Recruiting Report: Ben Schmidt (2019)
St. Mary’s guard Ben Schmidt had a solid junior year and heading into the 2018-19 season Ben is the team’s top returning player. PHD spoke with Ben today about his upcoming hoops future.
“My high school season went pretty well,” Ben said about his junior year. “Although as a team we got off to a rough start, we improved throughout the season and made it to the state tourney, where I averaged about 10 points and we placed sixth.
“With the seniors on the team, my usual drive to the bucket game was sort of changed to more of a catch and shoot wing player. Because of this I became a much better three point shooter from pretty much everywhere.”
With state tournament experience and growth as a shooter, Ben now enters his senior year with more responsibility on his shoulders. It’s a responsibility Ben is ready for.
“For my senior year I am trying to improve on my drive game and defense,’ Ben explained. “Next year at Saint Mary’s I will be the go to scorer and only returning starter, so I will have to be able to get to the rim a lot as well as shoot the ball from just about anywhere.
“As for defense, my school team is real short, so I have to use my strength and athleticism to guard bigs, which I have been practicing during this Phenom season.”
The Phenom has played in four events so far and has worked their way to about a .500 record in some solid tournaments.
“The first half of Phenom this year has been really good. Lots of new faces on our team this year, but we have adjusted pretty well and have beat some very talented teams playing with only five or six players. We are getting used to each other and are starting to gain some chemistry.
“By playing Phenom, I want to expose my game to college scouts and hopefully get some quality offers. As a team, we want to win as many games as we can and just improve for our senior seasons.”
Ben had a tremendous shooting performance at the Battle at the Lakes event in May making several threes in some eye opening wins for the Phenom. College coaches lined the sidelines for a couple of those games. Ben has his name out there and with he being the St. Mary’s main player next year opportunities may come.
“I have received letters from schools stating possible interest, but haven’t received an actual official offer as of yet,” Ben said.