Chicago State transfer Brandon Betson commits to Tulsa
After finishing his official visit to Tulsa earlier last week, Chicago State transfer point guard Brandon Betson committed to the Golden Hurricane on Friday, May 6.
“When I first got off the flight with my mother, Coach (Eric Konkol) was there outside of the airport,” Betson told Inside Tulsa Sports on Friday evening. “I thought the assistant coaches were going to pick me up, but luckily, it was him. He helped me and my mom pack the bags in the car, so that was really a big thing to me.
“The visit just went well the whole time. He showed us around Tulsa. The facilities are great, and I got to meet some of the team too. Sam Griffin, Tim (Dalger) and other players. It was just all really special to me. It just felt like it was family-oriented there, and I would be pushed to my limits for basketball purposes, so I just felt comfortable with it.”
Tulsa’s basketball facilities also made a big impression.
“The facilities were special,” said Betson. “What really stood out to me was the nutrition center. They just had their own kitchen filled up with protein shakes, they had their own cook back there and everything. That was cool.”
The 6-foot-1 and 180-pound point guard entered the transfer portal on April 24, and his phone immediately began to blow up. Tulsa, Oregon State, Wright State, Santa Clara and Tennessee Tech were just a few of the programs that heavily pursued Betson.
“I was kind of worried about jumping into the portal because I jumped in the portal late, and I was figuring there’s probably people at my position already going here and there, so it might be too late to jump in the portal,” he explained. “But I just prayed on it, and I felt it was the best decision for me basketball-wise to jump in the portal.
“Luckily, the first day, I had about fifty phone calls – I kid you not. Coach (Konkol), he stood out to me. And the whole coaching staff – Coach (Duffy) Conroy, Coach (Yaphett) King – they really stood out to me.”
Despite growing up in California, the Oakland-born Betson was fairly familiar with the Tulsa program.
“I was kind of familiar with the University and the basketball program because I kind of followed Tulsa when I was growing up as a kid,” he described. “I used to always see them play on national television. When I got the call from them, I kind of knew what the program was about, the basketball culture and things of that nature.”
As a junior at Chicago State, Betson led the team in scoring at 14.2 points per game with a season-high 31 points in the regular season finale at Seattle. He also led the team in three-point field goals made (79) and three-point field goal percentage (.371).
The second-team All-WAC selection averaged 2.8 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game while shooting 83.6 percent from the charity stripe. He also converted two game-winning scores on last-second, last-possession opportunities.
“I’m a dynamic guard. At Chicago State, I showed my scoring ability, but this coming year at Tulsa, I want to show that I can be a complete point guard,” he said. “My passing is underrated. I really want to show the country that I can pass really well. Everyone knows I can score, so I really want to show that.”
Betson began his college career at San Bernardino (CA) College, where he averaged 19.5 points per game as a freshman, with a season-high 45 points while shooting 41.5 percent from beyond the three-point arc. He played his sophomore season at Daytona State, averaging 17.3 points per game in 19 games.
Due to the extra Covid year, Betson has two years of eligibility remaining. With his commitment, Tulsa now has two scholarships remaining.
The Hurricane coaches have been aggressively pursuing big men in both the transfer portal and junior college. 6-9 Bryant Selebangue of Florida Southwestern made an official visit to TU along with Betson.
