WKU Basketball: Dalano Banton to Transfer From Hill
Just hours after it was announced that Matt Horton was leaving the WKU basketball program, another domino fell as freshman guard Dalano Banton was reported to be leaving the program by the College Heights Herald:
Banton was a four-star recruit that reclassified to the 2018 class prior to the season. Getting the Canadian point guard was a major coup for Rick Stansbury; with senior guard, Lamonte Bearden ineligible during the first semester, Banton was thrust into the point guard role early.
He struggled with turnovers and shooting during the first month of the season but seemed to come on in December. In the memorable win against Wisconsin, Banton almost had the second triple-double in school history, finishing with eight points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. Banton was a consistent fixture on the floor for the Tops until Bearden finally got out of Stansbury’s doghouse.
Banton averaged 3.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.
Banton’s struggles with turnovers (3+ turnover margin in nine games) and poor shooting (just 21.6 % from three and 55.9% from the foul line) combined with Bearden’s re-emergence caused Stansbury to lose trust in Banton.
Over the last month and a half of the season, Banton never eclipsed 13 minutes, playing less than six minutes eight times. Seeing him in the conference championship, he looked very frustrated on the bench and was even given a joking cheer by his teammates as he scored three points in garbage time against Southern Miss. Rumors of his potential transfer have swirled since before the season ended.
The frustrating part of his decision to leave is the fact that the point guard minutes are there for the taking next season. Banton would only have to beat out Jeremiah Gambrell and Jake Ohmer and was due for a major sophomore jump in 2019–20. With him out of the picture, Stansbury will probably mine the grad transfer market to find a point guard replacement. There are now 13 scholarships filled (including Bassey) so look out for some news over the coming weeks.
At the end of the day, Banton is a tough loss for WKU, his size and skill set screamed potential all-conference player if he figured out how to limit turnovers. We’ll see where he ends up and if he lives up to that potential elsewhere. Best of luck to Dalano wherever he ends up.
