Paul Evans '26 Recruiting Profile

Since I was four years old I have wanted to play basketball in college, and ultimately the NBA. I understand that those goals aren’t unique. Most kids that age have similar goals. I understand what I have to do to reach those goals.

It would be amazing to earn a basketball scholarship to a D1 school. I’m already putting in the work to reach that, but if D1 doesn’t happen, I’m open to other levels so I can continue to play the game I love. If the D1 scholarship doesn’t happen right away, that’s fine. That gives me an opportunity to prove myself again, it’s something I’ve done since I was little.

What makes me different than a lot of other players is my work ethic. You’ve probably seen my height in my bio. It’s the first thing anyone notices when they look at me. Every coach I’ve ever had looks at me and wonders what they’re supposed to do with someone so small. Every sport I’ve ever played I’ve faced the same thing. I’ve had to earn everything. I’ve had to overcome people judging me by my size. Since 3rd grade I've played in several leagues and tournaments with older players, some 3 years old. Dozens of times I've had kids point and laugh at me because of my size. After those games the kids I played against had two reactions. They would either not shake my hand and were mad they got beat by a smaller kid or they would come up and shake my hand. I earned their respect. It wasn't just the players. The other coaches and parents would also come up to me and tell me how much fun I was to watch and how good I was.

I’ve had to work harder than anyone on the court to earn my spot. I’ve had to learn to fight through adversity. Learn to fight hard in practice and even harder in games. It doesn’t take long for coaches to see what I bring to the court.

When I was 6 years old I started to do more than other kids my age. In the entry of my house I would watch YouTube videos and teach myself how to dribble. When other kids my age were trying to just dribble with both hands I was working on harder moves. To this day, I’ve tried to stay a step ahead of other kids by working a lot outside of practice. 

I’m a knock down shooter. Starting with my plastic hoop and ball, I would practice shooting creative shots…from distance. I would set goals on the number of shots I could make in a row. As I got older and the hoop got taller, I did the same thing. I would work on my shooting using shooting machines and shooting drills. 

Since I’ve always been shorter than other kids my age, I realized that I would need more space to get my shot off. As a 7 year old, not many shot from the 3 point line, but I did. As an 11 year old, more kids were shooting threes, making it harder to shoot at the three point line. I needed space to shoot without getting blocked so I started to take a step back, then another, and another. Now, I’m consistently hitting shots, from anywhere inside half court. As an opponent, seeing the smallest kid on the court hit shots this deep is enough to break their spirit. I’ve seen it happen a lot.

So what kind of player would you get as a coach? You’re getting someone who doesn’t make excuses. Someone who becomes the heart and soul of the team. Someone who takes more charges than everyone else on the team. That’s been true of every team I’ve been on. The smallest guy taking charges from the largest people on the court. I’m an example to others of hard work and dedication. Someone coaches rely on to run an offense and improve the play of my teammates. I’ve even had past coaches invite me to come and speak to younger teams about what it takes to compete at a high level.  

With my academics I have always been a 4.0 student and I am willing to work to figure things out. I can teach myself things that I don’t understand by creating good study habits to help me have more knowledge and to get better grades.