The Capel brothers, Jeff and Jason, arrived in Pittsburgh two years ago to build the Pitt program. Now, the Capels’ latest offers went out to another brother act, this one from New York.
Matt and Kyle Filipowski are from Westtown, New York but are currently playing at Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Massachusetts. Today, the Filipowski’s found out that they both had received offers from Pitt.
For Matt (6-foot-11, 235 pounds), this is his first major offer with previous offers coming from Bryant, Marist and Stony Brook. Kyle (6-foot-10, 215 pounds) is a three-star recruit with an offer list that includes Providence, UCLA, Vanderbilt, UConn, Boston College, Georgetown, Iowa, Louisville, Marquette, Maryland, Notre Dame, Purdue, Virginia Tech and Xavier.
Both players are in the Class of 2022 and 247 Sports rates Kyle as one of the Top 100 juniors in the country.
After getting the news from Tim O’Toole, Matt spoke to to Pittsburgh Sports Now about the big day for him and his brother.
”I’ve been in constant contact with Coach O’Toole now for a while (since June),” said Filipowski. “Today, he told me how he’s seen me improve over the summer and that he expects big things for me and told me about the offer. I was super excited because it’s my first ACC offer, possibly the greatest basketball conference in the country.
”He started off by offering me and my brother at the same time and said that while we’re different types of players but that we both could do great things at the Pitt program. He went on to say how he saw over the summer scrimmages that I brought my game out and showed more versatility and the ability to drive to the hoop.”
The Filipowski’s transferred to WMA after playing at Fordham Prep (Bronx, New York) as freshman. This past season, Matt came off the bench for his team as team won the NEPSAC AA Championship.
Matt will move into a starting role this season which says a lot about his ability that Pitt has already offered him a scholarship.
”I was backing up a really good player in John Adams this past season,” said Filipowski. “I was still able to help the team and do whatever I could. For them to see that really boosts my confidence personally and hopefully I can show them what I really can do this year.”
Entering his junior season, Matt’s biggest strength is his ability to block shots and his rebounding. Offensively his points come from around the rim and a mid-range game.
Keep in mind, Capel came from a program and played a part in Duke landing the three Plumlee brothers (Mason, Miles and Marshall). All three went on to play in the NBA and two were first round picks.
