Recruiting Report: Matthew Hurt (2019)
Matthew Hurt is a top 5-10 prospect in the 2019 class and I challenge anybody to find a 2019 that did more at the highest level of Grassroots hoops than he did. Yesterday Matthew added some big name offers to…
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Continue ReadingMatthew Hurt is a top 5-10 prospect in the 2019 class and I challenge anybody to find a 2019 that did more at the highest level of Grassroots hoops than he did. Yesterday Matthew added some big name offers to his resume.
The first came from North Carolina after a call from Roy Williams. How did that call go? First off, it included a scholarship offer so it was a memorable call.
“It went really well,” Hurt said to Scout.com who has Matthew ranked 8th in the country at his class. “We talked about how I would fit in their program. What my best attributes are as a player. In general we had a really good talk.
“I like that school a lot. The head coach is really good. Roy is a really good coach. He uses his players. I really like that program a lot. They are really high on my list.”
The other offer came in from Louisville which is very interesting because of the family ties to the area from the Hurt family.
“We don’t know ultimately this is going to go for Matthew, but I grew up watching Louisville,” Richard Hurt said to Scout.com, Richard is the father of Matthew Hurt.
“Some of my first memories are of the 1980 championship team. I’ve just always been a big fan and followed Louisville. We’ve been there a lot and just always been big Cardinal fans.
“Ultimately where this goes from here is up to (Matthew). But it’s nice to have coach Pitino recognize his talent and give him the offer. Like I said, we’ve just always been fans. (Besides the 1980 title team) there was the ’86 team and that was special.”
The two offers last night was a big night for Matthew and his family.
“It’s pretty special,” said Richard. “We were sitting there with Roy Williams on the speaker phone and then 30 minutes later Rick Pitino calls and offers him a scholarship. We’re just trying to keep him grounded and focused on the things he needs to do.”
Matthew kept it short and simple as he continues to be honored by his offers.
“I’m really excited seeing my hard work pay off,” Hurt said. “I’m really excited.”
Matthew is coming off a national television appearance this past Sunday. The two hour broadcast utilized many storylines but the conversation usually came back to the 16 year old 2019 talent Matthew Hurt.
Hurt gave the home audience a dozen points and nine rebounds that included his ahead of the pack floor run and quick vertical bounce for finishes. Matthew shot 5-16 from the floor so this was not the average game for the five star talent but Hurt showed the national audience flashes of the talent that today brought him offers from Louisville and North Carolina.
The new takeaway in this game was a motivated Matthew Hurt as a defender. Matthew has improved this year as a defensive rebounder but in this final game of the year against Team Loaded, Hurt’s ability to move his feet laterally was one of the day’s more interesting notes.
Team Loaded big Kiyon Boyd is a known name and Hurt was able to defend him on several possessions helping to limit Boyd to 2-10 shooting. Matthew’s ability to move laterally with Boyd (and others) cutting off the angle to the rim and forcing hard to the baseline was apparent on several plays.
Hurt also showed on screens well forcing Team Loaded guards to rotate the ball instead of going with their attacking desire.
D1 Minnesota finished 36-4 this season and has five 2017 players on the team that are listed by at least one service as nationally ranked players.
And on a team with all of that talent Matthew Hurt led the team in scoring (13.8 points), rebounds (7.2), blocks (78), free throw percentage (78.1%), and Efg% (58.8%). Matthew made 55 percent of his 380 shot attempts and 36.7 percent of his threes.