In-state 2016 forward makes visit to Indiana

A new name on Indiana's recruiting radar is Brachen Hazen, a 6-7 junior-to-be from Columbia City.

Hazen, one of the top in-state prospects in the 2016 class, took an unofficial visit to Indiana on Monday.

"He's kind of under-the-radar right now," Columbia City coach Chris Benedict said. "He missed his freshman year with a back injury and didn't get a chance to play so that was a setback. We had a really good team that year and a lot of guys graduated, but he probably would have been in the mix."

Hazen, who plays for the Spiece Indy Heat travel team, returned as a sophomore to lead Columbia City in scoring (11.2 ppg) and rebounding (7.1) for a team that finished 10-13 starting two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman, the latter Hazen's 6-5 brother, Parker.

"If he wouldn't have had the back injury, he would have had a chance to play with an experienced team as a freshman," Benedict said. "But he jumped right in there as a sophomore even though he was thrown into the fire on an awfully young team. We were playing pretty well by the end of the year."

Benedict said Indiana's interest in Hazen is relatively recent. He also attended Purdue's elite camp last summer and has stayed on the Boilermakers' radar. A number of other programs have started to reach out to Benedict after seeing Hazen play during an evaluation period last month.

"He had a really good weekend and caught the eye of (Indiana) and several other schools," Benedict said. "There are a lot of (colleges) calling to see what our schedule looks like."

Hazen's older sister, Gabrielle, is a senior volleyball standout at Columbia City and has signed with Northwestern. Benedict said Hazen is fully recovered from the back injury that cost him his freshman season and expects his college interest to continue to ramp up.

"He's 6-7 right now and probably still growing," Benedict said. "He probably has a chance to get another inch or two. He's a versatile guy who can go inside and outside. He has to play in the paint quite a bit for us but he can get out on the floor. He does a nice job creating for others off the dribble."

*The Marion Chronicle-Tribune reported that Marion rising juniorVijay Blackmon will miss the rest of the summer after he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee at a tournament in Dallas. Blackmon's older brother, Marion senior and Indiana recruit James Blackmon Jr., also tore his ACL as a sophomore.

*Kokomo coach Brian McCauley is expected to be named as the new boys basketball coach at Noblesville at tonight's school board meeting. McCauley was 130-58 in eight seasons at Kokomo and led the program to the 2011 Class 4A state title game. Supporters of former coach Dave McColloughare also expected to speak at the board meeting.