Given Daylen Berry’s two-way capabilities, positional size, and ability to shoot the ball, I’ve found it surprising that he only has one offer and doesn’t have more going on in his recruitment overall. He’s a true 6’4″ and has a reliable jumper that he elevates well on and knocks down from various spots on the court. While Berry can fill it up, I really like the defensive contributions that he makes also. His combination of long arms, effort, and solid athleticism allow him to be a problem in passing lanes and protect the rim exceptionally for a guard. His production was there all year long for a 22-7 Panther Creek team, averaging 17.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 2.2 SPG, and 1.5 BPG while garnering All-District honors. He plays with a really good Garner Road 2021 group that will be watched closely, so even though it may be taking longer for him to get his warranted looks, I’m sure they will come. Below, Daylen gives his thoughts on this past season, where he wants to improve, and his goals for next year.
*Update- Berry received his 2nd offer from Winthrop the night of March 30th and was also contacted by George Mason and UNC-Wilmington on the 30th.
Daylen Berry Junior Highlights: https://www.hudl.com/video/3/10346654/5e7d2a6ad45e150e7c610d25
Recruitment: Offers from Winthrop & UNCG. Interest from UGA, East Carolina, Belmont, UNC-Wilmington, George Mason, and NC Central.
You received All-District honors and your team had a 22-7 record this year- Recap your junior season overall, what do you think you did well and what did you guys do well as a team?
“I think I had a pretty solid junior season, it didn’t quite end the way I wanted it to but overall I think I accomplished some of the goals I set for myself. This year I believe I became a better leader for my team. At the beginning of the year my coach challenged me to become that leader for us, especially after Justin McKoy left for college we needed that guy to help lead our team.”
“As a team I think we did a lot of things well. We didn’t start the season off the best, but over time we really got things going and everyone bought into their role. We were really good at pushing the ball up and being efficient especially with starting 4 PG’s.”
When I watched you in December, I thought you showed good improvement from last summer. What were your areas of focus going into this season? Did you get better at anything as the season went along?
“The areas of improvement I really wanted to focus on from December to the post-season
were really just becoming a better shooter, improving my ball-handling, and mainly
getting stronger. I believe I did a pretty good job at all three and those are still my main focus for next year and this upcoming travel season.”
From what I’ve seen, I feel like you’re under-recruited. What do you think the next step is for you this summer to show coaches that you’re deserving of offers?
“The next step for me for this upcoming summer is just going out and playing hard, I can only control what I can control so by just continuing to work on my game I think everything will pay off at the end of the day.”
Do you feel like you have any unique aspects to your game or anything that sets you apart/makes you different from most other players?
“Yes, I do feel like I have unique aspects to my game. I’m able to play and guard more than just one position, and I’m able to play on or off the ball 1-3. So I think that sets me apart from others.”
Looking ahead to your senior season, what type of expectations do you have for yourself and for the team? What do you think needs to happen for you guys to make a deep run in the state playoffs?
“For my upcoming senior season some goals I have for myself are to improve on things I didn’t exactly do well last season, and I also want to win Conference POY. For the team, we want to win as many games as possible and win our conference.”
relentless-hoops.com 