Clark County Today Editor Ken Vance offers his insight and perspective on one of the most highly recruited basketball players in the history of Clark County
Ken Vance, editor
Clark County Today
Coaches from some of the top Division I colleges in the nation spent the summer trying to persuade Camas standout Ethan Harris to come play basketball for their programs. The talented, 6-foot-8 phenom is on a short list as one of the most highly recruited high school players ever in Southwest Washington.
The recruitment of Harris came to an end Saturday when he announced he plans to accept a scholarship and NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) offer to attend Iowa University of the Big10 Conference. Harris selected the Hawkeyes from his final four of Gonzaga, Washington and Boise State.
Prior to making his decision, Harris spent the spring and summer playing for an elite select team from the Pacific Northwest that traveled the country battling the best high school players in the nation. Multiple college coaches were at each one of his games and many schools had zeroed in on Harris as one of their key recruits. As such, those coaches spent the time and effort to see Harris play multiple games in person.
One of those coaches, from an annual participant in the NCAA tournament, was still trying to determine if Harris was the right player to earn a key role in their elite program. At a tournament in Texas, the coach watched as Harris missed all seven of his shots in one game. After that game, the coach told Harris’ parents, Jason and Carla, that even though Ethan didn’t make a single shot, it was that game that convinced him that Ethan was the right player for their program.
What convinced the coach was Ethan’s substantial character, on full display during that game. Many players, regardless of age or skill level, become frustrated when their shots aren’t falling, or if they’re encountering adversity. Not this player. Ethan’s enthusiasm and energy never wavered. He continued to impact the game in ways other than scoring the basketball, and perhaps most importantly, he never stopped being a great teammate to the other players on his team. He focused on the team’s success, not his individual success.
Scott Thompson will be the boys basketball coach this season at Camas High School this season. Previously, Thompson coached the Camas girls program to a great deal of success, including a Class 4A state championship in 2024. Thompson has only coached Ethan for one offseason, but he is very familiar with him and his family. Ethan’s sister Addison (Addie) played for Thompson for four years and was a standout on the Papermakers’ state title team. (She now plays at Montana State.) Thompson knows exactly why that college coach came to that conclusion about Ethan earlier this summer.
“Honestly, that’s what separates Ethan from so many of the greats I’ve been around,’’ Thompson said. “So many of the players who are trying to make it in the basketball world think this is all about who can make the most shots. Colleges are trying to manufacture a family of sorts. They want to bring in kids who will check a lot of boxes.
“Ethan checks all of the boxes, whether that is being a great teammate or having a high character,’’ Thompson said. “He checks all of the boxes of what they want when they are building their family. That’s what stands him apart from the rest. He’s such a good human being. He wants to win basketball games, but you’re never going to have any problem with him because he’s such a good human being.’’
Those family genes
Ethan’s parents each played collegiately at the University of Portland. They’ve raised three very successful, yet humble and mature children (Garner is a sophomore at Camas High School). It’s no accident that Ethan has been well prepared for what he has experienced on and off the court and what he will encounter in the future.
“College coaches, they look for stuff they can’t control. If there is a loose ball on the ground, they can’t coach me on how to go for it. I have to do it on my own,” Ethan told Clark County Today reporter Paul Valencia recently. Ethan called those “hard-work plays.”
The college coaches, Ethan added, also want to see how a player reacts when the player is having an off-night shooting. Ethan said that part of his game has improved over the years. He knows he must be focused on every aspect of the game.
“When you do miss a shot, you can’t let it affect you,’’ he said. “You can’t let two seconds of you missing a shot affect the next two minutes of your basketball play. Just wipe the memory clean. Think about, ‘What do I have to do next?'”
The sky is the limit
I was blessed to cover Ethan’s mom Carla when she helped Battle Ground win a state championship during her standout high school career. I also enjoyed watching Addison during her stellar high school career and even had the joy of watching her play for Montana State at a tournament in Las Vegas last November. I didn’t have the opportunity to see Jason play, like Carla, he played collegiately at the University of Portland. But, I’m well aware of the family’s prowess as basketball players.
As Ethan progressed into high school, it was obvious he was going to be an exceptional basketball player. (How could he miss with those genes right?) He was going to have the skill, athleticism and size (Jason is 6-foot-6 and Carla is 5-foot-8). But exactly how good was Ethan going to be?
I remember the last game I saw Ethan play in his sophomore season with Camas was at the state basketball tournament. He was one of the best players on the Papermakers’ team and was certainly one of the tournament’s top players to watch going forward. But, he was far from a finished product.
His mom Carla and I enjoy talking basketball and we shared our critique of Ethan’s game on many occasions back then. Carla joked that they were going to “lock him in the weight room’’ so he could gain the strength he needed to battle other players his size.
We both agreed Ethan also could benefit by becoming more like his sister Addie, who has seemingly always had the most amazing positive energy and emotion I’ve observed in my many years of playing, coaching and covering basketball. She is the epitome of what we call “being a good teammate.’’
Nine months after that state tournament Ethan’s sophomore year, I watched him play a game at Mountain View early in his junior season. I was absolutely blown away by what I saw that night. Ethan had transformed himself from a good high school player to one who would obviously be charting a path to the bigger and better things he announced Saturday. I can’t recall ever seeing a young basketball player make that much improvement in nine months. A few weeks later, I saw Ethan score 25 points in just the first half of a win over Skyview. But, it just wasn’t his scoring that night. I don’t remember ever seeing a high school player in this area dominate in all aspects of the game like he did that night.
You might be under the impression that Iowa is giving Ethan an amazing opportunity. They are, but I don’t see it that way. From what I’ve witnessed in recent years, Ethan has earned this amazing opportunity and I can’t wait to see what he does with it.
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