With sudden need at point guard, Gonzaga turned to Dayton's Javon Bennett: 'Right off the bat, I wanted to play there'

Aug. 13—Trying to make sense of the last five months, Javon Bennett was recently asked how he might have reacted had someone told the Dayton transfer in March he'd be on a Zoom call with an active Hall of Fame coach recruiting the former zero-star prospect to play for a preseason top-15 Gonzaga program. "I would think you're insane, to be honest," Bennett said. Five months ago, the odds of that seemed particularly low, if not somewhere closer to zero. First and foremost, Gonzaga didn't have a pressing need at Bennett's position with the expected return of starting point guard Mario Saint-Supery. Mark Few's program was also anticipating the arrival of German prospect Jack Kayil, a hybrid guard who would've handled primary ball-handling duties when Saint-Supery was on the bench. Buy by the time Bennett heard from Few's coaching staff, things had changed in a fairly substantial way — both for the veteran point guard and Gonzaga's backcourt. Kayil's surprising decision to stay in the NBA Draft came roughly two months before Saint-Supery stunned college basketball with a mid-summer move to Spanish ACB club Valencia. The Zags had a commitment from French point guard Nathan De Sousa, but that solution felt shaky at best. The 23-year-old remains in limbo waiting on the NCAA to approve his eligibility waiver. Things were starting to shift in Bennett's life, too. The guard who played 136 games over four seasons at Merrimack and Dayton had completed one NBA workout with his hometown team, the Orlando Magic, when agent Harrison Gaines recommended he put the pre-draft process on pause. There was a small chance Bennett and other graduates of the high school class of 2022 would get another shot at college basketball through new NCAA legislation allowing athletes to play five seasons over five years. It was worth exploring so Bennett, who was also garnering interest from multiple professional clubs in Germany and one in Romania, joined a lawsuit in Ohio with other college basketball players seeking a fifth year. In early July, he and his father flew from Orlando to Cincinnati to sit in on a hearing where Bennett and five other players watched and listened to Ryan Downton present the plaintiffs' case to Judge Christopher Wagner. "It was definitely tense," Bennett said. "That was my first time being inside of a courtroom, especially during the jury. ... It was a long day." The hearing lasted roughly five hours and Bennett had to wait another full week for the ruling. He was scrolling social media when he saw the news that Wagner had granted a preliminary injunction, guaranteeing another year of eligibility to the players involved in the suit. Downton followed up with an E-mail to confirm the ruling, and Bennett promptly called his father at work to share the news. "Once it got passed, it kind of just felt like recruitment again," Bennett said. "I had to wait for college coaches to call me and see what fit and where I was going to play. Gonzaga was definitely an interest when they called and kind of just right off the bat, I knew I wanted to play there." It's another unlikely step in Bennett's basketball journey. Although he set a school record with 2,147 career points at Trinity Prep in the Orlando, Fla., area, Bennett was unrated on national scouting services and had one "legit" Division I offer from Merrimack. Another school in his home state, Florida Gulf Coast, technically offered the guard after he attended their summer camp, but the coaching staff eventually lost contact with Bennett, leaving just the one DI option. He started in 27 of 34 games as a freshman at Merrimack, guiding the Warriors to a Northeast Conference Tournament championship while averaging 9.6 points and 3.4 assists. In their fourth year transitioning from Division I to Division II, the Warriors weren't able to take the league's NCAA Tournament bid, forfeiting the spot to NEC runner-up Fairleigh Dickinson. Bennett moved on to Dayton, instantly becoming a fan favorite for Anthony Grant's program, starting all but four games over three seasons while leading the Flyers to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024 and consecutive NIT berths in 2025 and 2026. The point guard averaged 15.8 ppg and 2.9 apg last season at Dayton while turning in 11 games of 20 points or more. A 1,565-point career scorer who posted a win-loss record of 91-47 at Merrimack and Dayton, Bennett always felt he could contribute to a high-major program capable of playing for a national championship, but the dream didn't materialize until a handful of weeks ago when he heard from Gonzaga General Manager Kurt Bambauer. "I know for me, I've always envisioned this. It's funny how it happened," said Bennett, who earned All-Atlantic 10 First Team honors last season. "You would think it would happen by my senior year and I wouldn't have to come back to college after this. Just with the circumstances, I know this was a long time coming for me and I know the work I've put in. "Everybody that's close to me knows they've helped me through the journey and know this is where I wanted to be at and this is where I could play at. It's been a great journey from where I started to now and having a chance to obviously compete for a national championship is huge." Bambauer organized Zoom calls with other members of Gonzaga's coaching staff, who pulled up film of Ryan Nembhard to give Bennett a better idea of how the program's point guards operate. "If you told me I was going to go to Gonzaga after I left Dayton, I would be like, no there's no way," Bennett said. "The relationship we've been able to build with the staff in these last couple weeks has been great. We've done Zooms and I've been talking to them basically every day. We're just excited on both ends to get this started." Pending his eligibility waiver, De Sousa could still be in the fold at Gonzaga next season and coaches told Bennett they were still browsing the "5-in-5" transfer market, potentially looking to add another lead guard to the 2026-27 roster. "I know for me, wherever I go I want to go where I can play and I can make an impact," Bennett said. "At the end of the day if they do bring somebody, if they don't bring somebody, I just want to show what I can do." Bennett is currently back home in Orlando going through a two-a-day training cycle. Mornings typically begin with a shooting workout, followed immediately by a lift. He returns to the gym around 5 p.m. for a second workout with trainer T.J. Bannister, a former college player at Virginia and Liberty. "I've been basically doing that the whole summer," Bennett said. The veteran guard will be moving his life from one corner of the country to the other when he flies to Spokane next Thursday. Bennett, a low-turnover point guard who ranked top-five in Atlantic 10 scoring last season, looks forward to facilitating for Gonzaga's frontcourt, which is expected to be one of the most talented in the country with the return of Braden Huff and addition of transfer center Massamba Diop. "Diop had a great year at ASU and he's due for a big year this year and he's been working," Bennett said. "I know Huff has been returning and he's ready to be a player of the year contender. I just want to make his job a lot easier when we play, so that's kind of my whole thought process, just help the team win and make it easy for those guys." Bennett feels his passing is still an underrated aspect of his game and said he's been working heavily on pick-and-roll reads with his trainer back home in Florida. In terms of college games played, Bennett will be the most experienced player on GU's roster — pending other additions — and feels his leadership will be a valuable tool. "Obviously staying sharp on my shooting and making sure I stay consistent with that and like I said, my leadership as well," Bennett said. "Definitely improve on that with the amount of younger guys we have on this team, I can definitely bring a level of experience and leadership to that."