Player                                         HT                          WT                    POS                          School
# 4. Chris Hagan                           5-10                          155                    PG                 Spring Westfield

Rivals.com
"Playing AAU has been a real good experience," Hagan says. "Coach Salinas has really taken me under his wing and it's just been great. Before this, I hadn't got a whole lot of exposure so this is incredible. I've got so many good players on this team playing with me. It takes a lot of pressure off of me because on my high school team I normally get a lot of focus on me. Playing with these guys has opened a lot of things up for me."

Select coach Greg Muse says Hagan is one of the most pleasant suprises of this year's team. "I think Chris is the biggest sleeper in Houston," Muse says. "He's very quick, very strong and can get a piece of the paint anytime he wants it. He's one of the quickest players I've ever seen with a basketball. He's a tenacious competitor. The biggest thing he does for us is get a piece of the paint and he makes people collapse on him. He's so quick laterally and he hits the gaps so quick that he causes problems for defenses."

"I have to read defenses but a lot of times they'll sag off of me to close in on Dexter," Hagan says. "If they do, then I just take what I can get."

Muse also says that Hagan's competitive nature is something that was evident from the very first time he saw him. "He's one of the most competitive kids I've ever seen," he says. "I saw him in a game in high school where they were down by ten with a few minutes left in the game and he came out of a timeout, had three steals, hit a big three and scored eight consecutive points to pull his team within two. At the end of the game, they had a one point lead and Chris missed the front end of a one and one. After the timeout, he made a diving steal on the inbounds pass. That type of thing describes Chris perfectly. He's just incredibly tenacious."

Hagan agrees with his coach. "I can't stand losing. It kills me," he says.

Muse says that Hagan has every quality you could ask for in a point guard. "He's emotional when he needs to be emotional, he's a leader when he needs to be a leader, he's a scorer when he needs to be a scorer and he's a passer when he needs to be a giver. He's a team first guy. He's more worried about wins than anything else."

While he agrees that his competitive nature is something that fuels his game, Hagan says he credits much of his improvement to his hard work. "I think my two greatest attributes are my strength and my quickness. I worked real hard and got a lot stronger last summer and it's really helped me out this year and it's made me a better finisher when I drive to the basket."

While he's a sleeper now, he might not be for long. Hagan says he's starting to receive some attention from schools in and out of state. "I've gotten a few letters from Georgia Tech, Rice, Houston and a few other schools," he says. "It was the greatest feeling in the world when I got my first letter. My first letter was from Rice, and they just have started coming in every other day. It just feels so great to know that all the hard work I've put in is starting to pay off."

Hagan has above a 3.5 GPA and has scored over 1000 on his SAT so it's no surprise when he talks about what factors will play a part in deciding where he wants to go to school. "First up for me is education. I want to get a good education wherever I go and I don't really care about leaving Texas. That probably wouldn't be a factor in my decision."

Obtained at www.texashoops.com