West Virginia has landed another key pledge in the 2025 class in Castaic (Ca.) Southern California Academy stretch forward Trent MacLean.
MacLean, 6-foot-9, 205-pounds, collected other scholarship offers from Arizona State, Rutgers, St. Mary's, Colorado State and St. Bonaventure as his recruitment took off after making the move from Thousand Oaks where he averaged around 19 points and 10 rebounds as a junior.
West Virginia became involved after assistant Tom Ostrom stopped by the school recruiting Santa Clarita (Ca.) Southern California Academy 2025 guard Kelvin Odih and MacLean caught his eye. From that point things moved forward and led to his official visit to campus Nov. 3-5.
That trip was enough to effectively seal the deal for MacLean after he previously took an official visit to St. Mary’s Those two programs ended up being the final two for him and ultimately the draw of playing in the Big 12 Conference in a system that fits his overall skill set.
MacLean becomes the third commitment for West Virginia in the 2025 class joining his teammate Odih and Huntington Prep (W.Va.) wing Braydon Hawthorne as high school additions in this cycle.
WVSports.com breaks down the skill set of MacLean and what his commitment means to the West Virginia Mountaineers basketball program now and in the future.
Skill set:
MacLean is a 6-foot-9 forward who is an effective shooter at all levels of the floor. He has made major strides in his game and is very effective in catch-and-shoot situations. At his size, MacLean demonstrates the ability to put the ball on the floor and hit pull-up jumpers as well but he is going to be best used at least initially in his career off flares and ghosts.
That makes him an ideal fit for the fast-paced positionless basketball that DeVries wants to play on the offensive end and there is some versatility in what he can defend as well. He has continued to develop quite a bit over the last year and there is plenty of upside for that trajectory to continue. There is a strong pedigree here as well considering that he is the son of UCLA legend Don MacLean.
There is an upside here with MacLean and that makes this an exciting addition considering what he could eventually become as he fills out his frame and further develops.
Fitting the program:
West Virginia needs quality additions, especially those with multiple years of eligibility in order to build a foundation for what DeVries wants in a program and MacLean checks that box. He is a skilled athlete who meshes well with what West Virginia wants to do on both ends of the floor and has developed a strong connection with the coaching staff in a short period of time.
The Mountaineers have only been recruiting him for around two months but were able to make him feel comfortable with their plans for him as well as how he could fit into the program. A big factor in this recruitment was the fact that the coaching staff was able to get him on campus for an official visit and he was able to see what West Virginia had to offer from the facilities to the environment.
West Virginia hasn’t had a lot of success pulling players from California in the past, but that’s where the official visit was critical in opening his eyes and giving him some perspective on the school. DeVries needed quality additions and MacLean wanted to find a school that was going to develop him. I think this pairing is going to work for both in the long run.
On the floor, West Virginia needed quality big men and MacLean fits the mold of a big body that can only shoot the ball but rebound it as well. That makes this a strong addition overall.
Recruiting the position:
West Virginia has three commitments in the fold in the 2025 recruiting class but could still add another piece after Boston (Ma.) Cats Academy 2025 center Fridrik Leo Curtis took an official visit to campus in November as well. The Mountaineers still have four open scholarships to fill and some of that could be filled with transfer portal additions but there is still a lot of time left to address those spots.
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