N.J. Prep-schooler Commits to MU

By Todd Rosiak
10/1/06, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Marquette Golden Eagles on Sunday morning received an oral commitment from Patrick Hazel, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward from Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J.

Hazel informed coach Tom Crean of his commitment via a cellphone message, not long after returning from a three-day official visit to the MU campus.

"I was thinking about committing while I was up there, but I just wanted to take a day, take a deep breath and think about it first," Hazel said early Sunday afternoon. "Sleep on it. I called coach Crean this morning and left him a message. He knows about it. I'm really excited. I'm ready to go."

Hazel is the third member of MU's 2007-'08 recruiting class, joining La Crosse Aquinas guard Scott Christopherson and St. Bernard's (St. Paul, Minn.) forward Trevor Mbakwe.

MU was involved with Hazel for less than two weeks prior to his commitment, but moved quickly because of the package he brought to the table. In fact, Crean offered Hazel a scholarship immediately following the first workout he witnessed of Hazel's at Blair, where he matched up against teammate and Texas recruit Alexis Wangmene.

"He came up and he really liked the way I played," said Hazel. "He said he loved me since the first time he saw me play and he wanted me to come up. He offered me a full ride that day."

Prior to committing Hazel had taken only one other official visit, to Rhode Island last weekend. Over the summer Hazel unofficially visited Lehigh, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, St. Joseph's and Hofstra.

Hazel said despite those visits, he was holding out hope that a Big East school would become interested.

"I wanted to see what everybody else had to offer, but I was still going to wait on a Big East school because that's what I was looking forward to," he said. "Patience pays. I just had to be patient with it, that's what I did and it finally worked out."

Blair coach Joe Mantegna said in his opinion it would have only been a matter of time before other Big East schools would have gotten involved with Hazel.

"He would have had multiple Big East and other power conferences had he waited," said Mantegna.

But the thing we liked so much about Marquette for Pat is that they were in early and loved him for him, not after 10 guys had fallen through the cracks in the early period. Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John's, they were all sniffing around. Georgia called, some Pac-10s had called.

"Patrick is not the first guy you're going to go after if you're recruiting off the scouting services."

Mantegna estimated Hazel averaged 8 points and 8 rebounds a game last season at Blair, where he started and played alongside highly touted Boston College recruit Shamari Spears.

"He's sort of like our undersized Ben Wallace," he said. "He plays harder than any kid I've ever coached here except for maybe Royal Ivey, who played at Texas. Pat's a great defender, rebounds outside of his plane, runs the court as well as any 6-7, 6-8 kid you want to see, and has worked tremendously hard to round out his offensive game, which is improving by leaps and bounds.

"But it's still probably the weakest piece right now."

A native of Queens, N.Y., Hazel is also a standout student who credits his parents with helping him progress to this point. His father is a corrections officer at Rikers Island and his mother an accountant at Chase Manhattan Bank.

"He's a tough cookie. He stays on me, but my mom does too," Hazel said. "They're both really there for me all the time, whenever I need help."

Added Mantegna: "He's going to help Marquette win because he does all the garbage that most kids don't want to do that makes you win. He's unselfish to a T, he's a team guy and he's a real uniting personality in the locker room and school. He's just a tremendous kid."

Interestingly, on his visit to Milwaukee Hazel was able to spend a little time with one of Blair's most famous alums -- Charlie Villanueva of the Bucks. Villanueva starred at Blair before heading to Connecticut, and eventually the NBA.

"I got to talk to him when I was up there in Milwaukee this weekend," Hazel said. "I got to see the Bucks work out and all that stuff. That's a motivation too."

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