Arizona basketball fans know Casey Benson’s name well, and now he’s back in Tempe in a new role. Benson has been hired as an assistant coach for the Sun Devil men’s basketball program after spending the past season in the same position at Dream City Christian in Phoenix.
Benson’s path to the staff runs through one of the most decorated prep careers in Arizona history. At Corona Del Sol in Tempe, he spent four varsity seasons as a central piece of an AIA Division I state championship run and helped the Aztecs power through a stretch that produced three straight titles. His senior year finished with another state championship in 2014, along with Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year and Arizona Republic Player of the Year honors.
That final high school season showed just how complete he was. Benson averaged 17.8 points per game, 4.5 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.3 steals while shooting 53.6% from the field and 38.2% from three-point range.
His high school success brought major national recruiting attention, and he chose Oregon. Under Dana Altman, Benson became part of a Ducks program that rose into a Pac-12 force. In 2016-17, as a junior, he was on the Oregon team that reached the program’s first Final Four since 1939, with that tournament hosted in Phoenix.
Over three seasons at Oregon, Benson played in 113 games and finished with 90 wins in a Ducks uniform, which at the time ranked second in program history behind only Johnathan Loyd (97). He then returned home for his final college season at Grand Canyon University, where he helped the Lopes go 22-12.
Benson started all 34 games in 2017-18, when GCU reached the WAC Tournament Championship game and earned a berth in the College Basketball Invitational. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Oregon and a Master of Science in Leadership from Grand Canyon.
After college, Benson launched a professional career that took him across Europe. His first stop was Hopsi Polzela in Slovenia, followed by time in Finland with Korihait and in Bulgaria with BC Balkan Botevgrad.
He later returned to Slovenia for stretches with Zlatorog and Terme Olimia, then moved on to Belgium with Limburg United. In 2022, he also played for “Always Us”, an Oregon alumni-based The Basketball Tournament team.
His pro journey continued in Germany with Panthers Schwenningen and Dresden before he went back to Belgium and spent most of his final two seasons with the Leuven Bears.
Before arriving at Arizona State, Benson had already moved into the administrative and coaching side of the game again in his home state. He served as athletic director at Dream City Christian in Glendale last season while also working as an assistant coach for a nationally respected program that played a demanding schedule and featured several high-profile prospects drawing recruiting attention.
In Other News...
ASU Just Took Another Hit At Cornerback Before The Season
Arizona States secondary took another blow at Camp Tontozona when sophomore cornerback Nigel Pringle suffered a season-ending injury during a scrimmage, coach Kenny Dillingham announced. Pringle had transferred from Arkansas earlier this year and worked his way into the cornerback rotation through spring practices and preseason camp, giving the Sun Devils another experienced option at a position where competition has been ongoing all summer.
His loss comes on top of the departure of Michigan State transfer Chance Rucker, leaving ASU thinner at corner than it expected to be entering the season. The staff has already started adjusting, including moving junior Antoine Belgrave-Shorter from safety to cornerback, and the latest setback only raises the pressure on how quickly the group can settle before games begin. [Read more 🡒]