“You have to be dedicated, keep practicing at it,” Josh said. “Sometimes my parents would get annoyed because they wanted a little peace around the house, and I would keep working at it. But you have to if you want to get good at it.”
Benson would end up becoming quite good. He was selected as “first chair” of his school bands, which is considered the captain of the group. He also performed in local youth orchestras at Memorial Hall and Victoria Theatre and even had some sessions with the nationally renowned Serious Young Musicians.
He first became fascinated with music while watching older brother Jermaine, who is the real musician in the family.
“He could play every instrument. There wasn’t one he didn’t play,” Josh said. “He didn’t like me sitting around watching him play, but I did anyway. And I’d sneak in later and mess around on the keyboard, and he’d get ticked off.
“He still has the talent. I talk him up all the time. I believe if he puts his mind to it, he could do something with music.”
That’s similar to the same, uh, tune Benson hears from the UD basketball coaches when they address his future in hoops.
The 6-foot-9, 223-pound sophomore has shown promise — George Washington coach Karl Hobbs once labeled the Dunbar High School graduate a future first-team All-Atlantic 10 player — but most of that potential is still untapped.
“He can be as good as he wants to be,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “There’s nothing holding him back. Does he need to get stronger? No question about it. But that would be the only physical obstacle he faces.
“Learning how hard a great player works every single day is one of the biggest challenges for young players with great potential. Not just Josh, but with any player. Sooner or later, potential becomes more of an insult than a compliment because you need to live up to that.
“But he is a far different person and player than he was a year ago. He’s made vast improvements over this last year. And the thing he has to understand, those improvements can’t stay the same. To take another step, you have to put in more time.”
Benson has shown flashes this season, posting back-to-back double-figure scoring games against Xavier and Fordham. He gets constant reminders from the coaches, though, about how he still has to gain strength to be able to finish around the rim and that the rest of his skills need more polish, too.
But he doesn’t mind being held to a high standard.
“I look at this as a blessing,” he said. “They try to push me harder than I want to push myself. They say, sometimes you have to start believing in yourself, because they believe in me. They think I can do great things for the program, and I’m real excited to see what can happen.”
Benson is a late bloomer. Although he had a basketball court off his driveway growing up, he didn’t play organized hoops until seventh grade.
He was barely 6-1 when he started at Dunbar, and he had trouble keeping up with his growth spurts.
“Me and the wife were talking about that, and Josh has done the same thing through his whole career path,” Willie Benson said. “In seventh grade, he was kind of a slow starter. He had to get a feel for the game, then he blossomed. His freshman and sophomore year, he had to learn. And then his junior and senior year, he blossomed.
“It’s the same transition at Dayton. He’s going through the learning curves and really getting a feel for the program. And I feel the same thing will happen in his college career. It’ll be like his high school and elementary school path.”
But Josh’s parents have relished the chance to watch him develop.
“It’s been totally enjoyable,” Willie Benson said. “As a parent, it’s really fulfilling. He’s my last child, my baby boy, and to get to see his college career right in our backyard makes it exciting.”
Although he hasn’t picked up the trumpet in years, Benson is grateful for his musical upbringing. He built friendships outside of the athletic realm and believes it made him a more well-rounded person.
But he doesn’t regret his decision to shift his focus to hoops.
“I still believe in a couple of weeks or a couple of months with the trumpet, I could get it back,” he said. “But my dad gave me a basketball when I was younger, and from there it took off. My interest changed.
“I dropped the mouthpiece and picked up the basketball.”
Contact this writer at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@Dayton DailyNews.com.
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