OTSEGO, MI – Matt Dennis boasts five conference championships and a 99-23 record in six seasons atop Otsego’s boys basketball program, and he has helped six players earn all-state honors during that span.
But there isn’t anyone that stands out quite like current Bulldogs guard Jacob Zartman, whose transformation from junior-year role player to senior star has Otsego sitting at 15-5 heading into Monday’s playoff game against Plainwell.
Playing behind all-staters Jakson Dentler and Ashton Atwater plus senior guard Trae Knight last year, the 6-foot-2 Zartman carved out a role as a defensive specialist, averaging around four points per game during the Bulldogs’ 10-3 season.
Following the graduation of Dentler and Knight, Zartman was in line for a promotion to the starting lineup, and Dennis thought he’d be a guy Otsego could count on for about 10 points on the offensive end, in addition to his lockdown defense.
Zartman wrapped up the regular season averaging 16.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, marking the highest season-to-season scoring bump in Dennis’ six years at Otsego and exceeding even the most optimistic expectations.
That jump in production wasn’t simply the result of more minutes, either.
“Jacob put a ton of time in during the summer, and I think that’s really where he developed a confidence to go out and shoot the ball and try to be a scorer for us,” Dennis said. “He’s always been a pretty strong defender, and that was kind of his role on the team last year. He stayed out of the limelight, so to speak, but this year, he’s much more confident. It’s his senior year, and he has really stepped up and played well.”
As the former men’s hoops coach at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Dennis has a deep understanding of the time it takes to become an elite basketball player and is more than happy to help his players achieve their goals on the court.
In Zartman’s case, that meant being in the gym at dawn several times a week.
“He got up at 6:30 in the morning consistently to come into the gym and shoot and to lift weights, and out of all the guys in our program, he put in the most time in the summer to developing his game,” Dennis said. “It really shows when he goes out there, and I think he expects to play well every single night.
“His shot has improved, and that’s part of the work that we put in during the summer, so he’s much more confident in his ability to shoot the ball, and he is extremely coachable. We try to let him, and all the players, know these are shots that we want to take – these are opportunities where we can drive and get to the basket and get fouled – and he’s kind of a student of the game, so he looks for the opportunities, and he looks for the ways that we want to score.
“There are a lot of guys who would like to be scorers, but they just think it’s going to happen because they’re going to just plow over somebody, or they’re just going to attack the rim right away, but there are certain times when it’s better to do that, and Jacob really understands how he can be aggressive and when he needs to pass the ball to create an opportunity for someone else.”
Though Zartman has been receiving recent interest from college basketball coaches, Dennis said when he asked the senior about playing at the next level, it was something that hadn’t really crossed his mind.
“He’s a phenomenal student, and I think that’s part of why he wants to just go to school and focus on academics, and he’ll have a lot of opportunity in the field he chooses to pursue because that’s the kind of kid he is,” Dennis said.
As a one-year starter at an Otsego program that has produced recent talents and future college basketball players such as Bill Woodhams (Hope College), Charlie Woodhams (Hillsdale), Addison Atwater (Kalamazoo College), Jaxsen Callaway (KVCC) and Jakson Dentler (KVCC), Zartman won’t have his team’s most decorated hoops résumé, but his impact is one that will carry on for years to come.
“He’s been a great leader for us, and I think he is a guy that we’ll be talking about for a long time by telling future players that if they put in the time, their role can change, and what you do out on the court – whether it’s score more points or be a great defender -- you can do what you want, and Jacob Zartman is a great example of that,” Dennis said.
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