Olathe South’s Eve Long mulled quitting hoops. Now she’s committed to Notre Dame
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Eve Long committed to Notre Dame over more than 30 other offers.
- The 6'3" forward is a five-star recruit who averaged 32.7 points and 9.8 rebounds.
- Long won gold with USA Basketball's 2025 U16 FIBA AmeriCup team and made All‑Star Five.
It’s been a long road just getting here, but Eve Long has committed to playing women’s college basketball at Notre Dame.
The rising Olathe South High School senior orchestrated several moving parts for her announcement ceremony on the Olathe campus Wednesday. It took place at 11:15 a.m. — Long wanted to unveil her choice at that precise moment.
Her large family — parents and seven siblings — showed up early to prepare a common area at the school for loads of classmates, friends and reporters all eager to see where the five-star forward would choose to spend her foreseeable hoops career.
Long played a video put together by the The Team, the talent agency representing her (formerly known as Wasserman Media Group).
In the video, Long plays against a child-version of herself on a dimly lit court. It was a tad laggy and choppy, but the end result was the most important part: She unzips her jacket and reveals a green Notre Dame T-shirt.
Then she did the same in real life: Seated at a table with her parents, sporting a navy blue ND sweater, she verbalized her decision to peers and scores watching live on social media.
Long chose the Fighting Irish, perennial national title contenders, over Kansas, Connecticut, UCLA, Duke and more than 30 other offers, according to 247Sports. Long’s father, Benjamin Long, told The Star that there was a bidding war for his daughter’s agent to sort through.
He said things got “really, really contested” before she made her decision.
“This moment is so amazing for me,” Eve Long said. “This is a lot, like ... it’s so overwhelming, and such a weight lifted off my shoulders, to be able to know that I’m committed to such a great university like Notre Dame.
“The main reason I chose Notre Dame was just the family aspect,” Long continued. “The first time I took a visit to campus, I just knew it was home. I told my parents right away, I told them this is the first school I’ve ever visited where I actually could see myself. And it’s crazy — six months later, that’s where I’m committed.”
Long is one of the best basketball players, girls or boys, that the Kansas City area has seen. The 6-foot-3 senior-to-be is the fifth-ranked recruit in the country and top-rated forward in ESPN’s recruiting rankings for the class of 2027. The Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year averaged an astounding 32.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.3 steals as she led the Falcons to a KSHSAA sub-state title.
Long is effective from all areas of the court, on top of being a premier rebounder. She has collected more than 1,500 points, 600 rebounds and 100 blocks in just three years of high school basketball.
Playing hoops at a high level has aready taken her all over the world. She won a gold medal with USA Basketball’s 2025 U16 FIBA AmeriCup team and was named to the event’s All-Star Five.
But as good as Long, 18, is at basketball, the people around her are just as impressed with her poise and kindness. Victor Williams, who has trained Long since she was in sixth grade, touts those characteristics as being among the best parts of her game.
“The journey is special because you get to see her be rewarded for all her hard work,” he said.
Williams has trained some of Kansas City’s top girls and boys basketball products throughout his 23-year career, such as current Kansas Jayhawks guard S’Mya Nichols and upcoming NBA Draft pick Keaton Wagler, who starred at Illinois in the recent NCAA Tournament.
“But more importantly, man, it was just being around a great person every day,” Williams said of Long. “Being around somebody that cares about other people more than she cares about herself, and she’s just a giver to people.”
Family brought together by faith
Christian faith is at the forefront for the Long family. Long’s father, Benjamin, read Psalms 33:11 after she committed.
It reads, “But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.”
Benjamin Long, 45, always knew he wanted to adopt children. He met his wife, Nicole, and they were aligned in their views about God and adoption.
“I say I wanted to have like eight to 10 kids, Nicole always said she wanted to have four,” Benjamin Long said. I think I prayed more — that’s why I won the battle.”
Eve Long is of Nigerian descent. She was born in the United States but was separated from her two older brothers, Zion and Elijah, in the foster care system. The Longs knew Zion’s foster mother; she taught the foster care class they took before becoming licensed to be parents. They also attended Eve’s 2-year-old birthday party; it was one of their first chances to meet her.
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Shortly after the party, the foster parents of the children were leaving the state for job opportunities elsewhere. And the court was looking to get all three siblings under one roof. The kids got to know the Longs as the couple was going through the licensing process and would eventually begin new lives with them in Olathe.
As if becoming new parents of three wasn’t enough for the Longs, they were also pregnant with their first biological child.
“We always joke we went from zero to four kids in 68 days,” Benjamin Long said. “My wife was like, ‘Honey, this is nuts.’ I’m like, ‘I’m telling you, God wants us to do this. I know He does.’ And then once they moved, there’s nobody who could argue.”
Fast-forward to today, and Eve has six brothers and a sister who all look up to her.
Life after commitment
Eve Long wanted to quit basketball when she was in third or fourth grade, her father said. Nothing too serious — she was just tired of practicing, she said.
It’s a funny memory now to look back on.
“At the end of the day, my dad always pushed me,” Long said. “(He) told me that when I got to high school I could quit if I wanted to. I got to high school, I was joking with him: I was like, ‘Can I quit now? And he’s like, ‘Nah.’”
Notre Dame’s campus in South Bend, Indiana, is about a 10-hour drive — or a couple of flights away — from Johnson County. Family is everything to Eve Long, and they’re excited she’ll still be close enough to visit.
Now that the commitment process is over, Eve Long is happy to relax and enjoy her upcoming senior year. The goal is a state championship for Olathe South, of course, one of the few accolades she has yet to accomplish before college.
She’s Olathe South’s highest-rated recruit ever, athletic director Andrew Miller said during Wednesday’s ceremony. The ceiling for Long should be considered WNBA All-Star, Williams said.
But more than anything, those around her hope that Eve maintains the integrity and values that have carried her this far in her journey.
“The biggest takeaway (from the recruiting process) was just following your heart and knowing where home (is),” she told The Star. “I think that most people deep down really know where home (is) at.
“I really battled a little bit with some other schools — the flashiness of the other schools. But at the end of the day, it (Notre Dame) was where I feel most comfortable and where I want to be.”
This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 4:44 PM.
