Matt Thomas meets The Mayor

By Chris Williams, CycloneFanatic.com Publisher

Iowa State has been recruiting Onalaska, Wis. guard Matt Thomas for some time now. But up until last Wednesday (on an unofficial visit), one pretty major thing had been lacking.

Thomas, a 6-foot-1, 165-pound shooting guard, had never met Fred Hoiberg. It turns out, the two have quite a bit in common.

“He was a nice guy. It is cool that he played in the NBA,” Thomas said. “He can really relate to me. We’re the same type of player. We’re shooters. I really think that he can help me in that way.”

Like Hoiberg did back in the day, Thomas can sling it. As a sophomore at Onalaska, Thomas shot 41.4 percent from 3-point range. He averaged 16.4 points per game for a 23-3 basketball team. All Thomas had to see was a little bit of film of how Hoiberg used Scott Christopherson last season to get excited about potentially becoming a member of Iowa State’s 2013 recruiting class.

“He (Hoiberg) talked to me about how he has Scott coming off of screens and stuff like that,” Thomas said. “I’d have the freedom to shoot there.”

“He has so many connections. He knows all of those GM’s and a guy who runs a camp in Europe. That’s really cool.”

Along with Iowa State, Thomas claims offers from Creighton, Northern Iowa and Wisconsin-Green Bay.