Notre Dame Basketball: 2020 Center Matt Zona Commits - SCACCHoops.com

Notre Dame Basketball: 2020 Center Matt Zona Commits

by Pat Rick

Posted: 10/1/2019 6:19:13 AM


Mike Brey picks up his second big man commitment in the 2020 class, as Zona joins Elijah Taylor in a promising, underrated frontcourt

Photo Credit: Twitter (@matyyz19)

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball team picked up its second commitment in the 2020 class in two weeks, as Bergen Catholic center Matt Zona verbally pledged to the Fighting Irish this evening on Twitter.

Zona, a 3-star center from Oradell, New Jersey, joins 3-star power forward Elijah Taylor, who committed to the Irish 11 days ago.

Zona is the 267th-ranked prospect overall according to 247sports.com, and is considered a top-10 player in his class in the state of New Jersey. At 6’9” and 235 pounds, he is a strong big man prospect who can move well and shoot from the outside — particularly reminiscent of former Irish captain Rob Kurz.

He selected the Irish over offers from the Davidson Wildcats, Harvard Crimson, Penn State Nittany Lions, Penn Quakers, Saint Josephs Hawks, and a number of other programs.

Zona will form an athletic, formidable frontcourt with Taylor as his classmate. Taylor, a 6’8” forward from Philadelphia (Imhotep Institute), is ranked at the 215th-best player in the country for 2020, and held offers from the Seton Hall Pirates, Florida Gators, Dayton Flyers, Pittsburgh Panthers, Tennessee Volunteers, Virginia Tech Hokies, and a few others when he verbally committed to Mike Brey’s program on September 19th.

Taylor is an aggressive and hardworking defender and rebounder, and definitely has some skill with the ball and some hops that could translate to a very good offensive game under the tutelage of the Notre Dame staff.

After a bit of a dry spell in terms of garnering commitments from promising recruits (especially big men), it appears Brey and his staff have returned to their bread and butter of picking up underrated, talented 3-star guys who can fit into the ND system and be potential All-ACC level players by the end of their time in the program.

Combine talent like this with some of those 4-star guys picked up after the back-to-back Elite Eight appearances of 2015 and 2016 — such as Prentiss Hubb, Nate Laszewski, Dane Goodwin, Robby Carmody, Juwan Durham, and most recently Cormac Ryan — and the Irish certainly have some hope for the next few years after a very sobering last two seasons.

 

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