Prospect Profile: Landon Vanderwarker
The 6'7 wing made a giant splash his first year at Delaware Hayes. He shares how he grew as a player, his upcoming visits and the possibility of joining a former teammate in college
COLUMBUS, OH - Not many players can say they’ve had a five-month stretch that Landon Vanderwarker experienced from late October towards the end of March. With just over a month before the start of the high school season, the versatile 6’7 wing transferred to his home school of Delaware Hayes after outside circumstances led him to leave Northside Christian, where he was named First-team All-Ohio in Division IV as a sophomore.
Vanderwarker wasn’t just moving up to Division I competition, but he joined a Pacers team that had serious aspirations to complete something they hadn’t done in 38 years; win a district title and beyond.
The result? Vanderwarker and the Pacers completed the best season in program history, as they went 27-2, won their first regional championship and fell one point short of beating the eventual state champions, Cleveland St. Ignatius, in the final four. Vanderwarker played every minute of that bout and led all scorers with 21 points along with nine rebounds and four blocks. He would be named Third-team All-Ohio and averaged 16.3 points along with seven rebounds and two assists per game.
Now, Vanderwarker enters his senior year ready to build on that success. But first, he has a college decision to make as he navigates his seven offers.
270 Hoops caught up with him to see where his recruitment stands, his brief, but so far impactful time at Hayes and more.
270 Hoops: On the surface, it appeared your first year at Hayes was pretty darn successful. But I’m curious, what were your takeaways after going through the season?
Landon Vanderwarker: It was great. I mean, the beginning of the year was a little different, going from a small Division IV school to one of the best basketball teams in Division I. To go as far as we did in my first year in DI, I was amazed and the amount of growth that I had strictly playing from DIV to DI, it was drastic. It was amazing in terms of success, but also growth, recruitment and skill wise.
Are there certain things that stood out from being in the program, that you felt helped make you a better player?
I will say, through coach Vincenzo and now playing at this different level has really helped me be more patient. At the beginning of the year, I remember the first practice, the defense was so different. Every time I tried to force stuff, I was either getting the ball stolen or had a bad shot, but by the end of the year, coach taught me to let the game come to me and not force anything, be more patient.
And just being a good teammate, more of a leader. We have a ton of other good players and I had to step up my game.
The Hayes team and community is pretty tight-knit, but it seemed like you were able to instantly fit in. Was it a pretty seamless transition?
Oh yeah, but it was a little rough at the beginning, meeting new people. It’s like, “hey, these are the kids you’re going to practice with, just a week after you got to school.” But coach V, the rest of the staff and the team were super welcoming. I got to know them and create a relationship with all of them. Playing for Northside Christian, it’s smaller and the community is not as big, but at Hayes, all of Delaware, everyone is by your side, has your back. I was surprised by so many things, as people encouraged me and kids would come up asking for pictures, it was just cool. So I give a lot of credit to the team, the coaches and the fans for the transition, you can feel the love. The first game, the gym was sold out. What else can you ask for?