How did Olympic’s Josh Banks become a star? No video games. Just ball, school and sleep.
Last summer, Olympic High School basketball star Josh Banks said he spent more time in the gym than usual. His main focus was building confidence in his jump shot and his overall game.
And he said he doesn’t have the typical teenager distractions. The Virginia Commonwealth commit doesn’t play video games. For Banks, it’s just basketball, school and sleep.
“I was trying to get better as much as possible,” he told the Charlotte Observer, “because this (season) I was going to be one of the main priorities” on the team.
At about the halfway point of the 2019-20 season, Banks’ play has reflected that hard work. He’s raised his scoring average, from 20 points per game last season to nearly 26 this year.
A 6-5 class of 2020 shooting guard, Banks is also averaging 5.6 rebounds and two assists per game for Olympic (11-5), which plays Legion Collegiate Academy at the MLK Peace Classic at J.C. Smith Saturday at 4 p.m.
“Josh Banks I think is one of the most explosive players in North Carolina,” N.C. recruiting analyst Rick Lewis of Phenom Hoop Report told the Observer, “not just in Charlotte but the whole state. I think VCU got a great gift in Josh Banks. (He is) athletic, bouncy, explosive.”
Josh Banks ‘having a wonderful senior season’
Banks chose VCU over Providence and Murray State, the Kentucky school that produced NBA rookie sensation Ja Morant.
“When I was up there,” Banks said, with “my (future) teammates and bonding with the team and watching them practice, I just felt like I was already there. That’s one of the places where I felt like, ‘this is where I need to be.’ It feels like I can adjust quickly and it feels like I’m already in the system.”
Lewis believes that Banks, like Morant, could outplay his high school recruiting rankings in college. Lewis ranks Banks as the No. 9 prospect in the state. Nationally, 247 Sports has Banks as 3-star recruit and a top 300 player.
Lewis said, no matter the rankings, Banks has definitely expanded his game, and his reputation, this season.
The Charlotte Observer named Banks its mid-season player of the year Monday, just a few days after he dropped 38 points on Ardrey Kell Friday, a number that’s possibly a school-record.
“Josh,” Lewis said, “is just having a wonderful senior season.”
And Banks doesn’t want it to end.
Olympic lost 78-75 to West Charlotte in the second round of the N.C. 4A playoffs last season. Banks watched as West Charlotte advanced all the way to the state championship game.
He knew his team was close. This year, he wants much, much more.
“We know how we lost and what we need to work on,” Banks said. “It’s going to take a lot more toughness and I think this is going to be the year that we can go all the way and win a ring.”
This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
