‘He was a walking bucket’
Northwest Catholic junior Matt Curtis has accomplished a lot in 2 years; now, he’s ready to be one of the faces of high school basketball in Connecticut
It started with a swoosh, from deep 3-point territory, for Matt Curtis.
Curtis was a freshman, just 15 years old and starting at guard for Northwest Catholic in his first varsity game in late 2018. But he was clearly comfortable.
“I was never scared to play in high school,” said Curtis, now a junior. “I always expected myself to do well. My first shot was a maybe 30-footer. Swoosh. And after that, I just kept shooting.”
Curtis made five 3s and finished his debut with 25 points in a win over Maloney. Coach John Mirabello knew there was something different about the shaggy-haired kid from Ellington.
“There wasn’t a real break-in period,” Mirabello said. “He was ready to go from day one. You just saw that this was going to be fun.”
Curtis, nowa two-time All-CCC player, has joined the short list of who’s who in Connecticut high school basketball. As a sophomore last season, he helped the Lions to a 20-4 record and an upset of Windsor, the state’s top-ranked team
at the time, in the conference semifinals. NWC lost the championship game to East Catholic, the state’s top ranked team come season’s end.
The 6-foot-4 Curtis has received a handful of Division I college offers, and he’s in line to become one of the state’s best players over the next two seasons. He averaged 17 points as a freshman, 23 as a sophomore. He capped off last season with all-state honors.
“I feel like I’ve proven a lot,” he said. “And I’m going to continue to prove my game and my abilities.” Scoring is in Curtis’ blood. His father, also Matt, scored 2,263 points at Cheshire High in the late 1980s, sixth most all time in Connecticut, before playing at the University of Hartford. The elder Curtis, now superintendent of Simsbury public schools, averaged 35.7 points his senior season and scored 786 points, still a single-season school record.
It washis father that introduced the younger Curtis to basketball. Curtis played in rec leagues growing up in Ellington, and remembers dunking on Little Tykes hoops before his peers could even reach the rim.
While Curtis’ father offers a wealth of basketball knowledge, he credits Mirabello, trainer Primo Spears (once a standout player at Weaver and Auburn) and AAU coach Joe Chatman of Boston-based Team Spartans for helping his son develop.
Curtis began to stand out in middle school while playing for the NY Lightning AAU program. As a 6-1 seventh grader, he piqued the interest of Chatman during a tournament in New York.
“He was a walking bucket,” Chatman said. “I said, ‘What do you mean he’s from Connecticut? Why’s he going all the way down to NY to play ball?’ ”
Curtis joined Chatman’s Spartans the next year as an eighth grader, teaming with Bristol Central junior Donovan Clingan, a top-50 prospect in the class of 2022 according to ESPN, and Northwest Catholic teammate Hayden Abdullah.
Curtis raised his game with the Spartans this past summer, and college coaches took notice. He has scholarship offers from UMass, Fairfield, Bryant, Hartford — and Rutgers, a Big Ten program on the rise under coach Steve Pikiell, a Bristol native.
“I’m still really unsure about where I’m going to college,” Curtis said. “The Rutgers offer was huge; that was my first high-major offer. I’ve never had that big of an offer before, but all my offers, I’m really thankful for.”
Chatman and Mirabello praised Curtis’ competitiveness. Team Spartans faced Pennsylvania-based Philly Pride at HoopGroup, a national AAU tournament in Pennsylvania, over the summer. Curtis and Co. were pitted against Philly’s roster of Division I-bound players, including four-star guard Stevie Mitchell, a Marquette commit who is a class older than Curtis.
Before the game, Curtis said to Chatman, “Coach, I got you.” And then he dominated the first half, seemingly scoring at will. He finished with 24 points and seven rebounds.
He did, however, miss what would have been a game-winning shot.
“At the end of the game he says, ‘Coach if I get that shot again, I’m going to make it,’ ” Chatman said. “He did not even budge on the fact that he missed a shot. ... I said to Mr. Curtis, who was a bucket-getter back in the day, ‘You’ve got a confident son.’ ”
Mirabello understands that as well as anyone.
“He’ll go through a stretch where he’ll miss three or four [shots] in a row,” Mirabello said. “And then he’ll go out and make four in a row. It’s a unique thing for a player to have. Any minute, he’ll get it right.”
Curtis’ coaches praise his work ethic, too. He has improved his shooting range and consistency, which led to the uptick in his scoring average as a sophomore at NWC. Making improvements in defending, passing, rebounding and athleticism remain a focus. Chatman often reminds Curtis that in college, he may not be the best player on his own team, and that he’ll need to learn how to make teammates better.
“Similarities, we both had a nose to score,” said Curtis’ father, whowent on to score 171 points at UHart. “I think he’s more well-rounded and more athletic. We’ve kiddingly talked about [my career points total], I think he would have probably [reached] it.”
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference postponed the start of the winter season until Jan. 19. If there is to be a 202021 season, it will likely be reduced to a dozen regular season games. Curtis is lifting weights and working on his individual skills while he waits.
“I think he can play anywhere,” Chatman said. “I’ve said for years now, he is the best three-level scorer in the [national] class. I haven’t seen a kid in his class, at 6-foot-4, who can get a shot off by any means, at any level of the floor, like Matt.”
The disruption to his sophomore and junior seasons caused by COVID19 derailed his chase for his father’s points total. But it might not be out of reach.
“Maybe I’ll average 50 in my senior season,” Curtis said with a laugh.