Wisconsin 2021 Commit Breakdown: Matthew Mors (Part 1)

In April, AllBadgers.com looked at six 2020 signees and what they could bring to Wisconsin's men's basketball program. Now, we break down the next recruiting cycle of the three 2021 commits through the eyes of their respective head coaches.

Chris Haynes certainly has seen Matthew Mors play a lot for Yankton High School.

Five years already, and a sixth forthcoming.

That is due to the South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA) allowing seventh and eighth graders to play on high school teams.

"For us with varsity basketball, we play in the biggest class in South Dakota," Haynes told AllBadgers.com on Thursday. "We're going up against the Sioux Falls' (teams) and teams like that, the big schools in our state. So for us to have a middle schooler in boys basketball play at the varsity level just is unprecedented. It just doesn't happen. Not only in Yankton, but pretty much in our class. There's been a couple of eighth graders throughout the years, I guess, from talking to other people that they can remember, but no one can remember a seventh grader really playing."

Since then, Mors has continued to develop and emerged to become a four-star recruit, the No. 118 player and No. 23 power forward in the 2021 class according to 247Sports composite rankings. He claimed Gatorade state player of the year honors for South Dakota not just this year, but for the 2018-19 season as well.

Loved this moment before tonight's game in Yankton!

Ryan Mors hugs his son Matthew during a pregame ceremony to recognize Matthew becoming the Class AA all-time leading scorer pic.twitter.com/AqUcnyyY3e
— Jeremy Hoeck (@jhoeck) February 22, 2020

Here is more of the discussion between Haynes and AllBadgers.com in part 1 of our Q&A, discussing Mors' development has developed and the relationship with Wisconsin.

Part 2 will be published by Friday and will focus on Mors' strengths, areas of growth, and a particular play that stood out to Haynes recently.

Questions and answers have been edited lightly for clarity.

Wisconsin 2021 Commit Breakdowns

Chris Hodges

How have you seen Mors develop over that time, and how has he grown as a player?

"So the improvements he has made have been significant, and especially in his younger years. Going from seventh to eighth grade was probably the biggest jump that you've seen in his development. But I just think he just got so much experience his seventh grade year going up against 17-, 18-year old kids when he's 12, 13 years old. Banging against those older, stronger kids was the best thing for him. It really pushed him and challenged him because he was always, at that point in his life, he'd always been the biggest, strongest kid on the floor. Now going up against those older kids, he wasn't necessarily. I think he saw some things that he could get better at.

"From his seventh to eighth grade year, his improvement was just enormous. I think some of that was just experience and having to get thrown in the fire and going through some of those things that you just can't teach until you actually go through them. But then again, from his eighth- to ninth-grade year, there was another huge job in not only his skill level, but his development. Learning how to play with his back to the basket, learning how to go to the basket. Learning how to play as far as team defense, help side and all the rules and responsibilities that come along with that.

"Then not only that, but his body was still maturing, he was going from a boy to a man, and again I think you saw the biggest jumps from his seventh to eighth grade and then again from his eighth to ninth grade year. Now from his ninth to 10th, and even from 10th to 11th, it has just kind of been fine tuning his game, continuing to develop his skills. He's continued to work extremely hard on his body and getting his body as fit as possible. He continues to work hard with that in the weight room and strength and conditioning programs.

"Overall, the improvement has been tremendous. And that's something that we talked to Matthew a lot about, because we didn't want him to be one of these kids that, 'Oh, he's the same player as a senior as he was as a seventh grader. And to Matthew's credit, I think you can see that he has really improved over the five years that he's played varsity basketball. That's because he's put a lot of time and effort into getting his body ready and getting his body as conditioned as possible, as well as continued to work on his game."

From your perspective, when did the Wisconsin coaching staff start developing that relationship, and how has that relationship with UW grown between Mors and that coaching staff?

"Obviously, Wisconsin had a little bit of an in with (assistant coach Joe) Krabbenhoft being from South Dakota so I think he just kind of heard some rumblings about a young kid in South Dakota that was a pretty good player. With that connection, I think with Coach Krabbenhoft being able to talk to people in South Dakota and hearing about Matthew that maybe they got in on Matthew and the recruiting a little bit earlier than some other schools. Even locally around here, some other Big Ten schools that recruited Matthew -- Iowa, Nebraska -- and Iowa State and even Minnesota and obviously Creighton just down the road here, a Big East school. So some of those schools that really recruited Matthew very, very hard as well, but because of that connection with Coach Krabbenhoft and being from South Dakota, I think they kind of got a jumpstart on those other schools."

More 2020 Signee Breakdowns from AllBadgers.com

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