He wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Ryan Sommer wanted to play Division I college basketball, even if Division I college basketball didn’t want Ryan Sommer.
“I played against the top players (in high school), guys like (Oregon-bound) Aaron Brooks and (current Washington guard Ryan) Appleby, and I felt like I was just as quick as them,” Sommer said of his days at Snohomish High School. “That gave me the confidence to know I could play Division I.”
Apparently, he was the only one who believed it. After a prep career playing in the shadows of Stanwood’s Appleby and younger teammate Jon Brockman, Sommer spurned offers from Division II schools like Seattle Pacific and Western Washington and opted to attend Everett Community College.
He led the conference in scoring as an EvCC freshman, earned his Division I scholarship, and now Sommer will be returning to his home state as a member of the Portland State University basketball team.
“It should be fun,” the junior guard said of today’s game against the University of Washington at Bank of America Arena. “I know there are going to be a lot of people there that I know, so it’ll be fun.”
Sommer is the Vikings’ starting point guard and averages 4.8 points and 4.3 assists per game. But more important than his statistics is the fact that he’s even playing Division I basketball.
As a senior at Snohomish High School, Sommer led the Panthers in scoring and outscored both Appleby and Franklin High’s Brooks in head-to-head meetings, but the 5-foot-10, 140-pounder was considered too small to play major college basketball.
Then-SPU coach Ken Bone was the most interested, partly because Sommer played for his brother, Snohomish coach Len Bone. Sommer turned Ken Bone and his Division II school down and opted instead to go to EvCC.
“I was going to wait to play D-I,” Sommer said, using the shorthand term for Division I athletics. “That’s why I went to a CC, because I wanted to give it a shot at D-I.”
Sommer averaged 25 points per game as an EvCC freshman and was named the region’s most valuable player, so Ken Bone came calling again. Bone had since moved on from SPU to Portland State – with a short stint as a UW assistant in between – and was desperate to find a point guard after the signing period had ended.
“It seemed like everyone we looked at, we kept comparing them to Ryan, and Ryan was just as good as anyone,” Bone said, adding that he always considered Sommer a Division I-caliber talent. “We decided to bring Ryan on down.”
Because PSU is a Division I school, Sommer jumped at the opportunity.
“I was going to go back to community college for my second year,” Sommer said, “but when he called and said he needed a point guard, I said: ‘I’ll be there.’”
Sommer has put on 20 pounds of muscle since his high school days, and Bone said he’s developed into more of a point guard and less of a shoot-first scorer.
Despite those who never thought he had it in him, Sommer has made it at the Division I level.
“I just go out and try to prove them wrong,” he said. “I work hard, and I think I’ve done OK.
“I have to get better, and I want to get better, so I’m going to just keep working hard.”
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