Smith mentors fellow guards following offseason surgery
In the 2016-17 season, Matty Smith did not a miss a single game for the Central Michigan men’s basketball team.
Following offseason knee surgery in June, the sophomore guard has not touched the floor in 2017-18 and is considering a redshirt this season.
“A redshirt would be a great option for me,” Smith said. “I would get another year of eligibility and could take this season to get fully healthy.”
Smith is not to full strength, as rehabilitating back from the injury has taken much longer than he expected. Prior to starting surgery, it was supposed to be a six to eight-month recovery, but the doctors found complications when attempting to fix Smith’s knee, pushing back his rehab time.
In the meantime, Smith has become a mentor of other guards.
“If I see something during the game or in timeouts, I go up and talk to them,” Smith said. “I just try to show them what I’m seeing in order to help them out.”
Instead of playing Smith for a few minutes, CMU head coach Keno Davis is leaning towards sitting him out of the 2017-18 season to earn an extra year of eligibility. Davis can give Smith one of two things – playing time or a redshirt.
“Even though he was here in the summer, Matty wasn’t cleared to practice,” Davis said. “Once again, in the fall, he wasn’t healthy enough. He didn’t have that opportunity. I told him I wouldn’t play him just a couple of minutes and ruin the redshirt for him.”
As a player who stepped on the floor in all 32 games last season, Smith has experience playing against all of CMU’s Mid-American Conference opponents, even though he logged just 20 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds in 130 minutes played.
Smith is currently the scout team point guard, which gives him the opportunity to emulate upcoming point guards the Chippewas will face.
“I don’t know if there’s a player that wants us to win more than Matty does and he’s not even playing right now,” Davis said. “That says a lot about his character. If you don’t have a good scout team point guard, then you don’t get prepared for the game well.”
Being on the scout team gives Smith a chance to be a leader for the Chippewas.
“To be able to have him out there running the (scout team) not only helps us, but it helps him,” Davis said. “It gives him an opportunity to be practicing against our top group and to be taking a second-tier group and try to lead them and be successful. I think this year could really help him improve as a player.”
Senior guard Josh Kozinski has seen Smith push the guards in the top rotation, specifically Shawn Roundtree, Gavin Peppers and Kevin McKay.
“We have a lot of guys who are vocal and Matty likes to coach up guys to tell them what’s going on and what’s going through his head,” Kozinski said. “He’s vocal about it and pushes these guys. He wants everyone to get better, which is huge in a leadership role.”
Smith might not find himself back on the floor until the 2018-19 season, but his presence in practice and on the bench will continue to be clear every step of the way for CMU this season.
