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UNC Basketball: 5-star prospect Matthew Hurt shuts down recruitment

By Blake Cockrum

COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 24: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels sits in the bench during their game against the Washington Huskies in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 24: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels sits in the bench during their game against the Washington Huskies in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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5-star power forward, UNC basketball target shuts down recruitment

The Duke Blue Devils appear to be one step closer to winning their fifth preseason national championship in the past six seasons.

5-star class of 2019 prospect Matthew Hurt effectively shut down his recruitment this weekend, cancelling in-home visits with Kansas head coach Bill Self and Kentucky front man John Calipari, both of whom were expected to stop by the top-10 power forward’s home in Rochester, Minnesota on Sunday. The news was first broke by KTTC’s Mark Poulose on Sunday night.

Now, just five days away from his announcement date, it looks as if Hurt’s commitment to Duke — one that we’ve seen coming for some time now — is a forgone conclusion. Having spurned the last-ditch efforts from two of his four suitors, and North Carolina seemingly so far behind at this point, the Blue Devils look to be the only reasonable bet for Hurt’s commitment.

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Despite recruiting Hurt since his sophomore season at John Marshall Senior High, and being in what seemed to be a pretty good position with him for the first year or so, Roy Williams and the Tar Heels simply couldn’t gain much ground in recent months, falling further and further behind the other three blue bloods as time went on.

Hurt’s growing relationship with Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, and strong inclination to play with a seasoned point guard — Tre Jones announced last week that he’d return to Duke for his sophomore season — made it all the more clear what direction he was leaning in recent weeks.

The 6-foot-9, 215-pound Hurt, who is ranked No. 8 overall in the class of 2019 and first in the state of Minnesota, is currently a 65 percent favorite to land at Duke according to his 247Sports Crystal Ball. Kansas is in second-place with 30 percent of the votes, and Kentucky is in third-place with four percent. The Tar Heels have received no votes.

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Stick with Keeping It Heel for all your news and updates on the Hurt recruitment leading up to his commitment on Friday.

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