Recruiting Report: Tate Machacek (2020)
MN Matrix was one of the best 17U teams in Minnesota over the course of the AAU season. A big key to that success was a few newcomers – the most important possibly being Tate Machacek. Machacek, a 6-foot-6 forward…
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Continue ReadingMN Matrix was one of the best 17U teams in Minnesota over the course of the AAU season. A big key to that success was a few newcomers – the most important possibly being Tate Machacek.
Machacek, a 6-foot-6 forward from Eastview, joined Matrix for the summer, after helping his high school team get to the state tournament. It’s no coincidence that both teams he was a key figure on won a lot.
“I had a lot of fun with the Matrix, not knowing most of the guys coming to the team, overall, the summer was extremely successful,” said Machacek. “I loved everybody on the team. There’s more to basketball than what is on the court, we bonded really well. On the court we did pretty. Played in some big games, got in front of coaches; I had a blast.
“A lot of the guys have the same goal just to win. I think of a guy like Gavin [Vosika]; he gets buckets at BOLD and there might be games where he might not score. The next game he’ll have 16 or 18. I’ll have 20 one game and the next game it’s four. There wasn’t pressure on one guy. Everybody wants to be seen by coaches but more so the guys were selfless to give up the ball, make the pass, a lot of the guys are used to being the best player on their team. We played really well as a team. I liked it a lot.”
Machacek is a coach’s dream. He’s capable of defending just about any position, he is smart as a help guy, he rebounds, he’s physical, can score without needing a lot of shots or touches. He’s solid in the low and mid post and he’s even expanded his range to shoot out to the 3-point line.
“I thought I had a good summer,” Machacek. “Coach Makepeace, he worked a lot with me on my outside game. My pull up jumper, he instilled a lot of confidence in me. Growing up I was always on the block. My shot has developed a lot. A big reason I chose to play with Matrix was because of Jacob [Jennison]. I love that high-low action and playing off a big man in the middle. Getting more comfortable on the perimeter. I think overall, I had a beneficial and good summer that developed me as a player.”
Coaches have certainly taken notice. Machacek is hearing from a number of coaches from the Midwest for both basketball and football where he’s a top-notch tight end prospect.
“I’m still talking about both, still open to both,” said Machacek. “It depends a lot on the school. Some NSIC schools, SMSU is one that I’ve talked to a lot. I like the guys over there and I really like their staff a lot. I’ve had a chance to go over there for some camps. A lot of DIIIs like in the MIAC and WIAC. For football I’ve got a scholarship offer from Duluth. We had a team camp up there and they were the first school to offer me. A couple DIs like Drake and Northern Iowa have talked to me a little bit. That’s just started to pick up here with football approaching. It’s just about what I see as the best fit with sports and academics.”
One of those two sports is in his future. For now he’ll focus on his senior year. The football team went to state a year ago and has a chance to be really solid again. The basketball team also went to state, and will head into the year clearly with very high expectations.
“We have a lot of confidence,” said Machacek. “We lost Izaak Raspberry who was a big component, but he’s the only component we’re losing. I think we’ll have a pretty darn good season. I expect to win the conference, to get to state and to do well there. We’ve been putting in a lot of work. It should be a special season. We have a lot of motivation and we expect a great season.”