worked so hard.

“If we get to where we think we can as a team, he’ll be a very satisfied young man.”

Benson wasn’t a surefire commitment to Oakland, committing to Kampe after his previous choice, Fairfield (Conn.), underwent a regime change. That turnover left a seed of doubt for Benson — standing just 6-8 as a freshman out of Birmingham Detroit Country Day — who seemed headed down South to play at Morehouse until Oakland made him an offer.

The Summit League’s all-time blocked shots leader took a redshirt season his first year at Oakland. There were many lessons to learn and bulk to add to his wiry frame.

“How serious he (wanted) it (would) be determined by how hard he (worked) in that red-shirt year,” Country Day coach Kurt Keener said. “If he had blown it off, I’m not sure they would have renewed his scholarship. But he did (work). And he got better and better. And the rest is history.”

Benson was on the younger side of his grade level, turning 17 his senior year at Country Day. He started for just the first month or so of his senior season with the Yellowjackets.

“I thought Keith’s best basketball was ahead of him. I thought that if he got stronger, he certainly had the skill (to be a good player). He had good hands, a nice shooting touch,” Keener said.

Benson’s redshirt freshman year, he started 20 of 29 games, but his sophomore campaign in 2008-09 was his breakout year. Benson started all 36 games, averaging 14.3 points per game and 7.8 rebounds. His junior year last season, he was anointed the conference’s best player. Continued...

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Benson would be the fourth NBA player to pass through the high school known for producing former NBA Rookie of the Year and Michigan Fab Five ringleader Chris Webber as well as Duke standout Shane Battier.

Playing behind other big men, "Kito" as Benson is adoringly referred to by fans and teammates alike, took on the task of increasing his body mass.

“I felt like if I got my strength up, I could hold my position in the post more, then other things would (follow),” he said. “I felt like I had a shooting touch. Once I got stronger, I saw a lot of things I could do. I could (already) jump, so I just had to get my strength up.”

Kampe could take credit for molding Benson, but doesn’t, quickly pointing out that credit for Benson’s ascension belongs to the big man himself.

“He’s the guy that’s made himself the player he is,” said Kampe, who has also given rise to former NBA player Rawle Marshall in his 27 years at Oakland. “(Benson’s) had some pretty good coaches from my staff who have worked with him, but it was his decision to put the time in and he’s made himself the player he is. He’s understood as he improved that the sky is the limit for him, he can go (professional). There aren’t a lot of 6-11 guys out there that can do the things he can do.”

Benson’s IQ played a part in his improvement, too, Kampe added.

“It’s easy to coach him, because when you tell him something, he’s smart enough to know what we’re saying is true,” Kampe said.

When paired with 6-9 power forward Will Hudson, Benson is part of the Summit League’s most dominant frontcourt. They feed off each other on both ends of the floor, pushing Oakland to a league-best +6.8 rebounding margin. Having Hudson, who has also drawn professional interest, inside the paint, frees Benson at times.

“He helps a lot with the rebounding and sometimes they double off his man, so I can drop the ball down to him and it gives me another presence in the post,” Benson said. “They can’t just put all the big men down there on me.”

A future in the NBA seemed imminent with Benson’s declaration for last June’s draft, and hopes soared for Oakland’s potential when it was learned a latent thumb injury on Benson’s shooting hand would force his withdrawal from the draft. Continued...

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“A lot of people were saying the team was going to be worse than last year because the seniors were leaving, but I didn’t really have a choice of whether I was going to come back or not because of my injury,” Benson said. “I thought we had a good team coming back and that we should be able to do as well as last year or better with the new shooters coming in.”

And shoot they do, the Grizzlies are averaging a conference-best 88.8 points per game on 54-percent shooting. Benson’s mere presence in the post has been enough to draw defenders from near and far, leaving plenty of open looks for the likes of guards Reggie Hamilton, Travis Bader and Larry Wright.

