Over the last seven years, the UPrep boys basketball team has encountered difficulties retaining players. According to coach James Johnson, five students who play club basketball have left the school over that time. They all ended up playing in a higher league. Johnson recognizes that high school competition is vital for players aspiring to reach the next level.
“Those kids that all left were the best in their class here,” Johnson said. “They wanted to play with better kids because iron does sharpen iron…I can’t blame them at all. Especially if those kids want to play college basketball.”
Jack Eyler, a sophomore at Bishop Blanchet, wants to play Division 1 college basketball. He left UPrep after his freshman year. One of the reasons for his departure was the lack of players on the team.
“By the time I got there, it was kind of me, and then everyone else was like younger than me, so I didn’t really have anybody that I could really compete with that was older than me,” Eyler said.
As someone who experienced the benefits of increased competition at Clark Atlanta University, a Division II school, Johnson accepts where the transferred students are coming from.
“I understand as a guy that had transferred before and played Division II basketball,” Johnson said. “I want to play in front of a bunch of kids in the stands. I want to have a pep rally before the game. I may want to rock a letterman jacket. I want to go play at the Tacoma Dome. Who am I to tell a kid that you should just stay at UPrep?”
Blanchet’s stature attracted Eyler to the campus. It plays in the Metro League, which 50 out of the last 79 basketball state champions have been in.
“It’s just one of the best leagues in the country,” Eyler said. “So I am excited about the high-level competition for sure. Showing what you can do against really high-level players.”
Charlie Constable, a sophomore at Seattle Academy, had a slightly different route. He left UPrep at the end of his eighth-grade year.
“The main reason that my decision was hard was because I liked the people there,” Constable said. “I liked the mentors that I had there.”
While the decision to leave was not entirely based on athletics, sports still played a role for the young player who also aspires to play D1 basketball.
“I remember talking with Coach Johnson about how if I stayed I’d probably be varsity the first year, and if I left and went to SAAS, I’d probably end up being JV or being on the bench the first year,” Constable said. “But I think because I want to go D1 and because I have big dream, I think that stage really matters.”
Johnson also coaches middle school basketball where he sees players coming through the pipeline.
“I do look ahead. I can’t lie,” Johnson said. “You start to daydream a little bit if that kid plays in your program helping you gain wins. We do try to plan for that a little bit, but as I’ve been here the last three or four years, I know that I don’t make any plans until the kid comes in as a freshman.”
As UPrep hasn’t made the state tournament in 10 years, Johnson has needed to adjust his definition of success.
“I definitely had to get out an ego for myself about wins and losses and had to get into more into ‘I get to develop relationships with students and watch kids grow,” Johnson said.
Many of his teams have been formed from players whose number one sport isn’t basketball. Soccer and baseball players filled up most of the roster during his most successful season. But as the school population increases, Johnson remains optimistic that pattern will change.
“I kind of think we have a core group of kids that can maybe build to make this a pretty good program,” Johnson said. “As we grow in student body, hopefully we get more kids in that love to play basketball.”
