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Background: Coming out of Detroit Country Day, Benson was considered a white chip athlete. These one and two star recruits are typically destined to be a walk-ons or role players at low to mid-major programs.
Despite playing with Parade All-American, Alex Legion from Florida International, Benson's role on his Country Day team was relatively small. He was primarily driven by the coaching staff to concentrate on rebounding and defense. Needless to say, recruiting wasn't all that great for Benson as he averaged 6.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5 blocks per game.
Recruited by Howard, Valparaiso and Fairfield, Benson sealed his commitment to Oakland. Coach Greg Kampe was impressed with the raw center’s length and athleticism. Although the transition was tough, Kampe and Benson agreed to redshirt in order to work on his strength conditioning. Three years later Benson has not only emerged as the school's best player, but is also one of the nation's premier centers.
Benson declared for the 2010 NBA draft, but withdrew when he did not receive favorable feedback on his draft status.
Statistics | ||||||||||||||||||
SEASONS |
GP |
FG% |
3PT% |
FT% |
SPG |
BPG |
RPG |
APG |
PPG |
|||||||||
2006-07 Oakland |
Did Not Play Redshirted |
|||||||||||||||||
2007-08 Oakland |
29 |
50.5 |
--- |
66.7 |
0.2 |
1.4 |
3.5 |
0.1 |
5.2 |
|||||||||
2008-09 Oakland |
36 |
62.2 |
00.0 |
66.7 |
0.6 |
2.4 |
7.8 |
0.7 |
14.3 |
|||||||||
2009-10 Oakland |
35 |
53.3 |
40.0 |
72.4 |
0.4 |
3.3 |
10.5 |
0.8 |
17.3 |
|||||||||
2010-11 Oakland |
35 |
54.7 |
39.1 |
64.3 |
0.8 |
3.6 |
10.1 |
1.1 |
17.9 |
|||||||||
DIV I Totals |
135 |
55.4 |
20.5 |
67.6 |
0.5 |
2.7 |
8.2 |
0.7 |
14.1 |