Just being in the post can frighten opponents to the point they prefer to loft shots as they drive to the hoop. If they go all the way to the lane, there’s a real chance someone in the crowd will be the first person to touch the ball — after Benson spikes the ball away as if he were playing with a volleyball. He averages 3.65 rejections per game, long ago reset the school’s records for blocks, single-season and all-time. He bested the all-time conference mark (320) recently at South Dakota State.

“I just try to be a presence, so they have to think about me,” Benson said. “I mostly get them in the first half, because by the second half, nobody wants to get their shot blocked.”

That’s not to say Benson can’t score, which he does while fighting double- and triple-teams that sometimes go over and above the rules to slow him. He’s averaging more than 16 points per game and leads the league in rebounding with 10.2 per game. He collected a career- and Oakland Division I era-high (the program moved up from Division II in 1999-2000) 22 rebounds in a win over Austin Peay earlier this year.

Benson turned in monster performances in the Grizzlies’ games against top-25 competition this season, most notably a 26-point, 10-rebound performance in an upset of then-No. 7 Tennessee in mid-December. Oakland played five nationally ranked teams in its non-conference schedule, one Kampe said before the season was designed with the future pro in mind, dealing Benson matchups with some of the nation’s best big men.

Benson wouldn’t be the Summit League’s first NBA draft pick, but he could be its first lottery selection, an idea thought possible by people in the know earlier this season. At a conference game against IUPUI recently, pro scouts in attendance numbered in double digits. Through it all, Benson is cognizant of the fact the name on his jersey still says “Oakland.”

“I try not to look too far ahead,” he said. “Just focus on the game at hand and just play hard and not focus too much on my individual stats and try to win games and play the right way.”

The right way has led the Grizzlies to a new conference-record, 17-game league win streak after they beat North Dakota State Saturday night, one year after the Grizzlies went 17-1 in conference play on the way to the program’s second NCAA tournament berth. Benson was named Summit League Player of the Year and mid-major player of the year for his dominating performances. He was named to the Naismith Trophy watchlist and rated as the nation’s No. 5 center by Rivals.com prior to the season.

“What hasn’t Keith won?” Kampe said. “He’s done this and that. He’s going to have a room at his house full of trophies and the reality of it is he’s going to be the only one looking at them in 10 or 12 years. What people are going to care about is what his team did. He knows that. Continued...

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“I guarantee you he cares not one bit about stats. … All he cares about is us winning and that’s why he’s having such a great year.”

Keener remembers Benson as an introverted kid, saying Benson “didn’t say two words in four years” at Country Day. While Benson remains quiet, everyone has noticed an increase in Benson’s on-court display of emotion, endearing him even more to fans. It seems the attention paid to Benson has helped coax him out of his shell just in time.

Thanks to Oakland, Keith Benson will likely be celebrating his newfound fame on a mid-June night, adorned in the ballcap of his new team. And it’s thanks to Benson, Oakland will be remembered for having one of the conference’s all-time great big men and the spoils that come with the added name recognition.

Benson’s full impact won’t be recognized until after he’s gone and Oakland lands recruits because it once had the most heralded player to ever come out of the Summit League. Then the true shape of the program will be recognized.

Paul Kampe covers Oakland University basketball for The Oakland Press. E-mail him at paul.kampe@oakpress.com and follow him at @TheOPsports on Twitter for the latest news.

FYI

The San Antonio Spurs drafted former Summit League Player of the Year George Hill No. 26 in the first round of the 2008 NBA draft and recently signed former conference defensive player of the year Larry Owens to a 10-day contract. The Spurs will likely pick late in the draft this summer, as they currently have the league’s best record. The NBA champion drafts 30th, in an area of where the club has shown an ability to pick underrated talent like Tony Parker (2001) and Hill.

This could bode well for Benson, as the Spurs already seem to have acquired the taste for Summit League blood.

The conference’s only other first-round pick was Bryce Drew, the miracle-shot maker who led Valparaiso to a Sweet Sixteen berth in 1998.

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