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IllustrateD volume 24, issue 4 61 f said teammate Louis Gray, "because he knows when a teammate's going to be open, when a guy should cut, when the slip is there off a pick, whatever." At the high school level, that stuff can be important to a team. Teammates aren't going to stand around and watch their best player, because as Thompson puts it, "Dakota's that type of player where players know that if they're open, they're going to get the ball back." "That's a big part of high school basketball," Mathias said. "A lot of kids, confidence can be an issue. Getting them the ball and encouraging them, it can go a long way." Teammates know that even though their leading scorer can probably name his point total in most games, there's trust there. "Even if he's making all his shots," teammate Max Stambaugh said, "he's still passing." Thompson, the long-time Elida coach, believes that Mathias could get 50 on most nights if he wanted to and his team operated solely for that purpose. Neither will happen, though. For such a productive scorer — Mathias is averaging 28.6 points per game this season on sparkling percentages of 54 from the field, 49 percent from three and 81 from the line and just became Elida's all-time leading scorer, breaking the record held by Reggie McAdams, who's now playing at Akron — Mathias rarely forces offense. Thompson called him the "consummate team player." "He makes things fluid," Thompson said, "because there's a comfort zone his teammates have when he's on the floor." Mathias has been a tremendously decorated high school player and a sought-after recruit. When he committed to Purdue last May, he did so over offers from West Virgin- ia, Boston College, Dayton and others and certainly would have had more to choose from had he not committed at the very moment he was gaining wide-spread recognition. Had Mathias wanted attention, he could have gotten it easily. For one thing, he could have signed up for one of Ohio's or Detroit's nationally known summer programs in- stead of spending his AAU years with his long-time friends and coaches from Northwest Ohio Basketball Club, which didn't have the highest profile but won a lot of games with Mathias the last several years. If Mathias wanted attention, he could have held off on his commitment. At the Spiece Run 'N Slam AAU tournament in Fort Wayne last May, Mathias "blew up," as they say, playing very well against very good teams and drawing some na- tional media attention because of it. Reporters were drawn to him. Mathias says he didn't mind the attention, but at the time, he didn't seem like a fan of it either. He told media he'd be deciding shortly after the tourna- ment, when it was known he was leaning heavily to Pur- due, which did everything it could to land his commitment early. Mathias wasn't kidding. He didn't even make it back to Elida from Fort Wayne — and it's only a two-hour drive — before calling Matt Painter to commit. "What it kept coming back to was, 'Who's out there that you think might be better than Purdue in terms of the coaching staff, the institution and basketball?' " Dan Mathias said. "Every time, he said, 'Nobody.' "Then it was, 'How would you feel if they gave the schol- arship to somebody else?' And the answer was, 'Devastat- ed.' Once he thought about that part of it, it was really a no-brainer." And it was a no-brainer for Purdue, too. Since his signing, coaches have only been half-joking when they've said, "We could use him now." Mathias' shooting, passing and fundamentals — his basketball savvy, unselfishness, etc. — certainly wouldn't hurt this current Boilermaker team. For those reasons, it's hoped Mathias can make an im- pact for next year's Purdue team, though it won't be easy, as Mathias well knows. He'll be the first to admit he's no elite athlete and foot speed will be put to the test on defense, his agility being such a point of emphasis for him that during high school practices, he won't jog from station to station, but does so in long, elongated lateral strides, as if sliding side to side for defensive purposes. It's just another small anecdote that illustrates Mathias' attention to nuance and desire to be good. Mathias may not be tremendously naturally gifted, but his is an old man's game. His skills have been built over the span of years through sheer work and his basketball mind sharpened through tireless study. He's made himself the player he is today. In the comforts of his own home, no less. j