Shaka Smart and the Texas Longhorns basketball program picked up a big verbal commitment on Thursday from 4-star center James Banks. Banks, a 6-10, 230 lb. senior at La Lumiere School (La Porte, IN), officially visited Austin in late August, and the trip reportedly went “exceptionally well.”
— Twitter API (@twitterapi) November 7, 2011
— Twitter API (@twitterapi) November 7, 2011
The Vanderbilt Commodores appeared to be the other major player for Banks’ services, but he also held offers from Notre Dame, Missouri, Cincinnati, Syracuse and Tennessee among others.
In the end for Banks, it was the appeal of playing for Shaka Smart and the style of basketball Smart deploys on the court.
Banks is ranked 56th on the ESPN 100 for 2016 and is considered the 6th best center prospect in the country. For his size he does a better-than-average job of handling the ball and shoots extremely well from the inside and outside.
He becomes the second commit for head coach Shaka Smart and the 2016 class, joining point guard Jacob Young.
