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NY forward French's hard work paying off

07/22/2015, 9:45pm EDT
By Ari Rosenfeld

Ari Rosenfeld (@realA_rosenfeld)
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If there’s one phrase that perfectly encapsulates Hasahn French’s game, it’s “matchup nightmare.”

All week at Hoop Group Elite Camp Session 2, dozens tried to slow French down, but no one quite had what it takes. That’s a bit surprising, seeing as all it takes is another 6-foot-6, 205 pound specimen with the strength to overpower defenders inside and the requisite skillset to also play on the perimeter.

In all seriousness, French might not have a true position at the next level--he’s a bit undersized for a high-major power forward, and a tad too ground-bound to consistently play on the wing--but so far, that hasn’t mattered.

And considering Kentucky coach John Calipari is declaring “positionless basketball” as the next step in the game’s evolution, maybe it never will.

As long as French continues to punish opponents with his multifaceted game, coaches will continue to come calling, oftentimes with scholarship offers in hand.

“They say I can play both positions at the ‘3’ and the ‘4’, because if I’ve got a bigger guy against me, I can go right past him, so it’s easier. I can handle it so I can go right past him,” French said. “If I’m in the post and there’s a guy smaller than me that can’t defend me, I know I’m stronger than him, then I’m gonna bully him in the paint.”

So far, the perpetual mismatch has earned offers from Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, UMass, Providence, Seton Hall, Minnesota, and Dayton, just to name a few. More high-majors--namely Connecticut, Miami, Indiana, and Villanova--have begun expressing interest recently.

Before the April live periods, French’s recruitment stood firmly in the mid-major range, with UMass of the Atlantic 10 being his highest level offer. Since then, he has continued to show off his rapidly improving perimeter game, which includes a workable 3-point shot and the ability to pass and handle like a point guard at times.

“Everybody told me, ‘Always start on the inside,’ so I always started around the basket,” French said. “When I was younger they used to have me as a center, then I just worked by myself on my handle and my shot.”

At his height, French needed those improvements in order to cement himself as a high-major player. A player like Dejuan Blair--Pitt’s former 6-foot-7 center--comes around every once in a blue moon, but it’s not easy for a 6-foot-6 player who works strictly on the interior to make it at the highest levels of college basketball.

With that knowledge in mind, French has worked diligently on expanding his game to the perimeter. He keeps a regimented workout schedule, going out on his own everyday to work on his game, specifically those parts of it that didn’t come naturally to him at his frame.

“I just motivate myself everyday to get up and go to the gym because I know where I want to be at the end of my high school career,” French said. “So I just get up every day, and I think it’s going very well so far. I keep a consistent schedule, going to the gym everyday and working on my shot and my handle.”

It’s clear where such self-discipline comes from for French, as the rising junior has spent the last two years attending school almost three hours from home. A New York Native, he attends Commonwealth Academy in Massachusetts, and credits his time at the New England prep school with teaching him valuable lessons in how to look after himself and become a man.

“It’s very different. You’ve got to get used to being by yourself and being alone and knowing that you can’t call on mom 24-7 to do things for you,” he said. “You’ve got to be your own man. I like it, it’s made me a better person.”

While it’s been his perimeter skillset that French has been focused on refining, he has no shortage of opportunities to bolster his inside game also.

As a member of the Nike-backed PSA Cardinals AAU program, he plays alongside five-star prospect and potential pro Mohammed Bamba, and gets to practice against 17U big men such as top-20 ranked Omari Spellman, a Villanova commit, plus Kassoum Yakwe, another top-100 prospect, and Samuel Japhet-Mathias, who also holds a bevy of high-major offers.

“It’s great because we get to battle against each other everyday,” French said. “Most of us are top players in the country or are aspiring to be top players in the country, even the young ones, so playing against high level kids everyday is great.”

The Cardinals brought in many of the top players in attendance at Hoop Group Elite Session 2, with French, Japhet-Mathias, Westtown’s Najja Hunter, and 2018 center Mamadou Doucoure all impressing with their play.

It was French, though, who stood out above all, and it’s easy to see why; although can’t be pigeonholed into a traditional position, French remains essentially unguardable at this level when he has his entire game working, and he knows it. Equipped with that knowledge, French steps on the court at all times with an attacking mindset.

“My mentality on the court stays the same 24-7 no matter who I’m playing, even if it’s the number one player in the country or a kid that’s not even ranked,” he said. “Everybody, even if somebody doesn’t have one offer, they’re still gonna come on the court and  try to battle with you and take your place, and want what you have. So knowing that, every single time I get on the court, I just get out and try to kill on the basketball court.”

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Photo credit: Josh Verlin/City of Basketball Love


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