UNM’s new hoops savior is a prankster

Comedic timing is an art form, and depending on your point of view, Bayron Matos is either a Rembrandt or completely tone deaf.

Hailed as the latest savior of the University of New Mexico men’s basketball program, the 6-foot-9 will-he-or-won’t-he freshman power forward posted a since-deleted Tweet on Wednesday night saying he had “de-committed” from the Lobos and was, in essence, following a few others out the door.

After creating a mild panic on social media — not to mention a retweet with a “huge loss for the Lobos” comment from a certain New Mexican sportswriter — Matos posted again at 11:06 p.m. saying it had all been an April Fool’s joke. He did so with an accompanying photo of him in a long-sleeved Lobos basketball shirt and a cherry-red Lobos flag hanging on the wall behind him. Ha.

Ha-ha.

Actually it was pretty funny, and it showed a playful side to Matos that, frankly, has been kept at a distance from fans and basically everyone else since he first arrived on campus in January. His early entrance came as a surprise to Loboland after he graduated high school in December and enrolled in classes at UNM for the spring semester.

The talk immediately revolved around whether Matos, a physical specimen whose mature build and athletic skills make him look like an NFL tight end, would join the team’s active roster for what amounted to the final five weeks of the season. Head coach Paul Weir never did commit one way or the other to his status, pushing back a final decision that never became public.

Matos just kind of sat there on the bench in full uniform, warming up with the team before games but never actually appearing in the scorebook. He was always kept at a safe distance from the media, although he instantly came across as playful and engaging.

His enrollment, however, started his eligibility clock. Those five weeks in purgatory constituted an entire redshirt year that he can never get back. It also got Lobo fans salivating about what he could eventually become.

At least now we know Matos has a sense of humor, one that he’s not afraid to use in a time of wild uncertainty. Aside from the fact it was April Fool’s Day and that we’re in, ya know, a global pandemic that has people freaking out, the joke came just a few hours after teammate Vance Jackson announced on Twitter he was headed to Arkansas as a graduate transfer.

Like Matos, Jackson was once the “future,” the guy whose wide spectrum of talent was typecast as the saving grace for a floundering program. It didn’t exactly pan out for Vance, just like it failed to launch for other recent recruits like JaQuan Lyle, Carlton Bragg, Elijah Brown and Sam Logwood, each of whom was hailed as the next great thing.

The expectations machine has consumed many a Lobo over the years and Matos could certainly be one of them. If anything, he at least showed he doesn’t take himself too seriously and isn’t afraid to rattle the cages of the people who will line up by the thousands to see him.

Given the circumstances, there are undoubtedly a few who might think otherwise, but the thought here is to give the man his props. He pulled a fast one on me — I thought I was going to have to hammer out a way-past-deadline story about another Lobo gone rogue. Nope.

Just a solid gotcha moment from a player who is officially the latest cornerstone piece for a team that seems to lose them with alarming regularity these days.

Keep up the good work, Bayron. And next time, use the winky face emoji when scaring the bejeezus out of your fans.