By ADAM ZAGORIA
Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe remains committed to Oklahoma State despite the NCAA penalties handed down to the school earlier this month, and is hopeful that Cade Cunningham will remain at OSU, too.
Those penalties include a postseason ban for the 2020-21 season. The school is appealing the penalties.
“Matthew still plans to go to OSU as of today,” his mother, Donna Reid-Moncrieffe, said Saturday by phone.
The 6-foot-7, 205-pound Class of 2020 wing from Orangeville Prep chose the Cowboys in February over Seton Hall and Georgetown.
Donna Reid-Moncrieffe, who is an attorney but has no inside knowledge of the case, said she is hopeful the appeal will be successful and the team will be able to play in the postseason in 2021.
“I think they are hopeful at the end of the day,” she said. “Given the timeline, I’m hopeful that the appeal will be heard prior to that. I just can’t see them losing out on this appeal. I mean, how do you punish a group of kids and coaches who had nothing to do with this and did not benefit from it? I think their appeal will be successful. My concern is whether or not the appeal will be heard remedied before conference [play] and March Madness.”
The 6-7 Cunningham, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, has yet to make a public announcement on his future plans. There has been speculation that he could transfer to another school or announce plans to play professionally next season, but many observers believe he, too, will remain at Oklahoma State with Moncrieffe.
“Honestly, I can’t say definitively,” Donna Reid-Moncrieffe said. “That’s the hope right now. I’ll put it under quotations as a ‘hope.’ I haven’t heard anything alternatively. But I think that’s as much as I can realistically say without having spoken to Cade himself.”
OSU coach Mike Boynton previously said he would work with Cunningham and the other recruits to examine their options. “Every player on my roster, if you include him and the rest of the recruiting class that’s on the roster, they all have options,” Boynton said in a recent KSR podcast. “He probably has more options than anybody because of the professional element out there for him. But there’s no real update, we are still trying to gather information and see what the process is going to look like.” He added: “So for me, it’s just about making sure there’s clarity for him and how we’re approaching it. And that we have honest conversations about what the options are. And I’m not in the position to try and sway him from doing what he wants to do. My job is to help him understand what each options means. There’s upside and maybe a little downside to every situation. Whether it be overseas in Europe or on another continent, going to the G-League, going to another college, or sticking with Oklahoma State. Every situation is going to present some positives and probably some negatives.” When he committed in February, Moncrieffe told ZAGSBLOG he was looking forward to playing with Cunningham. “I’m excited to play with him,” he said. “He was on the phone a lot throughout the process. I got a feel for how he plays down at the Pangos Camp in L.A. We were on the same team, so I just got a feel for his style of play. He likes to get out and run, throws lobs, push it in transition and that fits right into what I do because I play in transition. It was a perfect fit. He was recruiting me pretty hard. Every day we would get on the phone and stuff like that, so it was definitely a big factor.” If the Cowboys are successful on appeal, there will be pressure on them to make the NCAA Tournament and make a run in 2021, just as there was when former No. 1 picks Ben Simmons played at LSU and Markelle Fultz at Washington. Both players turned down blue bloods for more outside-the-box type schools. Neither team made the Big Dance. “Definitely, that’s our goal for sure, get to the Sweet 16,” Moncrieffe said in February. “We’re a young team, we’re learning every day. We’re just going to go in, put our hard hats on and get to work and listen to Coach B.” Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter And like ZAGS on FacebookMy main focus is to remain focused pic.twitter.com/eBpyuG1XHF
— Cade Cunningham (@CadeCunningham_) June 12, 2020
