Villanova Basketball 2022-23 Player Preview: Brendan Hausen

Brendan Hausen

Hometown: Amarillo, Texas
High School: Amarillo High School
Height: 6-4
Weight: 205

Brendan Hausen player preview

According to On3.com, Villanova’s 2022 recruiting class was ranked a consensus eighth in the country, over teams like Michigan, North Carolina and Kansas. It is easy to get excited over guys like Cam Whitmore and Mark Armstrong, who we saw take gold with the FIBA U18 men’s national team over the summer, but Brendan Hausen has a golden opportunity to showcase his talents on day one.

The Amarillo Assassin, another nickname that will hopefully stick, is one of the best pure shooters in the country from the class of 2022. A consensus top-ten player in the entire state of Texas, Hausen picked up north of 20 offers coming out of high school from big-time programs and chose the ‘Cats over Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Arizona State, Nevada, and Oregon.

“Brendan is an elite shooter who is also focused on becoming a complete Villanova Basketball player,” said head coach Kyle Neptune.

Even adding at media day that he’s “one of the best shooters we’ve ever had at Villanova.”

In high school, Hausen was named 2021-22 Boys Athlete of the Year in the Texas Panhandle. He committed to ‘Nova after a junior season where he averaged 17.6 points per game as a and led his team to a 24-4 record in the 2021-22 season. He graduated Amarillo High School as the program’s all-time leading scorer.

“I’m just gonna give 100% all the time,” Hausen told VU Hoops about what fans can expect from him. “They’re gonna see an ultra competitor, a high-energy guy once I come in there, and be the definition of a Villanova Wildcat.”

A lot has been said about Hausen’s shooting, but his court vision, movement without the ball and scrappy rebounding are what really round out his game and make him a perfect fit at Villanova.

Hausen connected on 90 three pointers in his senior campaign but also dished out 96 assists en route to a Class 5A State Semifinal appearance.

If Hausen continues to buy into the core values of the program, he has all of the talent and intangibles to be the next name in a long list of successful Villanova guards.

Best Case Scenario: Brendan Hausen’s potential on this team is beyond measurables. His ceiling overshadows the tallest building in your area. The absolute best-case scenario for Hausen is a day one starter. A couple weeks ago that may have been a little far fetched to predict, but with injuries to Cam Whitmore, Caleb Daniels and obviously Justin Moore, the door is wide open for Hausen to walk into a starting role. Most likely, he will come off the bench and contribute quality minutes with little to no decrease in efficiency. He is quickly earning the title of a zone breaker on social media (thanks Jon Rothstein), but Hausen’s bag is much deeper than that. This young man has all the ingredients in a recipe for another extremely successful Villanova guard and it will be a scary sight when he puts it all together.

The Worst Case Scenario: Of course, with any first year player, no matter the situation they are put in, there is always a chance they could fall short of their potential. Given Hausen’s intangibles as well as his natural skill set, those chances are very slim, but still present. The most glaring weakness in Hausen’s game is his inability to handle the basketball and facilitate the offense versus defensive pressure. Hausen is an extremely smart and patient player, but if his ball handling can not improve, he could find himself struggling to carve out minutes on what is projected to be one of the deeper teams the Wildcats have fielded in quite some time.