On Monday evening, 5-star shooting guard Matthew Cleveland narrowed his list of schools down to five programs. The No. 15 overall prospect in the 2021 class, per 247 Sports, will pick from a strong list: NC State, Florida State, Michigan, Kansas and Stanford.
247 Sports also slots the 6-foot-6, 190-pound Cleveland, who plays for Alpharetta (GA) Pace Academy, as the No. 2 shooting guard in the 2021 recruiting class. (Pace Academy is the same school that produced former Duke one-and-done star Wendell Carter Jr.)
🙏🏽🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/xn7YbQj1u6
— Matthew Cleveland (@MCleveland35) June 29, 2020
Florida State extended Cleveland a scholarship in March 2019; NC State’s offer came in Sept. 2019. FSU last got a stud wing from Georgia in the 2018 recruiting class — Devin Vassell, who hails from nearby Suwanee. In general, the state of Georgia is primary recruiting territory for Florida State. During his sophomore season, Vassell was named second team All-ACC; Vassell projects as a top-10 pick for the 2020 NBA Draft.
NC State and Florida State also went heads up for another blue-chip prospect in the 2019 class: forward Patrick Williams, a native of Charlotte. Williams, the 2019-20 ACC Sixth Man of the Year, was a key part of Florida State’s ACC championship team this year; he, too, projects as a lottery pick for the 2020 NBA Draft, like Vassell.
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