Following an all-conference and honorable mention all-area junior season at Carmel Catholic High School (IL), Ethan Matz only continued to grow his game throughout the grassroots season. The 6’3” rising senior combo guard was a big piece for a very good Full Package team.
From tournament to tournament, Matz only greatly improved. To start the grassroots season at the NY2LA Swish N’ Dish in early April, he averaged a modest 6.7 points per game followed by 11 points next month during the May live period at the NY2LA Next Level Invitational. Then during the summer Matz turned his game up a level. Starting with 15.7 points at the Midwest Classic followed by 16.5 points while shooting 57.1% during the first of the July live period. Then at the next live period at the NY2LA Summer Jam, the guard was a prominent reason Full Package was able to capture the NY2LA Platinum Elite title. This included a game winning three pointer in the final seconds of an elite eight victory in which he scored 21 points. More than just a scorer, Matz also got it done with his distributing averaging at least 2 assists per game in each of these tournaments and as many as averaging 4 assists in one of them.
“Successful,” is the way Matz first described his breakout championship grassroots season with Full Package. “Our team really started clicking in the July season and I really found a solid role to help contribute big on offense and defense.” When talking about his own game, Matz focused on his versatility. He talked about his ability to fill multiple roles from being the point guard and main playmaker or being a scorer as well to defending the opposing team’s top player.
With the growth of his game, his recruitment has followed along going upwards. Matz is seeing interest from colleges on all levels. Most recently he took a visit to Hillsdale College this past weekend. He also has visits upcoming this fall to Milwaukee and Parkside. He is also seeing interest from numerous other schools including mainly some high academic programs.