Kentucky? North Carolina? The pros? The recruitment of Matas Buzelis is heating up.
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UK basketball recruiting updates
Ben Roberts and Cameron Drummond of the Lexington Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com are producing several stories and videos analyzing last weekend’s Nike EYBL basketball recruiting showcase in Louisville. Click below to access all of their coverage this week.
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What’s one surefire sign that a high school basketball prospect is worth recruiting?
His most talented peers hope to play alongside him.
Five-star prospects often want to know that they can go to a college and get their shots, get their minutes, and have a chance to get out in short order, moving on to the NBA in a season or two. And other five-star prospects can often get in the way of such plans.
So, when the same name keeps popping up — in a good way — during conversations with top recruits, it’s worthy of attention.
In this rising senior class of 2023, one such player is Matas Buzelis, and just a few minutes of watching him work on the basketball court is enough to understand why.
Buzelis — a 6-foot-9 wing from Chicago — is the No. 7 overall prospect in the 2023 class, and he often controls the ball for his team. But the games aren’t all about him.
A true perimeter player, Buzelis is an inventive, unselfish playmaker. And in a new basketball era that features plenty of 6-9ish guys excelling away from the basket, Buzelis might be one of the next big names to showcase such skills at the highest level.
Over the weekend, Buzelis was competing with his Expressions Elite team on the Nike EYBL circuit in Louisville.
“He showcased a lot of talent,” 247Sports analyst Travis Branham told the Herald-Leader. “He was really aggressive. He was taking the ball the length of the court, creating off the dribble. We hear so much about his ball skills, and he was weaving through traffic and getting to the rim. …
“He showed his shot-making ability. And, obviously, for a guy (of his size) to have those ball skills and his athleticism — he’s a bit of a mismatch on the offensive end of the floor right now.”
On the Nike circuit this spring, Buzelis is averaging 13.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, but the stats don’t tell the full story. Offensively, he’s not a chucker. Despite being the highest-ranked player on his team, Buzelis is averaging fewer than nine shot attempts per game. Despite playing on the perimeter and drawing a ton of defensive attention, he’s shooting 52.8 percent from the floor.
For a player with his size and length, Buzelis’ ball-handling and passing ability stand out. While his assist numbers don’t jump off the page, he’s the type of player that can get his teammates in the right spots and the ball moving in the right direction. If the “hockey assist” — as John Calipari often calls it — were a basketball statistic, Buzelis’ numbers would be much larger.
Fellow top-50 recruit Taylor Bol Bowen — a teammate of Buzelis’ at Brewster Academy (N.H.) and on the Nike circuit — described him as a high-IQ player who simply loves to play the game and get others involved.
“He’s super unselfish and a good facilitator. Great player to play with,” Bowen told the Herald-Leader. “He’s just the complete package. Every coach would be lucky to get him, and anybody would be lucky to coach him. He’s just a great player.”
The talent is there, and the upside is immense. He’s still in the process of putting it all together.
Branham sees a prospect who needs to get stronger — Buzelis can be bullied by more physical opponents — and improve his decision-making to complement that incredible potential as a passer and playmaker. He can also be prone to turnovers, especially when defenders try to muscle him up away from the basket and on drives into the paint.
“A lot of talent,” Branham concluded. “And his best basketball is still ahead of him.”
Recruiting Matas Buzelis
Some of the biggest names in college basketball are hoping to ultimately land Buzelis’ commitment.
The list of scholarship offers is long, with Kentucky joining the group back in December, when the Wildcats hosted Buzelis for an official visit. He’s also been on official visits to Florida State and Wake Forest, while Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and UCLA have all extended offers.
“It’s going good,” he said of his recruitment. “I’m taking in everything — just having fun with it.”
On Thursday afternoon, Buzelis narrowed his recruitment to five options: UK, Florida State, North Carolina, Wake Forest and the G League.
Buzelis said he didn’t have any additional campus visits planned, as of now, but it sounds like at least one more could be in the works. The 17-year-old specifically mentioned North Carolina as possible trip for later this summer.
His peers in the 2023 class are already trying to team up with him.
UNC’s recruiting class has been especially active in its wooing of Buzelis, who said that Tar Heels commitment GG Jackson — the new No. 1 player in the 2023 rankings — talks to him about twice a week on FaceTime.
Kentucky’s lone commitment in the 2023 class, Reed Sheppard, regularly sends Buzelis direct messages on Instagram. “He’s just telling me, ‘You’d fit perfectly in the system,’” Buzelis said of that contact. He agrees, even calling Calipari “one of the greatest” while recapping his winter visit to Lexington.
“They play really fast,” he said. “They share the ball. And they play having fun, so I think I’d fit in perfect.”
He also doesn’t need to be “the guy” at the next level, sounding more than happy to team up with other star players for what would likely be just one season of college basketball.
“I think that the way I play — I could do everything. … I think I’d fit anywhere,” Buzelis said. “Just whichever place would be family to me. That’s where I’d go.”
During the high school season, Florida State was getting some buzz as a possible favorite. That speculation has died down considerably over the past couple of months, however, though Buzelis’ recruitment has also been one of the toughest to get a handle on among the players at the top of the 2023 rankings.
To complement last week’s 247Sports rankings update, Branham was tasked with making a “too early prediction” for every uncommitted player at the top of the 2023 class. His pick for Buzelis was Kentucky, though he acknowledged that it came with a low degree of confidence.
“Obviously, I was not confident enough to put in a Crystal Ball pick along with that article,” Branham told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday. “Heading into the weekend, it was sounding to be a Kentucky and North Carolina and G League race. … But, at the same time, I think the G League might be becoming the option to beat.”
Buzelis said Saturday that — while the professional route was an option — he thought college would be a better fit for him. Behind the scenes, the opposite narrative is forming. And all of those college coaches who have been in hot pursuit might ultimately be left in the cold.
Branham said before Buzelis narrowed his recruitment Thursday that UK and UNC were still probably at the top of his college list. And then there’s the looming pro option.
“Kentucky is still in the mix, but I’m starting to believe — especially after information we received this weekend — that the G League might be the one to beat.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
