The Grind, presented by The Bank of Clarendon: Sumter Christian's Danzy helping lift Bears to new heights

Growing up on a competitive basketball scene in New York, AJ Danzy learned at an early age that sports don't always come down to who the best player is on the court.

When he was just starting off in high school, he felt like he showed coaches he had the ability to star at the varsity level, but he wasn't given the opportunity. So, AJ moved down to South Carolina, where his father, Arthur, grew up with the hopes of finding a program that wanted to see him become the best version of himself.

After half of a season at North Central, he starred as a junior last year at Lee Academy. Then he transferred to Sumter Christian, where he's lifted the Bears to a dominant undefeated start.

But AJ isn't just a big fish in a little pond. After being overlooked in New York, his goal is to lift up a program that believes in him.

"I love the game of basketball," AJ said. "I wanted to go somewhere where I'm more needed and where the coaches love me and where I love to be at. I love to be where I'm needed."

People are starting to notice. On Tuesday, AJ was named one of the nominees to play in the McDonald's All-American game. He was one of three male athletes from South Carolina to be nominated.

EARLY INSPIRATION

AJ grew up with a father who was passionate about basketball. Arthur taught the sport to himself in his backyard growing up and poured all of his effort into the sport. When Arthur was at Bethune High School, his coach quit weeks into his senior season, leaving his final year of high school basketball in limbo.

That experience led Arthur to become a coach. He wanted to build an environment where kids could love the game and never worry about it being taken away. AJ had a front row seat to the process.

When AJ first started playing YMCA basketball, his team went winless under a coach who left Arthur underwhelmed. So Arthur and AJ built a father-son duo with players who were cut by other teams.

"The next three years, they went undefeated and won championships, and they were kids that people didn't want; they got cut from different teams," Arthur said. "Then I had my own organization called the New York Warriors where I got kids that got cut and we began to win championship after championship, and now everybody wants them now."

When AJ was in middle school, he turned his attention to varsity basketball. Coaches came calling for him to join their program, only to leave him on the bench.

"It was really complicated," AJ said. "There were a lot of really good players on one team. A lot of coaches didn't really see stuff I could do. I didn't feel like I was needed there, so I ended up moving somewhere where I felt like I was needed."

Suddenly, his father was flashing back to his own senior year of high school. After three years of watching AJ not get a shot, the Danzys looked for other opportunities.

"I didn't want him to get discouraged," Arthur said. "Me going through that as a kid, I couldn't let him go through that.

"I tell him all the time to go somewhere that you're needed, not somewhere where you're tolerated."

AJ tried to transfer to another New York school midseason as a sophomore but was told he'd have to sit out. Arthur, having grown up in South Carolina, suggested a move to the Palmetto State.

"I was like, 'Maybe we could give it a chance.' I just wanted to keep playing basketball," AJ said. "I wanted to go somewhere a team really needed help so I could so well I could really do there."

First came a stop at North Central, where Arthur had some connections. He then connected with another friend from his youth, Lee Gainey, who was the athletic director at Lee Academy last year. After half a season at North Central, AJ was a Cavalier.

TRANSITIONING SOUTH

Playing at Lee Academy was a new experience for AJ. The junior knew he could play but wasn't sure how to feel in a new place.

"At first, I was a little nervous," AJ admitted. "I felt like, maybe, I was giving up on myself too much, but I didn't want to give up on myself. After the first game, I felt real comfortable being on this team and the team made me feel like I could do this kind of stuff."

AJ thrived at Lee, repeatedly finishing as the team's leading scorer. Arthur was on the bench as an assistant, and the pair was able to continue to bond over basketball.

AJ also had to develop new skills. In New York, AJ was a pure shooter. Moving to Lee Academy, he had to handle the ball a little more, becoming more of a point guard.

"I love shooting all the time; that's my main thing. I just love going out there and shooting," AJ said. "I just realized that I have to come up with the ball, set some plays up and get everyone to score too. It's a team game, so I want everyone else to score too."

When the season was over, AJ decided to look for a new challenge.

COMING TO SUMTER CHRISTIAN

During AJ's junior season, Sumter Christian was experiencing a breakout season. The program started to fall into place, as they advanced to the quarterfinals of the South Carolina Association of Christian Schools (SCACS) playoffs, falling just short in an overtime defeat.

As AJ looked for a new school, he felt like the Bears were a team he could help push to the next level.

When AJ transferred to Sumter Christian, he started to form bonds with his eventual teammates before they even stepped foot on the court.

"The chemistry was really strong," he said. "As soon as I got there, they came up to me to talk to be and they all wanted to be my friend. I was like, 'Wow, I actually kinda like these guys, these guys are really cool.' I gave them a chance and when we got onto the basketball court, the chemistry got stronger."

Head coach David Adams was originally concerned about the way his players would feel about a new star player coming in to take away scoring opportunities. But once the team got on the court, all of those worries went away.

"Even before the season really started, you can see the friendships building with him. It really wasn't really based on the basketball program. They kind of naturally took to each other," David said. "Which was good. There wasn't the feeling that we had to like said split the offense."

With AJ in the mix, Sumter Christian has exploded. They're out to a 10-0 start to their season, and most of their games haven't been close. A 54-50 win over Northside Christian is the only game where the opposition has been within striking distance. Most games have been decided by more than 30 points.

