UNC Basketball: Matthew Hurt updates his timeline

Class of 2019 forward Matthew Hurt provides a hint at when he could announce his commitment and take official visits

The last evaluation period in July has been a big weekend thus far in college basketball recruiting.

On Saturday, University of North Carolina targets James Wiseman and Armando Bacot both cut down their final lists as they took the next step in their recruiting process. Head coach Roy Williams has spent the weekend in Las Vegas watching numerous UNC targets for both the 2019 and 2020 classes.

One recruit that Williams has made sure to watch over this last evaluation period is Minnesota native Matthew Hurt.

The five-star power forward drew a big crowd in Las Vegas with Williams, Coach K, Bill Self, Sean Miller, Archie Miller, and Richard Pitino all in attendance to watch as he dropped 23 points in a win for D1 Minnesota on Friday.

Following the game, Hurt spoke to Rivals reporter Krysten Peek to update his recruitment and set a timeline for a possible commitment. Hurt plans on taking some time off following this final evaluation period and then create a final list of 8 or 9 teams.

From there, he could make a decision before the early signing period in November.

Here is what Hurt told Peek:

"“I’m taking a family vacation next week and I’m going to talk it over with my parents and I’ll probably release a list of 8 or 9 schools and start taking visits in September,” Hurt said. “I hope to have a decision by the early signing period in November but if not then it’ll be next April during the late signing period.”"

Hurt has drawn interest from several big schools including UNC, Kansas, Indiana, UCLA, Duke, Arizona and Indiana. While he hasn’t revealed any favorites, it seems like both UNC and Kansas were the early teams to beat in his recruitment.

Since then, he’s heard from Duke, Arizona and Indiana which has opened things up in his recruitment. If we had to make a prediction today, it would be tough not seeing him sign with a blue blood program and Kansas is probably that team with UNC close behind. Duke has swooped in and shown that interest, which could sway him to join a Duke 2019 recruiting class that saw Joey Baker reclassify.

Hurt will plan on taking his official visits after not making any visits in the Spring and we’d be shocked if UNC didn’t receive an official. He did mention UNC as a school he’d really like to get to whether it’s an official or an unofficial.

We will continue to monitor Hurt’s recruitment and the chances UNC has to land the talented forward out of Minnesota.