High school basketball in the Mahoning Valley stinks. Being the best conference in that environment means absolutely nothing. This young man is like a thousand other kids: he can shoot if he is open. Some of them are playing at the college level that they belong-Division 3.
When Eargle finishes next season, I think that he will be the first Valley kid to complete all four years in D1 basketball in over a decade. Our few basketball-centric fans will correct me if that impression is incorrect, but the statement is not off by much. In the Mahoning Valley, for every D1 basketball recruit over the span of a decade there are 100 D1 football recruits. The best athletes usually only play football. That is the culture. And the lack of any type of local base is one of the big problems for YSU basketball.