Recruiting Report: Elijah Hazekamp (2018)
Iowans may want to start paying mind to what the North Dakota coaching staff is piecing together up north in Grand Forks.
Last season, the Fighting Hawks made the NCAA tournament, and did so with four Iowa guys on the roster. They’ve nabbed two more Iowa commitments since then, including 2017 guard Garrett Franken, and most recently, 2018 wing Elijah Hazekamp.
This past weekend, Hazekamp made his commitment during an official visit. He says, it’s the simple fact that the coaching staff believed in him from the beginning.
“They were the first school to offer me, and I honestly think they took a chance on me. There were some other D1s that were looking at me, but none of them actually followed through with an offer,” said Hazekamp.
“They (UND) took a chance on me, and were in contact with me a lot, and that was big. That was a big factor in my decision.”
The Bishop Heelan small forward picked up his North Dakota offer last summer, during his 16U campaign with the Iowa Barnstormers. He recently picked up another offer from D2 power, Augustana.
Those were his only two standing offers.
“There were a few schools that were kind of waiting on other kids, to see what they would do with their offers, like UNO (Omaha) was, and I think UMKC (Kansas City) was. I had a couple JuCos looking at me, too. But, I think I knew I wanted to go to North Dakota,” said Hazekamp.
With still some time left to make a decision, his decision comes relatively early. Hazekamp, Iowa’s 6th-ranked 2018, is just the eighth in that class’s top-50 to commit.
“I just wanted to take a weight off my shoulders, and I just kind of knew that North Dakota was the one,” he said. “Now, I can go into my senior season more relaxed and free, and not to worried about impressing anybody — just trying to win ball games.”
The Fighting Hawks’ Iowa connection is strong. Assistant coach Jeff Horner played his high school ball at Mason City before going on to have a solid career with Iowa. Head coach Brian Jones coached at Iowa under Steve Alford, and graduated from Northern Iowa.
Those Iowa ties are bleeding into the roster, UND will have five Iowa guys on the roster this coming season.
Hazekamp acknowledged that.
“Cortez (Seales) is up there, and he played for the Barnstormers, so me and him kind of share that. And me and Billy (Brown) kind of played against each other,” he said.
“And I think us Iowa players, we all kind of play the right way, and I think that’s why North Dakota is on the rise. They made the tournament last season, and the future is bright for them.”
For Bishop Heelan last season, Hazekamp averaged 17.7 points on 49 percent from the floor, and shot 39 percent from deep. He also pulled down an eye-opening 12.4 rebounds per game while leading his team in assists and blocks.
Point being: he’s a versatile threat. And North Dakota will use him that way.
“They want me to play the two and the three, because on their roster right now, they only have one wing,” said Hazekamp. “And they said I could play the two or the four if they need me to. But I’ll primarily play the three.”
In the meantime, Hazekamp has some unfinished business with Sioux City Bishop Heelan.
“As a team, we lost to SB-L by two (in substate), and they ended up being the 3A runner-up,” he said. “And we might have five senior starters, so our goal is to definitely go to state and win it.”