Matt Atewe, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Canada with scholarship offers from eight Division I basketball programs, will take his first official visit at Kansas State.
Notre Dame Prep basketball coach Ryan Hurd said he will be in Manhattan to tour campus on Sept. 14 and take in the Wildcats’ football game against North Texas the following day.
Atewe plays for Hurd’s basketball team in Massachusetts, but is originally from Toronto. It will take a long plane ride to get him to K-State, but Hurd said he is looking forward to the trip.
K-State assistant coach Chester Frazier is handling Atewe’s recruitment, and he has a strong relationship with Hurd. He used to play for him at Notre Dame Prep before Bruce Weber recruited him at Illinois.
“Matt is smart enough to look for good people, because recruiting is about relationships,” Hurd said. “I coached Chester for a little while. He’s a great guy. I know he would look after Matt.”
Atewe is still in the early process of his recruitment. Hurd said he has offers from K-State, Marquette, Memphis, St. Bonaventure, Auburn, Charlotte, Nevada and Dayton. But he has only taken one unofficial visit (to St. Bonaventure last week) and will get his first taste of an official visit in Manhattan.
Hurd said Atewe has no timeframe for making a commitment.
“If you told me he signed early, I wouldn’t be surprised. If he waits, that wouldn’t surprise me either,” Hurd said. “I don’t know that he has any favorites.”
Atewe is currently living in Canada and won’t report to Notre Dame Prep until school starts next week. Hurd has coached Atewe since November, and is looking forward to working with him for another season.
Hurd says he has a “big-time frame,” at 6-foot-9 and 230 pounds. So far, he knows how to use that body for defense and rebounding. He’s a decent scorer, too. But his offense still needs work before he starts playing college basketball.
“He passes everyone’s eye test,” Hurd said. “He is a legit 6-9. End line to end line, you’re not going to find anyone faster than him. Defensively he is superior to most anyone inside with his ability to block shots. His rebounding is where it should be. Offensively, he needs to slow the game down.
“He started doing that last spring and started simplifying things. He is only going to get better.”
Atewe will be the first power forward to visit K-State in September. The Wildcats have four other official visits lined up over the next two weeks. But all four of those players are guards and small forwards.
K-State will have four scholarships available for the class of 2013. Only one of them is currently spoken for. Alex Etherington, a three-star small forward from Indiana, verbally committed to K-State earlier this summer.