Villanova’s first 2024 recruit brings a taste of Europe

Villanova’s latest Garden State recruit doesn’t have the typical New Jersey-to-Villanova journey.

The Wildcats secured a commitment from 2024 four-star Matthew Hodge on Friday. The 6-foot-8 forward attends St. Rose High in Monmouth County and plays under head coach Brian Lynch (class of 2000). Hodge is a typical Villanova recruit, from his size to his Catholic school to his team-first mentality, but while many Villanova recruits come from New Jersey, most didn’t spend their first 16 years thousands of miles away speaking Flemish.

Still, Hodge sees himself fitting in.

“I really could see myself being on the court in a Villanova uniform because of the way they play and they really [play] off [the] extra pass, the right way, the right basketball decision,” Hodge said. “That’s something that I feel like it’s really important.”

Hodge was born and raised in Belgium, only moving to Belmar, N.J. in 2022. His father, Odell, is a 6-foot-9 American who scored more than 2,000 points at Old Dominion but went to Belgium to play professionally. He played in the country from 1999 until 2013, when he turned to coaching.

Lynch had a similar journey, playing four years at Villanova before moving to Europe to play professionally. He bounced around the continent at first but found success in Belgium, playing on Odell’s team. He remembers seeing five-month-old Matt on the sidelines, watching the team play.

As time went on, the two Americans got closer, spending time together off the court. By the time Matt’s little brother Jayden was born, Odell and his wife, Sofie, knew Lynch and his wife, Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters, well enough to ask them to be Jayden’s godparents. They said yes.

Odell knew his boys would be basketball players, and Jayden, slightly smaller than Matt, quickly developed a flair that Odell knew would be best served in America. He schemed with Lynch, saying they’d find a good coach and send Jayden to attend high school in the U.S. Lynch moved back to the States in 2020 to coach at St. Rose, but thought nothing of it until he got a call from an excited Odell.

» READ MORE: Inquirer's Collective Effort series: Here's how Villanova basketball transformed itself into a pro team

“He’s like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, B.’ I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ ” Lynch remembers. “... It completely slipped my mind. He’s like, ‘What do you mean, what’s the big deal?!? We’ve been talking about sending Jayden over to a good coach [for years]. Who better than one of my closest friends who I worked with, who was a professional coach, who I know will develop [him]? This is like the perfect opportunity.’”

As both fathers started thinking about logistics, Matt, then a high school sophomore, visited New Jersey with Jayden. He’d dreamed about college ball but figured he’d probably play in Belgium out of high school instead. As Jayden, a 6-foot-5 guard, prepared for the transition, Matt decided he wanted to go too.

“It was kind of a little gamble,” Hodge said. But he saw the benefits, both with basketball and education. While he knew it would be different, he wanted to take the chance.

Odell and Sofie would stay in Belgium, but Matt and Jayden would move in with their godfather. Lynch, a father of three already, started looking at bunk beds. (Their spare room proved to be big enough for two, unstacked beds.)

The transition went better than anyone predicted. The Hodge brothers led St. Rose to a 23-5 record and the New Jersey Non-Public B championship, where they lost to an elite Roselle Catholic team. Matt’s recruitment blew up, quickly becoming a four-star recruit and gaining offers from Villanova, Xavier, Marquette, Maryland and others.

Joining the Lynch family was even more seamless. Matt and Jayden joined Lynch’s 15-year-old daughter and 10- and 7-year-old sons. The kids love their giant Belgian older brothers.

At St. Rose’s banquet last year, the 7-year-old, Blake, was lying on his stomach with other team siblings when Matt won the team’s MVP award.

“He kind of jumped up to his knees, and as Matt walked by, slapped him five and said to the kids, ‘That’s my best friend!’ ” Lynch said. “I couldn’t stop laughing.”

While living with Lynch has obvious basketball perks, Hodge has learned from Clijsters, a three-time U.S. Open champ and the former WTA No. 1, as well.

“[Her career] was really, really impressive and that helped me a lot to [see] how serious I have to take this sport,” Hodge said. “And not only on the court, but also taking care of my body, which she helped me a lot with. Eating habits, stretching, taking ice baths, icing my knees, all those things that I was never used to, living in Belgium. That was really huge for me.”

» READ MORE: Villanova hires former guard Corey Fisher to basketball staff

Hodge’s recruitment picked up in June when he starred at Philly Live, a local high school tournament. In July, he named a top ten that included both Old Dominion, his father’s alma mater, and Villanova, his coach’s. Odell and Lynch took a facts-based approach, answering any of his questions about the schools instead of trying to sway him. But when he cut the list to six, Villanova made the cut. Old Dominion did not.

The final weeks of his recruitment were stressful. Hodge built strong relationships with each recruiting coach, from Sean Miller at Xavier to Mike Nardi and Kyle Neptune at Villanova. After each call, he’d be leaning toward that school, to the point where he and Lynch decided to ask the coaches to stop their recruitment and give time to him to make his decision. After a week of silence, he chose Villanova.

“I felt like this is the place that I’m missing the most, and this is a coach [that] I wanted to talk to, and that was Villanova,” Hodge said. “That’s what kind of made me believe like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is where I wanted to go.’ ”

He was also drawn by the potential to contribute early. Villanova will graduate four players next year, including similar players in Hakim Hart and Tyler Burton. Three more seniors will have eligibility decisions to make.

“At the end of the day, he had to own this decision, and it truly had to come from him,” Lynch said. “I’m really proud of him because I think he didn’t get influenced by anybody outside of the coaches that recruited him. And he made that decision on his own.”

» READ MORE: With the release of Big East opponents, Villanova’s upcoming men’s basketball schedule is complete