Christian Juzang

Harvard’s 2016 recruiting class ranked No. 10 in the nation, a historic accomplishment for the Ivy League University. The Crimson was ahead of every single 2016 Final Four team and six of the eight Elite Eight teams—trailing only Kansas and Virginia. David Freed profiles each of the seven members of the class before they step on the floor for the season opener against Stanford, covering their recruiting process, playing style, and potential fit on this year’s team. In this one, he covers point guard Christian Juzang.

Shooting guard Christian Juzang made an early case for playing time with a 14 point performance against MIT. By Courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications

Recruiting Process:

Juzang had a quiet recruiting process, committing to join fellow rising freshman Chris Lewis last May. The senior from Calabasas, Calif. announced his commitment in early May via his Twitter account. Sophomore Tommy McCarthy, who hails from the same area of the country, congratulated Juzang on his commitment later the same day, calling the rookie his “lil bro.”

Playing Style:

Juzang’s highlights are certainly more impressive than ESPN’s scouting report gives him credit for (see here, here, and here). His three-point touch is streaky but the shot has a good rhythm to it. While he has a bit of a hitch at the beginning of his shot, taking it all the way down to his knees on each release, he has nice form on the finish. He does not appear to have a favorite spot from the floor, shooting from all around the arc.

The point guard’s tendency to launch bombs from deep offsets average two-point shooting (he made just 52 percent of his twos in high school, not an excellent number at that level). Juzang shot more than six threes a game as a senior, making 38 percent, and got to the line with ease, taking more than five free throws a contest. On the highlight tapes, he is more likely to cross over his defender and take a rhythm three than finish through contact under the rim.

Potential Fit:

Juzang is going to have a hard time crashing the rotation in his first year. He is the only two-star recruit in the class and received one of the worst grades (66 out of 100) from ESPN coming in. The ESPN scouting report on him calls him a “solid looking point guard for the low major level”, a far cry from the site’s description of Aiken (“a complete point guard that can run the team … He has a bright future as a high major guard”).

This is not to say that Juzang will not see the floor in four years. Senior Matt Fraschilla, who received similarly little acclaim coming out of Dallas’ Highland Park high school, was in line to receive the majority of the backup minutes earlier this year until he went down with an ACL injury. Alex Nesbitt ’15 played three years of backup point guard despite not being ranked as a high school senior. Amaker will seek to develop the shooting of the Calabasas native in practice, since an ability to knock down the three is the quickest way off the bench.

–Staff writer David Freed can be reached at davidpabanfreed@gmail.com.