PEORIA — The Zobrist name already is part of the Bradley Braves basketball past. Now it's going to be part of their future, as well.

Metamora star senior guard Matthew Zobrist accepted Bradley's offer, officially committing to the Braves on Tuesday.

"I'm so excited. Being close to home and obviously, my dad's history with Bradley, those things had meaning for me," Zobrist said. "I knew for a while Bradley was going to be the spot. I was looking for some key things and Bradley had all of them: Great coaches, great program, the opportunity to play a lot early on.

"My dad went there and had a successful career. Now I'm going to try to follow in his footsteps and have a great career like he did. He was very excited when I told him."

Bradley basketball: From one camp to another, Bradley basketball uses summer to learn and to teach

Zobrist chose Bradley among offers from Illinois State, Bryant, Eastern Illinois, Penn, Belmont, Saint Louis, Indiana State and Loyola-Chicago. It's a big get for Bradley's future roster.

Zobrist, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, is the son of former Bradley guard Aaron Zobrist, the program's all-time 3-point shooting percentage leader at 42.4%. And his cousin is Nate Kennell, who knocked down a lot of 3s for Bradley from 2016-17 through 2019-20.

Aaron Zobrist played for Bradley from 1993-94 through 1996-97 and was inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.

"I'm super excited, my dad and cousin went to Bradley," Zobrist said in a Journal Star story last fall when BU made him an offer. "It means a lot to me. I can picture myself on that Carver Arena floor, hitting a 3 for Bradley."

Matthew Zobrist was part of Metamora's IHSA Class 3A state champions in 2022-23 and the title defense last season that ended with a loss to eventual state third-place finisher Richwoods in the sectional title game.

Now, with his college future settled, he can get to work on his present — the final year of his prep career at Metamora. "I have to bring leadership," Zobrist said. "I want to be stepping up, with a lot of young guys, making sure they know what they need to do."

Dietrich Richardson: List of scholarship offers for this Manual basketball player

He told the Journal Star last fall that he felt a connection with Bradley going back to his childhood, when he'd line up on the floor before pre-game introductions to get fist-bumps from players, and rooted for Walt Lemon Jr. because "I thought he was a really cool guy."

Now he has chosen a path from which he might end up being some young Bradley fan's "Walt Lemon."

"Hopefully, I will be," Zobrist said. "I was in first or second grade when I was at those Bradley games rooting for Walt," Zobrist said. "If kids look at me that way some day, I think that's really cool. I hope it happens."

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Metamora basketball star senior guard commits to Bradley Braves