By FRED KRONER
Basketball players learn at a young age, your shooting percentage for the game shouldn’t cross your mind when it comes time to attempt a potential last-second game-winner.
Whether you are 10-for-10 or 1-for-20, the outcome of the game could be determined by the final shot. Those with confidence want the ball.
The philosophy is one that Villa Grove senior Jake Eversole understands well. He applied it to a different facet of basketball: recruitment.
With a senior season that got started late due to COVID-19, didn’t include a postseason, also due to COVID-19, and featured almost as many games missed as ones played, also due to COVID-19, Eversole was behind the eight-ball in his pursuit of playing the game at the collegiate level.
“Since summer, trying to get my name out there, I emailed close to 50 (college coaches),” Eversole said. “Not many responded.”
But, he didn’t need a response rate pushing 100 percent. After all, ultimately Eversole could only accept one scholarship offer.
“Five schools emailed me back,” Eversole said.
He wasn’t surprised.
“I understand it,” he said. “There’s only so much you can see in a highlight film.”
One of the five that contacted Eversole was actually high on his priority list, Mattoon’s Lake Land College.
“I was interested in Lake Land from the start,” Eversole said. “It’s close, and I love that area.”
By the end of the recruiting process, the interest was mutual. Lake Land coach Julian Larry made a scholarship offer on Monday (April 19) after Eversole made a campus visit that day and worked out with some of the Lake Land players.
On Wednesday (April 21), Eversole signed a letter of intent at Villa Grove High School.
“I love his passing,” Larry said. “I like how he adapted his game to our players.”
The first-year Lake Land head coach appreciates the effort that Eversole – and his family – took in order to enhance his recruitability.
“You never want to give up on your dreams and goals,” Larry said. “Jake has that drive and work ethic.”
What helped Eversole’s cause – in addition to his showing in the workout at Lake Land – was that it wasn’t a solo venture.
“Jake has tremendous community support,” Larry said. “I was getting calls on him and kept checking to see what he was doing.”
Lake Land’s roster this season included players from Canada and Brazil as well as from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Florida. Larry doesn’t mind landing a player a short distance away.
“It’s good to have kids who will bring community members to the games,” Larry said. “We’re excited to have Jake as part of our family and to see him grow.”
Eversole is joining a program that had a 6-14 record in the recently completed season.
Contact tracing caused the 6-foot-3 Eversole to miss five of Villa Grove/Heritage’s 13 games as a senior, including four in a row leading up to the last game.
He came off of a quarantine in time for the March 12 season finale at Chrisman, and scored 31 points in a 68-46 VG/Heritage win.
“I was focused on going out on a good note,” Eversole said. “That’s what I wanted to do in every game.”
He made sure he wasn’t rusty following the two-week, late-season layoff.
“I worked out with my trainer during the quarantine,” Eversole said. “This season had a lot of ups and downs.
“After the season, I was disappointed in myself. I didn’t feel that I showed myself enough to get as many offers as I would like.”
Though he hadn’t played in an actual game for more than a month, Eversole felt prepared when asked to join in at Lake Land.
“I hadn’t played in a while, but I was still training,” he said. “I was confident in myself that I could impress them.”
He recognized quickly that the junior college game surpasses what he saw during his high school career.
“It took a while to get adjusted to the speed of the game,” Eversole said, “but I did all right. I was content with how I did.”
Eversole transferred to Villa Grove from Charleston after his freshman year and became a three-year starter.
As a senior, he averaged 15.1 points per game, but he didn’t need to score to impact the team.
Eversole had eight assists in a win over Tri-County and also had an eight-assist performance in a three-point win over Oakwood.
Since arriving in Villa Grove, Eversole bypassed football and baseball, he said, to be, “100 percent basketball. My main goal was to get this opportunity to play somewhere.
“I am more than grateful they offered (a scholarship).”
During his three years at Villa Grove, the team won more than two-thirds of its games (52 of 76).
The scholarship to Lake Land is not the end game, but the start of the journey.
By selecting a junior college, Eversole is hopeful that it can be a steppingstone to continuing his collegiate career in basketball.
“People are seeing the talent in the junior colleges,” he said. “I hope in two years I will be prepared to go somewhere else.”
To find himself in that position, there’s more work to be done.
“I know I need to work on my defense,” Eversole said. “I have something more to work for.”
For the moment, Eversole is going to take time to reflect on his accomplishment.
“It feels good to get recognized for the work I’ve put in,” he said. “This (signing) is a stress-reliever.
“I would have signed then and there.”
