Bonded by history, Perry Ellis and Evan Wessel head for epic showdown

The picture, faded by time, tells so many stories.

About years gone by. About old loyalties. About brotherhood.

In it, a group of boys at Brooks Middle School puff their chests out for their basketball team photo. No one smiles. They all want to look tough.

“We were so young,” Wichita State junior forward Evan Wessel said as he looked at the picture Saturday afternoon at the CenturyLink Center. “Look at those guys. … There’s Dreamius, there’s Jalen Love, there’s Perry. Lots of memories. Lots of good athletes in that picture.”

In the back row, Wessel stands next to Dreamius Smith, a running back for West Virginia. Kneeling in front of them is Love, a junior guard for the University of Denver.

In the back row, taller than all the other boys, is Perry Ellis, a junior forward for the University of Kansas.

On Sunday, an entire country will watch as Wessel and Ellis, childhood friends who won three consecutive Class 6A basketball titles together at Heights, square off in the NCAA Tournament with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.

It’s the first meeting between the two schools in the tournament since 1981, when WSU won 66-65 in New Orleans.

It’s one of the most anticipated games – in any sport – in the history of their home state.

The roots of their journey to this point stretch back years, to the faded picture and beyond.

Born winners

Wessel’s father, Todd, played football at WSU and was a great athlete in his own right. But when it comes to who dictated his son’s future in sports, he has to defer to another.

It was Evan’s grandfather, Everett, who played basketball at the University of Wichita in the late 1950s. Everett died in 2007.

“His grandpa used to tell him that if you pay attention to the small things, big things will come of it,” Todd said. “I think that hit home with (Evan).

“You never had to get him to work hard, never had to get him to do the extra work to get better. He just did it.”

It was work that started in Wichita’s Biddy Basketball program and in junior football leagues around the city. It was in Biddy that Wessel and Ellis first encountered each other.

“They were young, like young where you are just starting to dribble a basketball, so maybe 5 or 6 years old,” Todd Wessel said. “They would play against each other and then together on the all-star teams. Perry was just like Evan, where he always just did the work.”

“We’ve been competing against each other since we were very young,” Ellis said. “And we ended up winning a lot of games together.”

Wessel was a year ahead of Ellis in school and already had a season of high school basketball under his belt when Ellis joined him at Heights in 2008 as one of the top freshmen players in the country. By the time they were both upperclassmen, Wessel was 6-foot-5 and Ellis was 6-foot-8.

With Ellis, who is notoriously soft-spoken, they started to roll.

“I don’t talk that much, and (Ellis) makes me look like a talkative guy,” Wessel said.

“We showed up, and Evan was the one who knew what (Heights basketball coach Joe Auer) wanted, Evan was the one who put his foot down and got everybody in line,” said Emporia State guard Terrence Moore, who was on all three state title teams with Wessel and Ellis.

“Off the court, we were like brothers, like family, but Evan was the one who was like ‘I’m gonna be the leader.’”

Wessel’s toughness is legendary among his teammates, old and new. An Eagle Top 11 safety on the football team, he broke his hand during the state semifinals his junior year and tried to hide the injury from Auer as basketball season started.

“His hand was broken, everybody knows it except (Auer), and he shows up at tryouts and whenever we’re just standing there, he’s keeping his hand behind his back,” Moore said.

“I knew (Auer) wasn’t going to be very happy,” Wessel said. “It was before the doctor had looked at it. ... I think I ended up missing five games or something.”

Wessel capped his senior year with state titles in football and basketball.

“Just a winner,” Ellis said. “He was one who always was a winner, no matter what he played. That’s what I remember about him the most.”

Wessel committed to WSU his junior year, turning down a football scholarship at Kansas. Ellis picked Kansas his senior year over Kansas State, Kentucky and Wichita State. They were both All-State selections in 2011, along with WSU guard Ron Baker.

“I always wanted to play basketball in college, and my heart was always with basketball,” Wessel said. “I’m glad (Kansas football) offered me the opportunity, but I’m glad with my decision, with where I’m at.”

Ellis, without Wessel, won another 6A title in 2012.

“I don’t think I’d ever heard Perry talk on the court, but our senior year, in the state championship game, he pointed out a mismatch that led to us winning the game,” Moore said. “He was always so quiet, but you could see he was starting to come out of his shell, starting to come into his own.”

Ties that bind

Ellis doesn’t talk much, it seems, because he doesn’t have to. An All-Big 12 selection this season, he was in the Jayhawks’ rotation from the moment he stepped on campus and has turned into one of the top post players in the country.

And everything that built the foundation at Heights is still there: the work ethic, the humility, the competitiveness.

“I can’t say enough good things about (Ellis),” Todd Wessel said. “He’s humble, he’s hungry, he comes from a good family. … It’s surreal that they’re going to play against each other. I only wish it was later in the tournament.”

Both families were in Omaha on Saturday.

“They were great teammates,” said Ellis’ mother, Fonda. “They respected each other. They are both great young men. They’re both family guys and have great family support.

“We know his family and they know ours. … I feel like (the Wessels) are family.”

Auer has stayed in close contact with both players. It’s a common sight to see him chatting with Wessel outside the Heights locker room after home games or sitting behind the bench at Allen Fieldhouse. Auer cut short a skiing trip in Colorado with his family after both teams won Friday.

Neither of his former players was surprised.

“He said he was going to do something like that if we both won,” Ellis said. “That’s how he is.”

“He said he was going to cut it short if we matched up,” Wessel said. “That’s the kind of guy he is.”

Auer said he never thought twice about cutting the trip short. He called watching both games on Friday and then hitting the ski slopes with his wife “the perfect day.”

“I don’t have a choice. … That’s just how it is,” said Auer, whose team won a Class 5A title last week. “They’re like family members; it’s like if your sons are getting ready to play against each other, you’ve gotta be there.

“I don’t care who wins, I just want them both to have great games. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

History’s doorstep

Ellis and Wessel will probably guard each other at some point on Sunday. Both are ready.

“That’s a definite possibility,” Ellis said. “If so, I’m looking forward to it.”

Wessel has started 29 of 32 games for the Shockers after spending last year as a reserve and has carved out a role as a gritty defender and rebounder. He redshirted in 2012-13 when WSU made it to the Final Four after breaking his pinky finger early in the season.

Ellis leads Kansas with an average of 13.7 points and 6.8 rebounds.

Wessel averages 4.1 points and 3.4 rebounds.

The last time Kansas and WSU met in the tournament, there were also old teammates from Heights facing off against each other – Kansas’ Darnell Valentine and WSU’s Antoine Carr.

“The thing I like the most about (Wessel) is he’s tough,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “He’s an undersized four-man and plays his butt off. He can play a three or move to a guard spot, but he battles you.

“He’s one of those guys that gives your team a chance to be great.”

On Sunday, the boys from the old, faded picture will be playing for the hearts and minds of an entire state — something that’s not lost on either one of them.

“It feels good, you know what I mean?” Ellis said. “But, like I said, whatever happens, whoever we have to play is whoever we have to play.”

“It’s obviously very emotional for our fans both ways, and it’s a great atmosphere for college basketball in general,” Wessel said. “But as far as players go, it’s a chance to go to the Sweet 16, and that’s how we’re going to treat it.”

This story was originally published March 21, 2015 at 8:35 PM with the headline "Bonded by history, Perry Ellis and Evan Wessel head for epic showdown."