Prospect Spotlight: Brase Dottin 2020
When Johnny Juzang opted to reclassify into the class of 2019 and leave Harvard-Westlake for Kentucky, it opened up an opportunity in the rotation for someone to step in and contribute on the wing. The player who ended up taking…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingWhen Johnny Juzang opted to reclassify into the class of 2019 and leave Harvard-Westlake for Kentucky, it opened up an opportunity in the rotation for someone to step in and contribute on the wing.
The player who ended up taking advantage of that was Brase Dottin. He’s stepped up in his senior year and given the Wolverines a strong wing presence on both ends of the court. Recently, he led the team with 19 points in a win over Chaminade for the Mission League championship.
His improved play has drawn the interest of a few Division 1 schools. He currently holds an offer from Loyola Marymount and he has heard from Cal State Fullerton, Cornell, Princeton, and USC.
When the time comes for him to make a decision on where he will play basketball at the college level, he’s got some key factors outside of basketball that he’s going to be looking at.
“Any school where I can be comfortable outside of basketball,” Dottin told Prep Hoops. “When it’s not basketball season, a place where I can live and can get my education. An atmosphere that I’m comfortable in.”
Last season, Harvard-Westlake had a three-headed monster in the form of the explosive scoring Juzang, the interior presence of Mason Hooks, and the smooth playmaking from Spencer Hubbard. Hooks and Hubbard are also seniors this season, but trying to replicate what Juzang brought to the team was going to be no easy task.
Thankfully for the Wolverines, Dottin was up to the challenge. He’s capable of being the team’s leading scorer on any given night. He’s become a solid outside shooter with a nice catch and shoot game. He can put the ball on the floor and make plays off the dribble as well.
He plays both ends of the floor as well and he can match up against the opposing team’s best perimeter scorer. As good of a scorer as he can be, he prides himself on being able to lock up defensively. He’s got some things he wants to work on offensively, but the defensive end is where he wants to stand out.
“On the defensive side, I feel like I bring a presence on the defensive end that’s very important to our team,” Dottin said. “I want to improve on everything in my game. But the one thing that I want to work on the most is my shot, especially off the bounce.”
Aside from his on-court contributions, as a senior Dottin has stepped into a role as a leader. Along with Hooks and Hubbard, Dottin and fellow wing Holden McRae have formed a quartet of upperclassmen who have provided strong leadership.
It’s a role that Dottin was looking forward to before the season began and a role that he’s done well in this season.
“As a senior, me and the other seniors, we’re taking a huge role in everyone’s game,” Dottin said. “We’re bringing leadership, talking to everyone, things like that.”
The offseason is when good players work on their game and add to their skill-set. AAU season is a prime time for that. Dottin was able to hone his talent over the summer by playing with BTI, one of the top AAU programs in Southern California.
He credits the program and his coaches with really helping him prepare for his final year of high school basketball.
“My BTI coaches, Coach [Mike] Teller, Robert Icart, all of them, they create a great atmosphere,” Dottin said. “I had a lot of fun playing for them. I loved every second of it.”
And now, with CIF playoffs set to get underway, Harvard-Westlake looms as a tough matchup for any team. They were placed in the Southern Section Open Division as a six seed where they’ll face No. 3 Rancho Christian to being pool play.
According to Dottin, the Wolverines are looking to make people take notice of them.
“I want to win games and I want to play hard,” Dottin said. “I feel like us as a team, we have something to prove. I think we’re in a good position to go and do that.”