Matt Pile’s ‘old-school’ game has made Eisenhower a 5A force

In the age of small ball, where the art of the pick-and-pop is valued more than the art of working on the blocks, Eisenhower 6-foot-8 senior Matt Pile is an exception.

He is a throwback to an era when big men were still labeled posts and not stretch-fours. He doesn’t mind playing with his back to the basket when his peers gravitate further and further away from the lane.

Pile’s game does not fit in with the current trends of basketball, but why would he want to fit in when Pile, who has signed with Nebraska-Omaha, can stand out as one of the handful of true centers still around?

“I guess a lot of people think of Matt as this old-school type of guy,” Eisenhower coach Steve Blue said. “Well, he’s shooting 72 percent from the field with 19 points and 14 rebounds a game. We’ll take those old-school numbers.”

Pile’s “old-school” mentality has led Eisenhower to a 21-1 record, a No. 1 ranking in Class 5A, and its second straight appearance in Topeka, where the Tigers play Bishop Carroll in Thursday’s semifinals.

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His destiny as a big man was sealed at birth: On March 6, 1999, Matt Pile weighed in at 11 pounds, 8 ounces.

“He started out bigger than everybody else and he never stopped,” said Connie Pile, his mother.

When Matt started out playing T-ball, pee wee football and basketball, his father, Jerry, quickly learned he would have to start bringing Matt’s birth certificate to games as proof for incredulous opposing coaches. He was already 6-foot when he was in sixth grade.

He has always been bigger and stronger than his competition and that didn’t stop when Matt reached high school. He has averaged a double-double along with at least three blocks at Eisenhower for three straight seasons. His senior numbers are 19.4 points, 14.2 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks.

“His numbers only tell a part of the impact he makes for us,” Blue said. “I think teams gear their game plan around how they’re going to handle Matt Pile.”

The consensus this season has been to send a double-team his way whenever he touches the ball. Pile now relishes when teams send an extra defender. Although his scoring average has dipped a point this season, Pile is more proud of averaging a career-high 3.8 assists.

While teams have focused on limiting him, Pile’s presence has played a role in the scoring surge this season for junior point guard Dylan Vincent (22.7 points, 7.1 assists).

“It’s really awesome for me because when I get to the lane, no one is going to help off of him because they know if they do then it’s an easy alley-oop dunk,” Vincent said. “I’m going to miss playing with him and throwing it up there and watching him catch alley-oops.”

But numbers don’t show the impact of just having Pile in the lane. He’s such a dominant rebounder that teams are sending two defenders just to keep him off the offensive glass and he’s such an imposing shot-blocking presence that he completely alters games for teams that like to drive.

“I don’t think it matters if he gets zero blocks or 10 blocks because every time somebody goes into the lane for a shot, they’re thinking about if Matt is going to block their shot,” Eisenhower junior Jeffrey Wake said. “He helps us win games with his defense and rebounding alone.”

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Blue likes to say Pile is the biggest guy when he’s on a basketball court, but he’s not too big for anybody off it.

He has marveled at the way Pile conducts himself away from his stardom. He has taken time to help a freshman manager who was struggling with math homework and to volunteer to referee basketball games for Special Olympics.

“We’re talking about the big man on campus with the Division I scholarship and all that,” Blue said. “But Matt finds the kids that are struggling or need help the most and he goes out of his way to make them feel included.”

Pile says he does these things because that’s how he would want to be treated himself. He most enjoys his time with the kids in the Special Olympics, as those Saturday mornings have taught him many life lessons.

“Those kids don’t really care what the score is or anything like that, they’re just out there having fun,” Pile said. “Whenever I get frustrated during a game, I try to remember those kids and that basketball is just a game and sometimes we take it too seriously. It’s really meant to be played for fun.”

Pile is also an ardent student. He has never received a B on a report card and has maintained a 4.0 grade-point average in high school (4.4 weighted). He plans on majoring in chemistry at Nebraska-Omaha.

“If there was such a thing as winning the kid lottery, then we would have won it,” Jerry Pile said. “I don’t know what we did to deserve him, but we sure are proud of him.”

“I hope my son grows up to be like Matt Pile,” Blue added. “Not Matt Pile the basketball player, but Matt Pile the person.”

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In Eisenhower’s three previous trips to Topeka, the team was a combined 60-6 before the state tournament.

At the Kansas Expocentre, Eisenhower is 0-3 and lost all three times as the higher seed.

“It’s definitely something we want to fix,” Pile said. “This team just has a different feel to it. We’ve always been talented, but I think this team is more close-knit. I think that’s what the difference will be.”

A state run is practically the only thing Eisenhower’s program has yet to accomplish and with a unique force (old-school or not) like Pile, the Tigers feel like this is their year.

“We feel like there’s no one that can guard him,” Vincent said. “He’s just too big and too powerful. We feel like he definitely gives us a shot to win a championship and that’s our goal this season.”

This story was originally published March 6, 2017 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Matt Pile’s ‘old-school’ game has made Eisenhower a 5A force."