Bennett Vander Plas (born September 19, 1998) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for

Dziki Warsaw Dziki Warszawa (in English: Dziki Warsaw) is a Polish men's basketball club, based in Warsaw. The team currently plays in the PLK, the Polish first division. The club was established in 2017 on the basis of another basketball club MKS Ochota W ...

of the

Polish Basketball League Polska Liga Koszykówki (PLK) (English language, English: Polish Basketball League), officially known as the Orlen Basket Liga due to its sponsorship by Orlen, is a professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Poland. I ...

(PLK). He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946 ...

and

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as Wahoos or Hoos, are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic Coast C ...

. Vander Plas was the Division I Academic All-American of the Year in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

High school career

Vander Plas graduated from Ripon High School in

Ripon, Wisconsin Ripon () is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,863 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is surrounded by the Ripon (town), Wisconsin, Town of Ripon. Ripon is home to the Little White S ...

. Over his playing career he averaged 16 points, 10 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.8 steals while playing for his father Dean Vander Plas. He was a three-year team captain and earned First Team All-

East Central Conference The East Central Conference is a high school athletic conference in Wisconsin. Originally founded in 1970, it was disbanded in 2001 and remained defunct until its reconstitution in 2015. It will be dissolved again after 2024-25 school year, and al ...

three times. After both his junior and senior year he earned conference player of the year and first team all-state. As a senior he led Ripon to an undefeated regular season and a state tournament appearance. He played AAU basketball with the Wisconsin Playmakers. He was rated a 2-star recruit by Rivals and committed to

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

College career

Ohio

Vander Plas

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

during the 2017–18 season with a leg injury. He averaged 8.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game during his freshman season In spite of only starting one game he earned

MAC Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

Freshman of the Year honors. He started all 31 games his

sophomore year In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

while averaging 15.7 points and 6.9 rebounds a game. He was named All-MAC Third Team for the first time. He averaged 12.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists his junior season and earned All-MAC Third Team for the second straight season. He was named an Academic All-American after the season. He scored 26 points in the MAC tournament semi-final against

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

and 9 points in the MAC Championship against

Buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...

. Ohio upset defending national champion

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Vander Plas led Ohio with 17 points including 10 straight for the Bobcats near the end of the second half which saw the Bobcats go from down one to ahead by seven. Vander Plas averaged 14.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists for his senior season and notched only the fourth triple double in program history against

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the United States, U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said t ...

. He scored a career high 30 points in a home win against

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. He earned All-MAC First Team honors and was named Division I Academic All-American of the Year by the College Sports Information Directors of America, now known as

College Sports Communicators College Sports Communicators (CSC) is a membership association for all strategic, creative and digital professionals working in intercollegiate athletics across all levels for colleges, universities and conferences across the United States and Cana ...

(CSC). After five years at Ohio, Vander Plas had earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in communications, a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in sport administration, and a master's degree in management. After the season he entered the transfer portal

Virginia

On April 23, 2022, Vander Plas announced that he had committed to

. Vander Plas averaged 24.8 minutes, 7.4 points, and 4.6 rebounds starting most regular season games for the ACC co-champion

Cavaliers The term ''Cavalier'' () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of Charles I of England and his son Charles II of England, Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum (England), Int ...

. During a practice prior to Virginia's quarterfinal game of the ACC tournament vs.

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

he broke his hand and he missed the entirety of the post season. He repeated as Division I Academic All-American of the Year.

Professional career

Riesen Ludwigsburg (2023)

On August 4, 2023, he signed with

MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg BG Ludwigsburg, for sponsorship reasons MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg (), is a professional basketball club that is based in Ludwigsburg, Germany. The club currently plays in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the first tier of basketball in Germany. Fo ...

of the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

BC Šiauliai (2023–2024)

On November 30, 2023, Vander Plas signed with

BC Šiauliai BC Šiauliai () is the professional basketball club of Šiauliai, Lithuania. The club competes in the Lithuanian Basketball League. It has won the 3rd place award (behind Lithuanian basketball giants BC Lietuvos Rytas, Lietuvos Rytas and BC Žalgi ...

of the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

Jämtland Basket (2024–2025)

On August 14, 2024, Vander Plas signed with

Jämtland Basket KFUM Jämtland Basket is a basketball club founded in based in Östersund, Sweden. Founded in 1956, the team plays in the Swedish Basketball League (SBL), the Swedish top basketball league. Home games are played in the Östersunds Sporthall, which ...

of the Svenska Basketligan

Dziki Warsaw (2025–present)

On July 16, 2025, he signed with

of the

(PLK).

Personal life

He is the son of Ripon High School basketball coach Dean Vander Plas who played with current Virginia head coach

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

at Wisconsin-Green Bay under Tony's father and then head coach

Dick Bennett Richard A. Bennett (born April 20, 1943) is an American former college basketball coach who is best known for building the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix men's basketball program into a mid-major power and revitalizing the Wisconsin Badgers basket ...

. Vander Plas is named after the Bennett family.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 1 , , 23.2 , , .407 , , .309 , , .707 , , 5.2 , , 1.5 , , 0.9 , , 0.5 , , 8.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 33.0 , , .492 , , .299 , , .593 , , 6.9 , , 2.8 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 15.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 25 , , 25 , , 33.8 , , .432 , , .347 , , .764 , , 5.8 , , 3.8 , , 1.4 , , 0.6 , , 12.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 35 , , 35.3 , , .457 , , .338 , , .725 , , 6.8 , , 3.1 , , 1.8 , , 0.5 , , 14.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 15 , , 24.8 , , .412 , , .303 , , .509 , , 4.6 , , 1.4 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 7.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 151 , , 107 , , 30.1 , , .447 , , .321 , , .658 , , 5.9 , , 2.5 , , 1.2 , , 0.5 , , 11.8 Source:

References

External links

Virginia Cavaliers bioOhio Bobcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vander Plas, Ben 1998 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Lithuania American men's basketball players Basketball players from Wisconsin BC Šiauliai players Ohio Bobcats men's basketball players People from Ripon, Wisconsin Power forwards Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball players