One of West Texas' best was in attendance at 'Who Want the Smoke' in Dallas last weekend.
Amarillo guard Brendan Hausen recently joined Team Griffin, an AAU team founded by former OU stars Blake Griffin and Taylor Griffin, and competed well on the biggest stage.
"Coming in we knew it was going to be a big time game with a lot of media coverage. Just some of the guys we were playing, I knew it was going to be high level basketball. It was a fun experience and I definitely got better.
Compared to my normal high school games it can definitely be more high level at times. There are more dudes on the court who have the potential to play in college. It can be faster, a little bit different basketball but it can be a good change, as long as I keep doing the little things right."
Texas Tech is not a new program in Hausen's recruitment. The Red Raiders initially offered back in November 2019, and the 6-foot-5 combo guard has taken multiple unofficial visits to campus.
Of course, this is a new staff, and Hausen was glad to be re-offered by head coach Mark Adams.
"Coach Adams, I know he's been real busy with trying to get a new staff hired. He's trying to keep the program going and I think he'll keep that program going in the right direction.
He called me and basically was like 'we really love you, we really love that you can shoot the ball and that's what we're gonna do here. We're gonna open up the floor, play up and down, we want really skilled guys so we think you can come in and help us right away'. It was things like that."
Hausen was able to visit campus for the Kentucky game in January 2020, a few weeks before COVID shut down in-person recruiting. Several things have changed since, including Texas Tech building the Womble, and Hausen is looking forward to checking it out.
"Whenever I went on my unofficial last year they were getting the Womble built. So they took us through there and showed us the plan they had and everything, so I haven't seen it fully done yet but I'm definitely excited to get down there and see what they've got."
Currently Hausen holds 11 offers and says that other than Texas Tech, the following programs are the ones he hears the most from.
"I'm hearing the most from Utah State, Houston, Oklahoma, Utah, Nevada, Virginia Tech, Minnesota, schools like that.
I've got a visit to Nevada coming up, possibly Utah State, possibly Texas, I got Houston, Ole Miss and I'm going to Minnesota for sure."
Known as a knockdown shooter, Hausen averaged 17.6 points per game, 3.4 assists per game and made 90 threes on the season. He shot 91% from the free throw line and was the District 3-5A most valuable player, all-region and all-state in Class 5A.
Despite all the accolades, Hausen says there are a couple parts of his game he still feels are underrated.
"Definitely I'm a high level passer. I'm an ultra-competitor, I hate to lose. I'm more athletic than people think, I don't come off jumping 40 inch verticals but I can get up there, I can guard and I think I can really show that if I keep working."
Hausen will continue playing with Team Griffin this summer and staying in the gym, all while his recruitment heats up.
"This summer I'm just gonna be making a lot of shots, taking care of my body. Making sure my knees are okay, my ankles are okay, limiting injuries and just working on my athleticism."
