ariza and schaen

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Trevor Ariza, Harrison Schaen Showcased
At NJ Gymrats Midnight Madness--(Oct. 8, 2001)

Harrison Schaen (6'-9" Jr. F) from Mater Dei really loves Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Just ask him and he'll tell you, he just can't seem get enough of the place. Or so it seems. Last year Harrison attended Rick Barrett's "Midnight Madness" in Cherry Hill, and that was Harrison's second trip to the town to play basketball, which is about five minutes to the east of Camden, New Jersey (home of Dejaun Wagner), and just a stone's throw across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. Harrison's first trip to Cherry Hill for hoops took place two summers ago, as his Orange County Maccabi team took the silver medal, losing to LA's Maccabi team.

The Midnight Madness event is not technically a recruiting event, nor is it technically speaking an "exposure" event, because like most other events this fall, no D-I coaches could attend. But it's the type of event which always gets a good crop of internet and basketball media types, and it's a "must" for kids who want to stake their reputations against the best players from all over the East Coast, as well as those who make the trek from the midwest and California.

The Gym Rats event this year was held on the weekend of 29-30, and while Dinos Trigonis (who also went on the trip) sent us a report early last week, it just got lost in the shuffle and buried among a ton of other e-mail we've had to cope with in the past few days. But, as we say, better late than never, so the report is below.

And as you will see, this year, Harrison was accompanied by Trevor Ariza (6'-8" Jr. F/G) from Westchester, who had an absolutely phenomenal showing at ABCD, impressing just about everyone, and establishing himself as one of the most productive scorers at the camp, not to mention one of the top junior prospects in the country. Here's Dinos' report:

Two of Southern California's top juniors showcased their skills at the 2001 Gymrats Mid-Night All-American Madness showcase games in Cherry Hill NJ last Saturday. 6'8" Trevor Ariza (Los Angeles Westchester) had 18 points/7 rebounds/5 assists in the "underclass all-american" game and 15 points/8 rebounds/6 assists in the "top all-american" game. 6'9" Harrison Schaen (Santa Ana Mater Dei) played just 4 minutes in the underclass all-american game before sustaining a foot injury, but was impressive in his brief stint with 4 points/5 rebounds/2 assists/2 block shots. Schaen unofficially visited Princeton on Saturday morning. Ariza is well on his way to becoming potentially the most highly recruited player out of Westchester in quite sometime and this is reflected by his high pre-season junior rankings in all the college basketball previews that have been published so far including Sporting News College Basketball Yearbook (16th in the nation), Athlon Basketball Yearbook (17th), and Lindsay College Basketball Preview (20th as listed by Future Stars' Van Coleman). Schaen is ranked #30 in the nation by Lindsay.