Somewhere in southern Indiana, people are still talking about him.

It’s inevitable. Shooters aren’t quickly forgotten in the state of Larry Bird and Steve Alford, a land where jump shots are perfected on decades-old driveway hoops.

Paoli, Ind., is a town that embraces its basketball stars, and few players shined brighter than Evan Seacat. He handled the spotlight with so much grace and humility that they still remember him, three years after his final high school game.

“Right now, Evan’s not a Paoli kid — he’s a southern Indiana kid,” said Seacat’s father, Eldon. “A lot of the places we go, people want to know what he’s doing.”

Yet one question pops up every once in a while that Eldon Seacat can’t answer: Why isn’t Evan seeing more court time at Northwestern?

“I tell them I don’t know,” said Eldon, who neither complains nor makes excuses for his son.

The junior guard’s minutes have dwindled this season from 18 per game in the first four outings to hardly any in Big Ten play. Seacat got off to a slow start — in the opening four games, the 3-point specialist shot 28 percent from the field and just 6 of 23 from beyond the arc — and he said that affected him mentally.

“I got down on myself in a couple of games, and just kept missing,” Seacat said. “To come in and struggle like that at the beginning of the season, it’s no fun. It’s no fun at all.”

Hard Times

In practice, it was easy. There were times when it seemed like he couldn’t miss, and coach Bill Carmody called his shooting form “perfect.”

But Seacat’s numbers in games have told a story of diminished production. In 23 games last year, Seacat averaged 17 minutes and 5.7 points per game; this season, the numbers were down to 7.6 minutes and 2.1 points.

With the team playing underwhelming basketball, fans grew restless, and Seacat became an easy target. At a recent home game, after Seacat missed two free throws, someone from the crowd shouted, “Pathetic, Evan. Pathetic!”

Seacat simply ran down the floor to play defense.

Back home, the sentiment couldn’t have been more different. Paoli is a town that has fallen on hard economic times, but instead of turning to cynicism, the people aren’t disappointed in the least in their hometown star.

“I think no matter what he does playing-wise, they’re happy for him, and they understand he’s accomplished a lot,” said Mike Brown, Seacat’s old coach at Paoli High. “People understand the degree he’ll get from Northwestern will take him a long way.”

It may seem ironic that in a place that cares so deeply about basketball, the residents would bear Seacat’s on-court struggles with so much patience.

“A lot of kids that go off to school (from here) don’t stay,” Eldon said. “So they look at (Evan) as a kid from a small high school that was fortunate enough to get a basketball scholarship to a Big Ten school, and he’s still there.

“Whether he’s playing one minute or 30 minutes, he’s still there. They think that’s pretty neat.”

Hometown Hero

Seacat has tried telling friends what Indiana basketball is like, but few outsiders truly get it.

“In this area, the pride in basketball is just unbelievable,” Brown said. “Anyone from here that leaves to play basketball is really looked up to.”

In Seacat’s final season at Paoli, 7,500 people packed a gym in Huntingburg, Ind. — about 45 minutes from Paoli — to watch his team take on Anthony Winchester’s Austin team in the regional final. Seacat and Winchester — good friends off the court and AAU teammates — didn’t disappoint.

Seacat poured in 34 points, but Winchester topped him with 38. Austin pulled away late to advance to the class 2A state final four.

“It was one of the biggest games I’ve played in my whole high school career,” said Winchester, who now leads Western Kentucky in points and rebounds. “It was a good win, but at the same time I couldn’t really celebrate too much because I put a friend out of the tournament.”

Seacat ended his prep career with 1,873 points, best all-time in the county — the same one where Larry Bird played. Bird, Brown pointed out, played sectional games in Paoli’s gym, since French Lick was just 10 miles away.

Seacat also held school records for most points in a game (50), most 3-pointers (8) and most 3s in a season (91).

Not bad for a quiet kid from Paoli.

“He could do a lot of things,” Winchester said, “especially shoot the basketball. Of people I’ve played with, he was the best I ever saw.”

And then, with the support of a community, Seacat left for NU in the summer of 2002.

Only 300 miles separate Evanston and Paoli. But for Seacat in that first year, they may as well have been a world apart.

Homesick

Seacat admits he had difficulty adjusting to college life. He averaged just 6.6 minutes his freshman season while his team went 12-17.

It was the first time Seacat ever had been on a team that finished with a losing record, and rumors began circulating that the sharpshooter might leave the team. After all, his roommate, guard Jimmy Maley, had left the team in February.

“I was down on myself,” Seacat said. He said transferring had been in the back of his mind, but that he never seriously considered it.

Meanwhile, Winchester was experiencing some of the same adjustment pains at Western Kentucky.

“It’s tough when you’re a freshman,” Winchester said. “I remember talking to (Evan) and telling him it was going to be all right.”

It wouldn’t have been unprecedented if Seacat had left NU. Before enrolling at Indiana State, Larry Bird left Indiana University because he was overwhelmed by its size, proving that even legends can get homesick.

But Seacat confided in teammates, who told him to stay positive. After the season, he talked to his dad and told him he was going to stay.

“I knew I couldn’t give up the opportunity to … have the education and play in the Big Ten,” Seacat said. “The alternative was to go home and work in a factory. I know that’s not bad, but you can’t give up a $40,000 scholarship to go home and do that.”

Here and Now

Now it’s all about looking ahead. Seacat said he turned a corner last month. After working on his shot with assistant coach Mitch Henderson, Seacat realized technique had little to do with his struggles — the root of his problem was in his mental approach.

“I realized I had to stop thinking about it, not worry about it, and just shoot,” Seacat said.

His old high school coach had some advice for him, too.

“What he needs to do is get himself in the gym like he did in high school,” Brown said. “It was nothing for me to come by at 11 o’clock at night, see the lights on, go in, and find him in there shooting by himself.

“He’s such a pure shooter that if he finds his range, he won’t miss.”

Seacat said he’s not necessarily waiting for a breakout game, but he affirmed he’s ready to play.

“If I get in there, I’m going to play as hard as I can and try to help us win, and try to make the open shots,” he said.

Seacat also has his eye on a goal his recruiting class — himself and guards T.J. Parker and Mohamed Hachad — set three years ago: to make the NCAA Tournament. If not this year, then definitely the next — his last.

“We’re hoping to do something special with basketball,” Seacat said. “That’d be great for us, to be the first team in school history to make it to the NCAA Tournament.

“Then I’ll go out into the real world and see what that’s like.”

Whatever happens, folks will be cheering somewhere in southern Indiana.

Reach Anthony Tao at [email protected].