6'7" Big Man Gains Honor
Pinkerton's Zach Mathieu has won the 2010 WGAM Radio NH Mr. Basketball Award. He was presented with the trophy at an awards banquet held last week at the Radisson Hotel in Nashua, NH.
The award was open to all players in the NHIAA, regardless of grade level or division their school played in. It was voted on by about 15 members of the NH high school sports media.
This past season Mathieu led Pinkerton to the Class L championship. The 6'7" center was one of the top players in the state all year, but took his game to the next level in the tournament. He scored 30+ points and grabbed 20+ rebounds in both the semi-finals and championship game to lead the Astros to the title.
What's more impressive is that Mathieu focuses nearly all of his time and energy on baseball, not basketball. He has a full ride to play baseball next year at Franklin Pierce. Mathieu does not play AAU basketball. The only time he plays hoops is during Pinkerton's four month winter season. If he had focused on strictly basketball all along, he would likely be a low Division-I player and possibly play at UNH. But instead, he is a potential Major League draft pick in baseball.
The list of finalists for the WGAM NH Mr. Basketball award were as follows:
(alphabetical order)
*Alex Burt, Dover High School, Sr.
*Alex LaRosa, Salem High School, Sr.
*David Madol, Trinity High School, Jr.
*Sean Martin, Conant High School, Sr.
*Zach Mathieu, Pinkerton Academy, Sr.
Other players to receive this award in recent years include Jordan Laguerre, Tyler Roche, Corey Hassan and Mike Stys.
This all just goes to show that indeed, size does matter in high school basketball. The best player in the NHIAA is a 6'7" and about about 250 lbs. The best player in the MIAA is 6'10" (Carson Desrosiers). Having a dominant big man on your side is a huge advantage. Now I'm not saying that Mathieu is in Desrosiers' league, just pointing out how the top player in each state is a center who is 6'7" or above.
