Elon’s Matt Van Komen overcomes numerous injuries, sets sight on finishing college career with flurry

It’s a comparatively frequent sight to see college students on electrical scooters cruising the crimson brick sidewalks of Elon College as they head to class or the eating corridor.

Nonetheless, when Matthew Van Komen arrived this summer season and started to scoot round campus, quite a lot of heads turned. It’s fairly a sight to see a 7-foot-4 man with a mullet and a mustache on a little bit scooter.

Van Komen, who’s the tallest participant to ever placed on Elon’s maroon and gold, has grown accustomed to always being watched, whether or not he’s on campus or on the grocery retailer.

“There’s all the time days when it’s a bit a lot, however typically I like the eye,” Van Komen stated.

Now at his fourth college in six years, having traveled from the Pac-12 to the WCC to Division II and now to Elon, Van Komen hopes his nomadic, injury-riddled profession can culminate in success on the courtroom on the DI stage.

His mom, Lindsay Neville, who’s 6-foot-1 and performed basketball at BYU, says Van Komen has “gotten consideration from day one.” She remembers when she took him to the physician for a check-up and all of the nurses gathered within the room the place he was being measured to gawk at his dimension. He got here house upset from the primary day of kindergarten as a result of he couldn’t slot in any of the seats, and the instructor needed to go to a sixth-grade classroom to get him a chair.

As he grew to over seven toes tall in center college, he towered two toes over most of his friends. He admittedly wasn’t nice at basketball, describing himself as “skinny and awkward.” He most popular to discover the native Utah terrain, going tenting within the mountains along with his mates.

“Basketball wasn’t one thing I practiced alone, even by way of highschool,” he stated.

However, Van Komen garnered loads of consideration from high-major coaches, as he turned a coveted four-star recruit. Prestigious basketball applications comparable to Gonzaga, Baylor and Utah got here calling. However Van Komen, admittedly naïve to the recruiting panorama, didn’t know easy methods to deal with the barrage of telephone calls and knowledge.

“I by no means actually watched a variety of basketball, so I didn’t know a lot about it,” he stated. “Baylor and Gonzaga have been calling me, and I didn’t actually know who these colleges have been.”

Van Komen dedicated to the College of Utah, only a quick drive from his house. Because the video games started his freshman 12 months, he discovered himself buried on the depth chart because the third heart. His coaches pushed for him so as to add weight, so he consumed each day protein shakes and “gorged himself within the eating halls.” He stated he arrived on campus at 217 kilos, was listed on the official staff roster at 240, and he claims he bought as excessive as 270 kilos, an astonishing 53-pound acquire in 9 months.

Van Komen noticed motion in simply 9 video games his freshman 12 months, scoring 15 complete factors, together with 12 in a single recreation—an NCAA-record 94-point victory over Mississippi Valley State.

“The battle’s common,” stated Larry Krystkowiak, the previous NBA participant who recruited and coached Van Komen at Utah. “I all the time speak to our younger youngsters about how onerous it’s and the way it’s type of a ceremony of passage. It’s fairly uncommon to come back in as a freshman or sophomore and play.”

However Van Komen had completely different expectations.

“My mother and father have been anticipating me to be beginning and so was everybody else, and I by no means noticed the courtroom,” he stated. “I didn’t deal with it properly.”

Annoyed by the shortage of enjoying time and never seeing a path to vary that in future years, he determined to switch from Utah.

Van Komen put his identify within the Switch Portal, and coaches started to succeed in out to him. Nonetheless, because the COVID-19 pandemic enveloped the nation, colleges weren’t allowed to host recruits on visits.

“It was strictly telephone calls,” he stated. “It was fascinating selecting a faculty purely off what the coaches needed to say.”

Van Komen whittled his record of finalists to St. Mary’s, San Diego State, San Diego and BYU. He visited the California colleges on his personal, typically touring the campus whereas on a FaceTime name with the coach of the varsity he was visiting. He selected St. Mary’s, a West Coast Convention program that had gained at the least 20 video games for 13 straight seasons and had produced NBA gamers comparable to Brian Shaw and Patty Mills.

Van Komen had injured his foot late in his freshman season at Utah, however the severity of the harm was unknown on the time he transferred. After he dedicated to St. Mary’s, he discovered that he had a fracture of his navicular bone in his left foot that will require surgical procedure. It’s an harm that has plagued a few of the tallest gamers within the NBA, together with Yao Ming and Joel Embiid. Whereas he doesn’t know for positive, Van Komen is satisfied that the added weight he placed on throughout his freshman 12 months contributed to the harm.

