Lady Vols' Evina Westbrook has Hoop dreams grounded in a real place

On its website, The Hoop advertises itself as “the ultimate health, fitness and sports experience in the Willamette Valley.”

Amen to that, Evina Westbrook says of the facility in her hometown of Salem, Ore., and its owner, Price Johnson.

“I definitely wouldn’t be the player I am today without that facility and Price,” Westbrook said. “My parents, Price and that place, they’re the reason I’m here.”

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Westbrook is a women’s basketball freshman at Tennessee. She was the No. 1-ranked recruit in the Class of 2017 by the All Star Girls Report and was USA Today’s National Player of the Year. As a senior at South Salem High, the 6-foot guard averaged 24.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 5.1 steals per game.

A large photo of Westbrook, accompanied by a list of her accomplishments, adorns a wall of The Hoop, a 51,000-square-foot facility that houses six basketball courts. Westbrook has a set of keys to the place. Through its doors, the world has begun to open for her.

Within the four walls, she has learned the value of gender equity. She’s had important conversations about her future and has taken on chores to help maintain the place.

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Westbrook grew up and built an extended family at The Hoop. Many of them gathered there with her in November when she signed with Tennessee.

“(Johnson) told me when I was a fourth-grader, he said, ‘When you commit, we’re going to have it here,’ " Westbrook said. “A lot of people had it at the school library at our high school. I knew I was going to have mine there.”

Here’s four things to know about Westbrook. Nearly all are connected to her home away from home:

Got to have chocolate milk

Westbrook is a creature of habit regarding her favorite beverage.

“I need it every day,” she said. “My mom thinks I have an addiction.

“There’s something about it. It calms me down. Chocolate milk is like water to me.”

That’s fine for UT’s nutritionists, provided it’s not considered a primary source of sustenance as well.

“They’re just concerned because I’ll drink it and that will be like food,” Westbrook said. “That’s their main concern. I need food.”

A meaningful conversation

Diamond DeShields played a big role in Westbrook’s recruitment. But Westbrook’s future Tennessee teammate suddenly became a former Lady Vol in June, opting to turn professional and head overseas rather than return for a final season of eligibility.

Westbrook said DeShields called her directly after making her decision.

“She had told me, ‘You’re going to do great without me or with me. Do what you came to do, even though I’m not there,’ ’’ Westbrook said.

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DeShields’ departure capped a tumultuous spring in which fellow Lady Vols Alexa Middleton and Te’a Cooper transferred and assistant coach Jolette Law left for South Carolina. Westbrook watched these events unfold from Oregon.

Lady Vols coach Holly Warlick was concerned enough to fly to the West Coast. She and Westbrook had a three-hour conversation at, surprise, The Hoop.

“It meant a lot to me that she would do that, just to make sure I was OK,” Westbrook said.

Cleaning the glass

Westbrook listed “washing windows” as a hidden talent on her USA Basketball personality profile, and she meant it.

“I was trying to figure it out with my mom,” Westbrook said. “I told her I didn’t really have any hidden talents. She said, ‘Well you can really make a good chicken noise’ and I’m like, ‘That’s not really a talent.’

"(I) just put washing windows because at The Hoop that’s like my job. I love washing windows there.”    

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Two large sets of windows flank the front door. When Westbrook is home, she cleans them every two weeks.

“It’s like my house,” she said. “When people walk in and they see my giant picture on the wall with my accomplishments, it has a reflection on me.”

Basketball equality

Westbrook grew up as one of the guys on a Hoop basketball court. Johnson made that distinction clear to everyone.

“He got that into all of our heads,” Westbrook said. “When I’m on the court, I’m not a girl. I’m a basketball player. He always taught us that."

As a player, she could be anyone and do anything – well almost anything.

“The only thing I couldn’t do,” Westbrook said, “was go in the locker room with them.”