Next week, Rivals.com will rank the class of 2019 for the very first time and skilled forward Matthew Hurt is set to make an impressive debut as a five-star prospect.
The 6-foot-9 sophomore at Rochester (Minn.) John Marshall has already proven himself against older players during the summer playing 17U ball on the Adidas Uprising Circuit with D1 Minnesota. His 13.4 points and 6.1 rebounds a game playing up two age groups are impressive enough on their own, but the way he did it is even more impressive.
A fluid athlete who can run the floor, Hurt scored on rim runs. He stepped out and swished three-pointers, he used pump fakes to shake defenders before driving to the hoop and showed a very balanced all-around game.
Now, college programs have taken notice and he's receiving some big time offers.
On Monday, Sean Miller and Arizona offered a scholarship. They join Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA, Virginia, Minnesota (where Hurt's brother Michael Hurt is a freshman on the basketball team), Louisville, Iowa State, Iowa, Marquette, Nebraska, N.C. State, Wisconsin, Xavier and Oregon as programs who have offered scholarships.
Kentucky has been in touch and Duke has indicated that they will be more involved moving forward.
According to Hurt's father Richard, there's no early plan to cut things down and the process is going to be about building relationships on a personal level and not just talking basketball.
This Fall, Hurt plans to hit Minnesota (where he has been on campus before) in early September and he saw North Carolina, Duke, N.C. State and Wake Forest at the beginning of his freshman year. He's planning to trip to Kansas for Late Night in the Phog in early October and also in the works, but not yet set in stone, is an October swing through the Bluegrass State to check out Kentucky and Louisville.