College Commitment: Steele Venters (2019 Ellensburg HS)
For Steele Venters, he really had to boil things down. The versatile 6-foot-7, 175-pound senior guard from Ellensburg had some excellent college options at the Division II level and he was seriously considering them. But when it all came down to it, Venters wanted to play at college basketball’s highest division. So earlier this month he made a trip to the campus of Eastern Washington and decided to commit to play for the Eagles.
“I just thought it was a really good fit for me and I feel like I can play at the D-I level,” Venters said. “I really like the coaching staff. We went to a game against Portland State and I told them after the game.”
While watching the game, Venters noticed the way that Eastern Washington played the game and realized that he would fit right into their scheme. “They space it out a lot and let guys shoot,” Venters said. “They play really well together – it’s like motion basketball.”
Eastern Washington was Venters’ first Division I offer and he accepted it over a number of other Division II offers, namely St. Martin’s and hometown Central Washington. While he knows his game will translate to the D-I level he realizes there is still work to do – especially physically. “Just getting stronger and bigger pretty much,” Venters said.
With his decision in the books, Venters is able to look back on both the good and bad of his senior season. “It sucks to look back and see Selah made the championship when we beat them twice, but I guess we have to live with that,” Venters said. “We didn’t finish as strong as we could have but I thought I was able to shoot the ball a lot better this year from the three especially, and I was able to get my teammates more involved.”
Venters currently ranks as the #15 player in the PrepHoops Washington Class of 2019 rankings.