Viont’e Daniels commits to play at WSU
Federal Way's Viont'e Daniels has accepted a scholarship offer from Ernie Kent to play basketball at Washington State.
Daniels, a 6-foot-2, 170-pound guard, chose the Cougars over Saint Mary's.
"His parents are really academically oriented and Saint Mary's is a quality education but at the end of the day WSU was his first choice and he jumped right on it," said FWHS coach Jerome Collins.
Collins said that Daniels is an adept student and carries a 3.5 grade-point average. He added that Collins is a good shooter out to the 3-point line, and shoot well off the dribble already, and sports a quick release.
"He averaged right at that 22-23 points a game range but he didn't have to go out and shoot 20 shots a game to get it," Collins said. "His 3-point percentage was very high, he's very unselfish and he's going to give a lot to Ernie and his program."
Collins admitted that he may have helped sell the school to Daniels, since his daughter graduated from WSU. Both coach and player were drawn to Kent, as well.
"Talking with coach Kent we share a lot of the same philosophical beliefs with regards to the classroom and proper role modeling in the community," Collins said. "We believe in the defense end of the floor and running. It was a tremendous fit for Viont'e and he felt really comfortable with coach Ernie."
Daniels averaged 24 points, six rebounds and four assists per game for the top-ranked Eagles and was named the Tacoma News Tribune's 4A Player of the Year, the Associated Press 4A Player of the Year and the Seattle Times 4A Player of the Year. This profile of Daniels by TJ Cotterill of the TNT is worth your time.
Before he arrives at WSU, Daniels says he would like to add some muscle and reach out to his future teammates to find out how best to prepare to play in the Pac-12.
"I would like to add my strength and just learn more about the game between college and high school, it's very different," Daniels said. "Watch a lot of film and talk to the players that are there now and see what I can learn from them."
The Cougars now have one or two remaining scholarships to offer in this recruiting cycle, depending on whether or not recruit Jeff Pollard ends up attending prep school for a season before enrolling at WSU.