That's partially due to the talent Sumter Christian already had on the roster. Quayshawn White and Caden Atkinson are two accomplished scorers in their own right, so teams that focus all of their attention on AJ are quickly burned.

"The (opposing) defense, instead of having to be concerned about a couple of hot hands, now you've got the trifecta, basically," David said. "Teams have run a Box-and-1 on AJ before, and it doesn't work out well for them because when they try to shut him down, there's Quay to worry about, there's Caden to worry about. It's definitely a good thing."

More importantly, AJ has made his teammates better and they've helped him evolve as a point guard and leader.

"Really, it diversified Quayshawn because he was a good offensive player, and he's still a good offensive player but now his assists and his defense has picked up," David said. "Caden is another one who has really improved.

"The whole team, it was kinda like Legos; the just kinda fell into place."

AJ has loved having an offensive weapon like Quayshawn at his side this season.

"I love playing with Quayshawn; that's one of my closest friends," he said. "We're both really good scorers. When I come up and see him down low, give him a great pass. He sees me, he gives me a great assist. I love passing the ball to him, he's a great scorer, he can score on every level."

Passing has gone from a necessity to one of AJ's favorite parts of the game.

"My coaches put a vision in our head that we want to win the state championship," AJ said. "We want to go undefeated and win a state championship. They put a vision that we want to go out there and win, play strong and have good offense and defense. We love our coaches for doing that, seeing the vision they put in us. They can see greatness inside of us."

FUTURE IN HOOPS

AJ has big goals on the basketball court, but he isn't looking past this season as the thinks about the future.

"First, we want to win this championship," AJ said. "Second, I want to go to a Division I college. Third, I would like to see myself winning an NCAA championship before being drafted into the NBA."

The Sumter Christian senior wants to find the right spot, but it's not his only focus as he closes out his time with the Bears.

"I've got some people looking at me," AJ said. "I just like to play my game. Even if I see one of them out there, I have to make sure I'm focused, playing my game, making sure I'm making everyone else score. Because I want to see my friends go to a DI college. I would love to see all my other friends playing basketball, still."

The recruitment process has been an interesting journey for AJ. He's talked with several local programs, including South Carolina State, but he and Arthur are approaching his collegiate recruitment the same way they thought about high school basketball.

"It's a monster. He was talking to a coach yesterday who told him you have to go to a school where the coach loves you. I would rather him go to a team with someone that can share the love and put that in him," Arthur said. "We actually like the teams that go 0-20. We email them and tell them he can help them out. I want him to go help a team, I don't want him to go to a team that's 35-0 and he won't get that playing time. I think we've emailed like 100 teams."

Simply put, AJ isn't just trying to find a good program, he's trying to find the right one.

"I'm looking for where a coach would love me," AJ said. "I wanna see myself at like South Carolina State or maybe Winthrop or Tennessee Tech or Coastal Carolina. A pretty good school that cherishes me being around there."

PUTTING IN THE WORK WITH POPS

AJ and Arthur always train together all year long. Arthur wants to prepare his son for the challenge of collegiate athletics, even it can be taxing.

"We definitely do things to keep him in shape, work on his legs, work on his arms, work on his jump shot," Arthur said. "I push him around because he's a little skinny. I tell him the next guard that he'll play in D1 is just like me, he's like 200 pounds, he'll have to go against that kind of stuff. I call him a little Kevin Durant because he needs to get some meat on his bones.

"He has to make 1,000 shots before he leaves the gym, he works on his dribble, but mainly working on his mind, his mentality, who he is as a leader."

Of course, there have been countless battles of 1-on-1 hoops. For years, Arthur had the upper hand, but when AJ turned 15, he started to get after his old man.

"I had that mentality where I wanted to beat him," AJ said. "When I finally beat him, I was so happy, I ran across the gym."

Some fathers may have let their son get an easy win once. Not Arthur.

"I didn't give it to him, he earned it," he said. "It was very satisfying. It made me proud of him."

GROWING AS A LEADER

AJ is a quiet kid, but he has worked to become a more vocal leader on and off the court. Before he came to a single practice, David knew he found a good one in AJ when he saw the senior talking with some younger athletes in the gym.

"I didn't really know him at the time, but the very first thing I noticed about him is that he seems like he really has a heart about helping some of the younger kids," David said. "Some of the younger JV players here, their skillsets are a little underdeveloped and they're working on them and when AJ is in here, rather than come out here and try to dominate them on the floor, he'll stop and say, 'This is how you need to hold the ball, this is your follow throw.' He'll work with some of the younger guys.

"He'll show off a little bit to them just so they can see if they work hard, this is what can happen, but he's not trying to dunk on a seventh grader. I noticed he liked working with younger kids and it showed me he has a soft heart."

AJ's leadership is also starting to show when he's watching his teammates from the sideline.

"We really want everyone on the bench to score too. The starters, we want to score our points, go to the bench and see the bench players score. We love seeing them score," AJ said. "It's the best thing ever, we come off the bench getting hyped up, jumping around."

No matter where he goes next, AJ just wants to help a team take the next step.

"I just love to help teams that need help, and I love to help coaches that see something I can do," AJ said. "I just like to go out there and do what I can do. And I just love being at Sumter Christian."