By ADAM ZAGORIA
Matthew Hurt, the 6-foot-9 Class of 2019 forward from John Marshall (MN) High, is hosting the bluest of the blue bloods.
Hurt had home visits last week with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina coach Roy Williams, Kentucky coach John Calipari and Kansas coach Bill Self .
He’s not done yet, either.
Indiana’s Archie Miller is due in Friday, UCLA’s Steve Alford on Monday and Memphis’ Penny Hardaway one day next week.
“I had four last week and I have a couple coming up,” Hurt said Thursday evening by phone. “Those are really the main seven [schools] right now.”
Upcoming home visits for 2019 @HurtMatthew
Friday – Indiana
Monday – UCLA
Next week – MemphisHas already had Duke, UK, KU, UNC.
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) April 12, 2018
He then broke down each visit he’s already had:
Duke: “Their message is I can fit in their program really well. They’re going to use me the right way, so that’s a big main point.”
North Carolina: “North Carolina is the same way. They would use me in pick-and-roll situations and try to be a mismatch nightmare.”
Kansas: “They said they would use me as a guard, really. They said I should focus on getting better handles and getting stronger. They would use me as a guard because they think I can 2, 3, 4s.”
Kentucky: “Kentucky,the way I could develop there is pretty special. They said they need guys that can shoot the ball and that’s why they’re recruiting me. They said I could fit well in their program, too.”
Next up comes Indiana, UCLA and Memphis, which is making a big run at many top Class of 2019 targets, including Scottie Lewis, Bryan Antoine and Trendon Watford, among others.
“I’ve seen highlights of [Hardaway] when he was in the NBA but I wasn’t too surprised about how he’s coming up because of his name and some of his assistants have the names [Mike Miller] that attract high-profile players,” Hurt said. “I think it’s working so far. I think they had one good commit so far. I would think they’ll get more.”
Minnesota is “up there too,” Hurt said.
“They’re having some coaching changes right now. Once they get set, I think they’ll come down and see me.”
Hurt was also one of 21 players invited by the NCAA and USA Basketball to participate in the Next Generation Sunday program at the Final Four.
“It was a great experience,” he said. “First of all to go to the games and the atmosphere of the Final Four, nothing can really beat that. And then playing the [Alamodome] court was really fun. That Sunday morning we were playing on it the day before the national championship and that was cool, too.”
Hurt plans to try out for the USA U18 team that will be coached by Kansas’ Self and will compete in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in St. Catharines, Ontario June 11-17.
“Yeah, I’m going to go out in May and try out for the U18 team,” he said.
For more on Hurt, read my FloHoops.com feature here.
