Los Angeles 2025 guard Samari Bankhead commits to UCF

Highly-recruited 2025 prospect Samari Bankhead has committed to the UCF Knights, she announced on Wednesday. She chose UCF over San Diego State and Utah State. 

“Mainly, it was the coach – Coach [Sytia] Messier. I mean, she is an amazing woman. Just watching her in practice and how she was with the girls really helped me with my decision as well, because I want to play for a good coach and a coach who has knowledge and knows a lot about the game. So, she was one of the main reasons I decided on UCF.” 

Samari Bankhead, a 6-foot guard from Los Angeles Windward School, grew up traveling to Florida and recently took an official visit to Orlando.

“I kind of grew up going to Florida,” Samari Bankhead said. “My mom would always take me and my little brother to Disney World. I went to Florida a lot as I grew up. So with Florida, I mean, I just loved it as soon as I got there. Orlando is a great place. I like the weather too. It’s hot and has rainy days. So I just loved it overall. It was just a great place. It has a great vibe, obviously, too.”

Beyond just the area, Bankhead loves the way the Knights play and can see herself fitting into their system well. 

“Playing wise, they play super fast and intensely,” Bankhead said. “So they see me – and I see myself – there as a 3. They’ll have me there at the 3 spot when I go there, and that’s mainly the position I grew up on, so that’s how I would see myself in their offense.”

But the biggest draw for Samari Bankhead: the relationships she formed with the coaching staff. 

“My relationship started off with coach [Walter] Pitts,” Bankhead said. “I was mainly talking to him a lot before I went on my visit, and then I slowly started talking to the other coaching staff. As soon as I got there, it was just an instant connection. I’d kind of already felt that these coaches are people I can see myself getting coached by, so it was just the relationship I had with the coaches that really helped me. I had a strong individual connection with each coach, which was good.”