Castaic (Ca.) Southern California Academy 2025 forward Trent MacLean didn’t know what to expect prior to his official visit to West Virginia but left impressed with the Big 12 Conference program.
MacLean, 6-foot-9, 205-pounds, moved to SoCal Academy recently after averaging around 19 points and 10 rebounds per game for Thousand Oaks.
That move increased his recruiting profile across the board and the late bloomer also caught the attention of West Virginia assistant Tom Ostrom who was recruiting another player at the school in recently committed guard Kelvin Odih.
Things have only continued to develop between the pair since that point and those connections led to the talented power forward making the trek to Morgantown from Nov. 3-5.
Admittedly the experience in Morgantown was quite different than Los Angeles, but that wasn’t a bad thing for MacLean as he was able to get a great first impression of the program and people.
“I really like it just Morgantown as a whole and everything West Virginia had to offer. Not even just the basketball, it’s such a well-rounded school and there’s nothing that it doesn’t have to offer,” he said. “I liked it. The staff was great, and they took care of me and my mom and gave us all the information we needed.”
During the trip, MacLean was able to tour the facilities and admitted that what the Mountaineers had to offer was quite impressive on that front.
“I was pretty blown away by the facilities because just everything they have and everything I’ll have access to. There’s no way I won’t get better, and I have everything there to develop my game,” he said.
MacLean also was able to tour the campus as well as see the West Virginia home opener against Robert Morris with how the fans turned out for the first game of head coach Darian DeVries’ tenure. He spent time with the coaching staff as well getting to know DeVries better as well as plan for him.
As a big that’s a skilled shooter, MacLean believes that he would be a natural fit in the fast-paced system used by DeVries and translates well into what the Mountaineers do on both ends.
“Just being that four man spot and coming off flares and ghosts and doing all that stuff I think I could fit in really well,” he said.
On top of West Virginia, MacLean also has taken an official visit to St. Mary’s and those two programs are the ones standing out to him at the moment with a potential decision coming within the next week ahead of the early signing period for college basketball recruiting.
“I’m pretty much down to St. Mary’s and West Virginia,” he said.
MacLean plans to base his college choice around first the basketball piece and how he fits in on the court and then whether he could be successful at either option. He also plans to place a strong consideration on where he is most comfortable and how the facilities and schools stack up against each other.
“Most important is the fit and who wants me the most and then all that other stuff is by choice,” he said.
Admittedly it will be a tough choice because both of these schools check those boxes, but he is certain that the trip to West Virginia is one that he is glad he took in order to compare the two.
“Once I got there I was blown away by everything. The town, the people. The people are super nice and how big the fan base really is,” he said. “…It was just great being out there.”
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