Foot surgical procedure meant that he was out of fee from the time he arrived at St. Mary’s in the summertime till the start of the season. That lack of observe time made it troublesome to crack the rotation, and Van Komen once more discovered himself watching greater than enjoying. He noticed motion in solely 13 video games for 34 complete minutes in his sophomore 12 months.

After the season ended, Van Komen ready for an essential offseason with hopes of incomes minutes in his junior 12 months. These ideas have been short-lived, nevertheless, as he broke the navicular bone in his proper foot within the first exercise of the spring.

“Identical harm, completely different foot,” he recalled.

That meant one other surgical procedure, and one other summer season and fall of sitting on the sidelines as an alternative of bettering his recreation and incomes enjoying time. Regardless of the continued setbacks, Van Komen by no means thought-about hanging up his sneakers.

“I needed to play basketball,” he stated. “I hadn’t gotten my fill of it.”

And so, he as soon as once more began to rehab.

In December, docs advised Van Komen that his proper foot wasn’t therapeutic correctly and would require a second surgical procedure, guaranteeing he wouldn’t play in any respect throughout his junior 12 months. Quite than specializing in returning rapidly to play, Van Komen seemed on the long-term image for rehabilitation all through the winter and spring.

He was lastly wholesome in the summertime earlier than his senior 12 months because the Gaels went to Australia for a two-week overseas tour in August. His good well being was short-lived, as he fractured the fourth metatarsal in his left foot in the course of the staff’s first recreation down below. Whereas this harm didn’t require surgical procedure, the harm taking place on the finish of the summer season meant that it could be one other wasted season for Van Komen.

“I possibly may have began enjoying in December, however simply slowly got here again as a result of I wasn’t making an attempt to have anything occur,” he stated.

After the 2022-23 season, regardless of having been in school for 4 seasons, Van Komen nonetheless had three years of basketball eligibility remaining attributable to his accidents and the COVID-year waiver granted by the NCAA to all student-athletes. Nonetheless, the St. Mary’s coaches knowledgeable him his profession must proceed elsewhere.

“They recruited over me, so I didn’t have a spot at St. Mary’s,” Van Komen stated. “However they advised me they’d assist me discover a place if I needed to proceed enjoying basketball.”

Within the spring of 2023, Van Komen put his identify within the Switch Portal for a second time. He rapidly found a restricted marketplace for a participant coming off a number of foot surgical procedures and who basically hadn’t performed basketball in three years.

“It was a little bit nerve-wracking,” he stated. “Not many choices.”

The one Division-I college that confirmed any curiosity was Detroit Mercy, which ended the 2023-24 season with an NCAA-worst 1-31 document. A number of Division-II colleges reached out, together with his eventual alternative, Hawaii Pacific College.

“Being in Hawaii was onerous to say no to,” Van Komen stated.

Whereas the HPU employees hoped he would keep for at the least two years, Van Komen’s intention was all the time for a one-year cease on his approach again to Division I.

“That was my purpose,” he stated. “To get my toes below me and show myself once more.”

He rapidly realized that he was a great distance from the constitution flights and packed gyms he was used to at Utah and St. Mary’s.

“Residing in Hawaii was like dwelling out of the country,” Van Komen stated. “We had no AC in our observe gymnasium or in our home, so we needed to get used to the warmth. I’d go away the burden room with rust on my fingers from the weights. We had 4 or 5 rows of pull-out bleachers like a highschool gymnasium.”

Van Komen went from being on a staff that had gained NCAA Match video games in back-to-back years to enjoying video games in entrance of as few as 57 followers. However he realized he had an essential alternative in a picturesque setting.

“On the finish of the day it’s simply basketball,” he stated. “So long as you’ve got a courtroom and a few hoops, it’s all the identical. And it’s attractive, it’s lovely on the market.”

His foremost precedence could be one thing he hadn’t executed previously three years: to remain wholesome. Whereas he made it by way of the 12 months with no foot accidents, Van Komen’s time on the islands wasn’t with out its personal bodily challenges. Annoyed throughout a preseason exercise, he punched a wall, injuring his wrist and sidelining him for a month of observe. Whereas most of his teammates rode mopeds across the island, Van Komen discovered the engine couldn’t assist his weight as he tried to go up any kind of incline, so he as an alternative selected a bike.

In early December, as he rounded a nook, the bike slid out from below him, leaving the left aspect of his physique bloodied. Whereas he didn’t miss any time on the courtroom, because the staff performed the College of Hawaii the subsequent day, Van Komen was “writhing in ache” each time one other participant hit his left forearm.

In early January, as he sat in a lodge room in California in between video games on a street journey, he started to really feel a pointy ache in his aspect. A visit to the hospital resulted in having his appendix eliminated, which value him virtually a month of motion. He missed seven video games and misplaced his spot within the beginning lineup.

