McQuaid opens up recruitment
Entering the summer, the college future of Matt McQuaid, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Duncanville, Tex., was set. He was verbally committed to SMU. Family and friends would make an easy 35-minute drive to see him play for the Mustangs.
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Less than three months later, McQuaid decommitted and reopened his recruitment.
"I just felt like I rushed into my decision," McQuaid said. "I wanted to take a few steps back and make sure I'm happy where I'll be at for the next four years."
Since reopening his recruitment the No. 87 player in the Rivals150 in the class of 2015 said he has been hearing the most from Michigan State, Indiana, Texas and Creighton and not so much from SMU.
"They haven't talked to me in a while," McQuaid said.
Recently, while on a family trip to visit his grandparents in Michigan, McQuaid took a side trip to East Lansing for an unofficial visit to Michigan State.
"My dad is from Michigan; my grandparents live about two hours from campus," said McQuaid. "We usually go up to Michigan every summer, but this was my first time ever on campus. The visit went real good. I love Coach (Tom) Izzo, he has a lot of energy. He keeps it real. I like him a lot. I got to meet the whole coaching staff and I got to play in open gym. It was a lot of fun."
Considered one of, if not the best, three-point shooter in his class; we asked McQuaid what a typical workout was like for him.
"Before anything, I make 100 form shots, and then I make 60 shots on the move from three spots. Then I make 200 threes. That's a daily thing. Then I'll add stuff like curls and fades, dribbling. Every time I go in the gym I don't try to get up shots. I try to make shots."
Shortly before reopening his recruitment, McQuaid put on a shooting exhibition at the LeBron James Skills Academy in early July.
"I had a good team with me," he said. "I had Jalen Brunson, he's a really good point guard. I loved playing with him. My teammates found me for shots and I just knocked them down. I was coming off screens knocking shots down, showing that all the hard work I've put in has paid off."
On the travel team circuit, McQuaid played for Team Texas in the Nike EYBL alongside Jawun Evans (the No. 32 player in the 2015 class) and longtime friend Austin Grandstaff (the No. 30 ranked player in the 2015 class).
"I've been playing with Austin since the first grade," McQuaid said. "So when it ended, it was kind of weird because I won't be playing with him again. Juwan played with us in the spring, but I had a great time playing with him. It was sad how it ended in AAU, we didn't win a championship, but it was a good experience and I'm going to keep a relationship with everyone on my team."
Like most players in the 2015 class, McQuaid is starting to focus on a smaller number of schools and sitting down with family to discuss official visits.
"I'm probably going to trim my list in a couple of weeks," he said. "I have a good idea of where I want to take my visits though. For sure I'm taking visits to Creighton (Sept. 6), Texas and Michigan State (Sept. 20)."
He also has a good idea of what he's looking for in a program.
"Just where I fit in best within the system, the coaching staff and I want to be around guys that want to be in the gym 24/7."
McQuaid averaged 15.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists during the Nike EYBL regular season.
Russ Wood is a basketball recruiting analyst for Rivals.com and Inside the Gators. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.
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