Junior guard carving his own identy

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This winter, Los Angeles (Calif.) Loyola has proven to be one of the best teams in the country. Rivals150 junior guard Max Hazzard is a big part of that.

The No. 134 player in the class of 2015, Hazzard is a six-foot tall point guard who can stretch defenses. At Loyola, he plays with highly regarded UCLA bound center Thomas Welsh and Arizona bound point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright.

Because of the high profile seniors on his team, Hazzard sometimes gets a little less acclaim than he might otherwise. But, he showed at the Under Armour Holiday Classic that he's a force in his own right winning MVP honors while playing off the ball. Some might resent having to play out of position but Hazzard really enjoys playing with Jackson-Cartwright.

"Playing with him is easy because he is so unselfish," Hazzard told Rivals.com. "If I have 30 and he has two he doesn't care because he just wants to win. I'm like that as well."

With good quickness, long arms and range on his jumper, Hazzard has turned into a dangerous scorer. He's also been in the gym getting stronger and feels like the results have shown up in his jump shot.

"It helps me out a lot," said Hazzard. "On my jumper I'm setting the ball higher. I had been inconsistent and I just had to get into the lab and work on my upper and lower body. I really think the difference is my legs, I'm getting a lot more pop in shot and I'm jumping a lot more."

While he has developed into a very good offensive player, Hazzard is also outstanding on the other end of the floor and puts a priority on being a defensive factor.

"I think I'm defense first," said Hazzard. "If I get a couple of steals and quick layups then I get going. It's not as hard as starting off the game hitting a couple of threes."

So far, Hazzard has offers from Loyola Marymount, UC Irvine, San Jose State and Brown. Others like UCLA, Stanford, California, Harvard and UC Santa Barbara are showing more attention.

Currently sitting on that bubble between upper end mid major and high major, Hazzard says that he's looking for the best fit. At the same time, he's confident that he'll show enough to start drawing high major offers.

"I want to play at a high level," said Hazzard. "At the same time I want to do what is best for me and my family and if I think playing at a mid major is the best fit then I will play at a mid major.

"I feel confident that I'm going to get to the point where I'm good enough to play at a high major school and do real well."

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