Matthews goes with Mountaineers
Sometimes the second time is the charm and that was certainly the case when it comes to Tacoma (Wa.) wing Emmitt Matthews and the West Virginia basketball program.
Matthews, 6-foot-7, was a top target for the Mountaineers during his initial recruitment but he elected to sign with Connecticut prior to making a scheduled official visit to campus.
That wouldn’t happen the second time as Matthews was able to secure his release from the Huskies following the firing of Kevin Ollie and made his long-awaited stop in Morgantown May 2-4.
That ultimately proved to be enough securing a commitment from the explosive wing following his time on campus and likely bringing a close to the Mountaineers efforts on the recruiting trail in this cycle.
Matthews had received interest and offers from a large number of schools in the second-go-around of his recruitment including Oklahoma, N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Georgia, Washington and several more.
Once the live period opened several others such as Arizona and Pittsburgh got involved.
But the persistence of assistant Erik Martin as well as head coach Bob Huggins paid off in successfully landing the top target remaining on the board for the program. The coaching staff paid him a visit in early April and then was active in their pursuit seeing him in person during the live period.
“Just basically picked up where they had left off,” Matthews said.
The Rivals.com four-star prospect is an intriguing prospect for a variety of reasons. Matthews is a versatile player on both ends of the floor that can handle the ball as well post up a smaller defender. He also shows explosion getting to the rim and displayed the ability to consistently knock down jump shots.
It is the perfect situation for me. They believe in me which is the greatest value,” he said. “WithTeddy (Allen)leaving, I have the chance to start on the wing the day that I get onto campus and they want to get out into transition more.”
Matthews becomes the sixth commitment in the 2018 class and joins Kaukauna (Wi.) point guard Jordan McCabe, University School (Fla.) guard Trey Doomes, Odessa College (Tx.) guard Jermaine Haley, Brewster Academy (Ma.) forward Derek Culver and Northwest Florida State forward Andrew Gordon.
Matthews represents the highest rated prospect in the class and finishes at 122 nationally.
WVSports.com will have more with Matthews in the near future.
