Two summers ago, Dominique Daniels Jr. had a ton of options.
The 5-foot-10-inch point guard had just completed an electric first year at Cal Baptist after two years at San Bernardino Valley College; at 19 points a game, he was the second-highest scorer in the conference. Cal Baptist was on an upward trajectory, and he knew he’d found a home. But big schools were calling. Bigger opportunities were calling. He wasn’t sure what to do next.
How did he end up making a decision?
He prayed, and he fasted.
For a long time.
“At least two, three weeks,” Daniels said.
No food, just water.
“I didn’t know it was two weeks,” CBU head coach Rick Croy said. “If I knew it was two weeks, I maybe would have intervened.”
“But I do know what’s most important to him, and that’s what’s fueled his journey,” he added.
Daniels ultimately chose to stay at CBU, and has set the world on fire his last two years. An all-WAC first teamer last year with 19 points per game, he upped his game this year, scoring over 23 points per game – fifth best in the country – to be named WAC player of the year.
Being the coveted transfer was a large change from the position he’d been in just a couple of years before. A Compton, California native, Daniels attended four different high schools, and had zero offers from Division I colleges.
“Not getting any offers out of high school definitely hurt me when I was younger. I was only 18 at the time. So, I had to do a lot of rethinking,” Daniels said. “I almost quit playing basketball around the time COVID started. I prayed, and the Lord told me to keep going. So I kept going.”
CBU is sure glad he did, as they now find themselves in their first Division I NCAA tournament in program history.
“The fact that we’re here is a testament to the people we have in the locker room. We have an old-school group that plays for the front of the jersey,” Croy said.
They have a group of team-first guys, but they also have a guy that few mid-majors have the luxury of having.
“Yeah, I mean, Dom’s amazing. He is an incredibly disciplined person,” Croy said. “I mean, from how he spends his time, to what’s important to him, to his commitment – there’s been times where we get back from a road trip at 1:00 am…he’s going to be at Church on Sunday with his family, in Compton.”
It truly feels like when it comes to figuring out how to spend his time, he’s unlocked a way to make his days more than 24 hours. Besides being a basketball player with NBA aspirations,/ Daniels is also a guitarist at his home church, where his other family members are also musicians.
But for all of his obvious special talents on the court, he breaks down his game more simply. Asked how he would describe his game, he pointed to his hard work and competitive drive.
“I like to say I play hard every possession,” he said. “I feel like I’m a pretty tough guy on the court, despite my size and what other people may think about me as a basketball player. I just compete every possession. I’m a competitor.”
His teammates provided a bit more of the secret sauce. “The fastest player I’ve ever played with, ever. You know that really helps,” senior guard Martel Williams said. “He brings a lot of toughness and leadership to the squad. Helps everybody else’s roles become a lot smoother.”
“He’s one of the most humble guys I’ve ever met,” Jayden Jackson, another senior guard for the Lancers, said. “He’s not flaunting anything or anything like that, and he’s always been a team-oriented guy.”
“And for Dom to come back and be with this winning program and also be a leader as well in the fight every day, “Jackson added, “I haven’t seen guys work as hard as Dom ever in my career.”
Many players in his position would have left for more money. Daniels did not, and it’s not lost on Croy.
“It’s very rare,” Croy said. “And we don’t take it for granted.”
“Ten years ago, or even five to seven years ago, when you met with recruits, the number one question for the coaches was, ‘How do you help me become a pro?” Croy went on. “…where that paradigm shifted is that now, oftentimes it’s not how do I become a pro, it’s how do I make the most money that I can possibly make during this four- to five- year window of college. What I would say is I think the best ones, the very best players, still believe they can play in the NBA. Like, I believe Dominique Daniels, Jr. will play in the NBA. I think he believes that. He’ll find his way. I would never bet against him.”
Even legendary Bill Self on the other bench has had to fully gameplan for a single player on a 13-seed opponent.
“He can score on anybody, any level. He’s capable of getting 30, 35 any night. You’ve got to limit his touches,” Self said. “The thing that I think is so interesting about him is he is so downhill and he’s a good shooter, without question. But his speed and strength and shiftiness makes it hard to switch makes it hard to hedge without being split. He can put a lot of pressure on the defense every possession.”
Asked if he’d heard about Daniels before, Self jumped in, saying, “Yes, I have, but not to the level that he deserves to be heard about.”
“You’re not going to guard Dominique with one guy,” Self added.
Cal Baptist is an underdog heading into tonight’s matchup with Kansas – at 9:55 PM ET on CBS – in San Diego, just a bus ride from the CBU campus in Riverside – their first bus ride of the year. They do have a travel advantage over the visiting 4-seed, something rare for 13-seeds, but they also have a weapon that most 13-seeds don’t have.
Asked how they would compete as a team, Daniels said, “I’m not the only guy that can score on the team. We got pretty good guys up here next to me in Jayden Jackson and Martel Williams. So just being able to figure out the game in real time and just being able to play the way that we play and hunting singles as we always do.”
“We’re trying to outcompete Kansas. We’re not trying to shock anybody, we’re trying to out compete them. There’s things that we have to do. They present tremendous challenges,” Croy said. “We’ve been in some big scraps. Obviously, this is a bigger stage, but we have a confident team.”
And when you have a player as confident as Dom Daniels, the outcome might not be a shock after all.
