VIDEO: Interview With Former Purdue & BYU Center, Matt Haarms!

After his recent signing to Fraport Skyliners in Germany for his first season of professional basketball, former Purdue & BYU center, Matt Haarms, was kind enough to sit down for an interview! Matt was extremely open and honest about his path in basketball, career, and how things played out at Purdue. I cannot thank him enough for being such a great interview! Hope you guys enjoy, Boiler Up!

You can watch the interview using the link below and scroll down for an outline of the conversation:

During the interview, Matt and I discussed:

• Signing with the Fraport Skyliners for his first season as a professional basketball player.
• What the process is of signing with a team overseas compared to the NBA.
• Being “realistic” about his options and where the best fit was for him.
• What the off-season has looked like for him since the season ended and what he is working on to improve his game.
• Why he could have an advantage overseas given he is originally from the Netherlands.
• Differences in the game and the basketball culture between Europe and the United States, even down to the high school and AAU levels.
• His experiences being recruited out of high school and the tough transition to American basketball after coming over for his senior year of high school.
• What made him end up choosing Purdue out of high school?
• Looking back on the 3.5 years he spent in West Lafayette.
• The nerves he had coming into a program that had Isaac Haas and Caleb Swanigan at the time.
• How special those teams Purdue teams were and the memorable Elite 8 run on the 2018-19 squad.
• One of his most proud memories being that team “solving the puzzle” of playing together to have the most success possible.
• Drawing energy and emotion from the fans to then translating it onto the court.
• Why he transferred from Purdue following the 2019-20 season.
• The backlash he received from fans and how he was able to not let it bother him.
• How much he still cares for all of the Purdue family.
• His second time around in the recruiting world and how he ended up choosing BYU over the likes of Kentucky, Texas Tech, and more.
• The “family culture” that both BYU and Purdue had.
• What it was like to come into a new school, program, and culture and having high expectations from everyone in the process.