Regardless of the challenges, Van Komen achieved his main purpose: to play basketball once more. For the season, he performed over 500 minutes throughout 22 video games, averaging simply over seven factors and 7 rebounds a recreation, whereas blocking 49 photographs.

“He’s such a presence inside,” HPU head coach Jesse Nakanishi stated. “There have been some video games that he was extraordinarily impactful.”

The staff skilled success as properly, practically doubling its win complete from the 12 months earlier than.

After the season, Van Komen hoped his efficiency was sufficient to get him again to the Division-I stage, and he put his identify within the Switch Portal for a 3rd time. He was considered one of over 1,000 gamers on the lookout for a brand new house.

“Recruiting within the Switch Portal is basically distinctive as a result of there’s so many names, so many prospects,” Elon head coach Billy Taylor stated. “So for us, we actually attempt to flip over each stone. (Assistant coach) Greg Herenda introduced his identify to me, so I took a have a look at the clips and stated, ‘This child is fairly good!’ As we studied the movie, we thought this child has an opportunity to be a very good participant. After which speaking to him, he’s a beautiful child. He’s conversational. He’s easy-going. He’s humorous. He’s mature. It was such an amazing match as soon as he got here out right here.”

After a number of telephone calls, Van Komen boarded a aircraft to Elon to go to campus.

“This place felt like house as quickly as I bought right here,” he stated.

Residing in North Carolina has been an adjustment for somebody who’s lived his complete life west of the Rocky Mountains.

“It’s completely different,” he stated. “There are not any large mountains. There are bushes in all places. The humidity was loopy this summer season. Within the mornings and nights—the bug noises. It’s like what you see out of a film.”

Again on the Division-I stage, Van Komen is wanting ahead to lastly having a significant position in some high-profile video games. Elon opens the season on Nov. 4 in opposition to No. 9 North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

“In school, I’ve by no means performed in opposition to a staff like UNC that I’ve had a giant position in really doing one thing,” he stated. “I undoubtedly have some nerves but additionally a variety of pleasure.”

Taylor anticipates Van Komen having an essential position from the opening tip.

“He’s performed for some excellent basketball coaches and been taught the sport extraordinarily properly,” Taylor stated. “We’re relying on him to be somebody that may defend the rim for us, to be somebody that may compete on the glass for rebounds and provides us a paint presence when it comes to having the ability to rating and end.”

Van Komen is now 24 years previous and pursuing a second graduate diploma.

“[I] undoubtedly really feel previous,” he stated. “We helped the freshmen transfer on this summer season, and I felt misplaced.”

However the lifetime of a graduate scholar isn’t so unhealthy. He’s at the moment taking two lessons that every meet as soon as per week within the evenings. The staff practices within the early afternoon, and on the times he doesn’t have class he’ll head again to the gymnasium for some further taking pictures earlier than he and his teammates play Name of Obligation into the wee hours of the morning.

“The tradition of the staff right here is basically pleasant,” the middle stated. “Everyone is tremendous good to one another. It’s not just like the cliquey teams like I noticed at different locations. Right here, guys will hang around, particularly within the coaching room after observe. Folks invite you out to dinner. Having that point collectively exterior of observe actually brings the staff collectively.”

The Elon program is hopeful that their camaraderie will result in newfound success on the ground. The Phoenix has solely reached .500 six instances since shifting to Division I in 1999, and a visit to the 2013 Faculty Insider Match stays this system’s solely DI postseason look. This 12 months’s squad was picked by the CAA coaches to complete twelfth out of 14 groups within the league’s preseason ballot.

However Van Komen stays undeterred, each by his accidents and by what different folks could say.

“Different folks’s expectations don’t actually matter,” he stated. “I can solely management what I can management on the finish of the day. Now, I’ve lived out the faculty expertise, and I’m right here to play basketball.”

Taylor has seen the influence that Van Komen has had on the Phoenix.

“Final 12 months, we had a younger staff,” the coach stated. “Twelve of the 16 gamers have been freshman and sophomores. So, so as to add an older participant like Matt who’s been round, who’s skilled, who’s seen a variety of various things, is a giant benefit for us in serving to a few of our younger guys proceed to develop and develop. He’s really easy to get together with and straightforward to speak to, that I believe guys have actually been drawn to him.”

Because the summer season, he’s traded in his scooter for a truck to get round campus. And whereas his mode of transportation is perhaps much less conspicuous, it’s not like Van Komen is hoping that folks gained’t discover him or discuss him. In any case, he’s been 7-foot-4 lengthy sufficient to know that’s not reasonable.

He’s simply hoping that he’ll be on folks’s minds for various causes – “rebounds and dunks,” he stated with a smile.