Matthews Standing Strong At Washington State
Ron Bailey, Publisher
August 25, 2006 – Long a hoops hotbed, the Mid-Atlantic region has provided basketball talent to colleges of all types in every part of the country. Despite this fact, there have not been a plethora of high school student athletes from that area trekking to the Pacific Northwest for a scholastic nd sports experience. This form of provincialism can be attributed to a mix of East Coast bias, the desire to stay closer to home, and maybe some ignorance to the possibilities existing for student athletes, in that overlooked section of the country.
Chris Matthews is one of the rare young people that dispensed with traditional group think, having ventured to Washington State University. Beginning his sophomore year at the Pullman, Washington – based institution, Chris has no regrets.
“I’m happy” said Chris via telephone recently, between meeting academic responsibilities created by a class schedule that includes Woman’s Studies, English, Psychology, and Entomology. “I think it’s going to be the year (he establishes himself)…I think this year should be better”.
Chris Matthews is focused on being a player Washington State's head coach, Tony Bennett, can rely on. (Photo Courtesy of WSU)
That’s not to say he is unhappy with a his role last year as freshman shooting guard, who averaged 3.4 points and 1.1 rebounds in 10.4 minutes of play. “At first, I was mad” he admitted, but after subesquent honest reflection, he understands “I wasn’t ready” to embrace a larger on-court role upon matriculation.
“At the end (of the season), I played more” continued Chris, who stands six foot three inches, and weighs 198 pounds. Around that time, then head coach, Dick Bennett counseled him “It’s not who plays at the beginning of the season, but who ends the season”.
The current Washington State coach, Tony Bennett – an assistant on last year’s team who actually was responsible for recruiting Matthews and is a son of the former coach – was quite pleased with the young guy’s late season contributions in 2005-2006. Games against “Arizona, Arizona State and Washington at the end is where he got some good minutes” said Bennett of Chris’ progress.
A contest with hated rival Washington produced Matthews’ season high scoring output of 13 points, while Chris’ performance earlier in the season at eventual National Champion runner-up UCLA caused the Cougar’s first year head coach to comment “He ran off screens like he stole something”. When asked about that performance, Chris responded in his trademark laid back manner “I was riding the bench, then he (the elder Bennett) put me in the game. We were down 18”, only to come within a missed layup in overtime.
Needless to say, Bennett is expecting more of that this year, as he said “Chris is in a spot where he has a chance to earn a starting spot”. This previous NCAA and NBA performer indicated the Wildcats will “set a lot of screens, and have our guys run hard off them”. In his opinion, Matthews should benefit from the strategy, since “When his feet are set, he can really shoot”.
Chris welcomes the challenge. “This year, if I don’t play, it’s my fault” he opined, since “He’s (the younger Bennett) is really depending on me as a shooter”. To ensure his ability to respond, Matthews revealed “I’m shooting 600 shots a day” but is limited in doing more due to the fitness training embraced by the team.
These workouts, organized and administered by the players themselves, consist of weight lifting and running almost daily, with hill work being tackled on Monday’s and Friday’s. It’s then that the squad gathers at 8 AM, to run 100 yard sprints up large hills, while each player must traverse the course in 30 seconds; a time this is allowed for going up as well as down. According to Chris they “started with five” sets of these killer intervals, currently are running “eight” each session, and will finish at “16”.
The work didn’t stop on a visit home to Washington, D.C this summer. During a recent interview, Chris’ father, Jeff Winslow, shared his son “Went up to the University of Maryland, and played well in pickup out there”. Matthews also wanted to play in the Kenner League – the venerable Georgetown University-based summer league - but lamented he couldn’t, as he arrived home too late to really participate.