Matt Deasey has filled up the stat box with a whopping three minutes this season and not a single other statistic. He is far and away my favorite player on the basketball team.
I met Matt last year when we were both on Resident Staff together in Lile dormitory. I can honestly say he was the most positive, energetic person with whom I have ever worked. Not just on Residence Staff, I mean anywhere. The kid has a smile perpetually glued to his face. He's one of the few RAs I know whose kids genuinely liked him. They hung out with him more than any other group of residents did with their RA, maybe in the history of U.Va. And you know why? Because Matt is possibly the nicest guy at U.Va. (Amazingly, Matt has not only stayed on Resident Staff, but is now a Senior Resident. I think he has one of those time devices that Hermione got in "Prisoner of Azkaban" to keep up with everything.)
Part of the reason I never would've guessed Matt had it in him is he's so humble. Most people let on that they are really freaking good. Not Matt. He mentioned he was recruited, but mostly by small schools that were way below his academic abilities.
Before making the team currently posing as a member of the ACC, he was president of our club water polo team. Unfortunately, he had to quit that far more successful and fun-to-watch squad to play hoops. Here's what current president Jeff Barry had to say about his departure:
"I would say that where losing Deasey hurts us most is during crunch time. We still have a lot of very talented water polo players, but we lost that one guy we could go to when we really needed a goal."
Speaking to Jeff made me think: Some guys are really fun to hang out with but are absolutely miserable to play sports with. We all know people like this. Either they complain to the refs the whole time, take stupid chances trying to do too much or have an annoying ritual before every beer pong shot. Maybe Matt is really an awful person to play sports with and the nice guy act doesn't translate at all to being a good guy in the locker room. So I asked Jeff.
"Deasey was a great teammate, a great leader," he said. "He was always the one during timeouts that really kept people motivated and focused."
Here's an example that Matt shared with me about his tryout that shows that the Leitao Era is a whole new ball game.
"There was this one guy who wasn't touching the lines on sprints. Coach threw him out immediately, like five minutes in."
Maybe Gillen would have done the same thing, but I doubt it.
Matt made the team because he outplayed or outhustled everyone at tryouts. Still, I think the fact that a high-character guy like Matt made the team is a sign that Leitao will make sure his team conducts itself, on and off the court, in the right way.
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