When Ethan Brittain-Watts was a freshman at Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana, the current Ball State graduate student guard and his mother, Michelle, started a tradition. Before every game, they find each other.
After locking eyes, Michelle rubs her hand over her heart, signaling that she’s always there, and she loves him.
“I'm a mama's boy,” Ethan said.
While it may seem like a simple interaction between a mother and son, it goes beyond that. She only missed one game in his entire high school basketball career and was there when the COVID-19 pandemic stripped away his chance of playing in the NCAA Tournament while at Boston University.
But most recently, she was by his side after his entire 2023-24 season at Ball State concluded with a season-ending injury.
“We are extremely proud of him,” Michelle said. “He's not had an easy feat through all of this, but he continues to find his way and use his resources.”
‘The luxury you have being a kid in Indiana’
Growing up, Ethan would spend time studying things, even when he was young. When Michelle and her husband, Mark, would buy their son a video game, he would spend lengthy amounts of time analyzing how the computer would play him.
He has had a similar mindset when it comes to sports. Ethan enjoyed football and basketball growing up, and his first dream was to play in the NFL. But after a concussion, his parents stopped him from continuing to play on the gridiron.
“Luckily, God blessed me to be good at basketball,” Ethan said.
While Ethan had talent with the basketball in his hands, his surroundings were Indiana hoops as Michelle and Mark both coached AAU. Later, Michelle, who is now the CEO of Edison School of the Arts, also coached girls’ basketball and volleyball at Pike High School for multiple years.
Throw in the fact Ethan and Mark would attend a high school basketball game in Indianapolis every week during the season, the game became more than that.
“That's the luxury you have being a kid in Indiana,” Ethan said.
But when he got to high school, he became a part of the atmosphere he grew up watching. In four years at Culver, the guard recorded 1,295 points and 13.8 points per game. During his junior year, the Eagles won the IHSAA Class 3A State Championship. His senior season, they made it to Bankers Life Fieldhouse — now named Gainbridge Fieldhouse — once again. But this time, it was a defeat as the Eagles were named the Class 3A state runner-up.
The scene following the loss is a memory Ethan hasn’t forgotten.
“I was crouching over, trying to let it all sink in that we just lost,” he said. “Looking up, there were cameras in my face. I couldn’t even take the moment in. That's just what you grew up dreaming about.”
After his high school career came to a close, it was time to try his luck at the next level. When Boston University came into the picture, it was an institution that aligned with the way Ethan studied at Culver.
“We just wanted him to go someplace where he was wanted and that he felt comfortable with,” Michelle said. “It gave him a sense of self-advocacy and leadership. When we went on that visit [to Boston], it was the place for him to go … I was kind of excited because it's always been faith, family, academics then basketball for him. So that fit the perfect mold for what he was used to with the academic rigor at Culver … I always told him, ‘As long as I can get you by car or by air, you can go wherever you want to.’”
‘Adapt to whatever your team needs’
Though the education system may have been similar, that wasn’t the case for life in Indianapolis versus Boston.
“It’s just two opposites. The Midwest is small, and Indianapolis, specifically, is slow, and there’s not so much going on in the city,” Ethan said. “And then you go to Boston, and there's some celebrities there every day. Whether it's a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, something's going on in the city.”
Though the way of living and the atmosphere were different, there was one thing the Hoosier State did prepare him for: basketball.
“Playing [basketball] in Indiana shows you what it takes to be successful in college — all the way down to scouting the game or management,” Ethan said. “I was going through scouting reports as a freshman in high school, so when I got to college and was watching film, the game wasn't foreign to me.”
He also learned to become a different type of player. While at Boston, Ethan sat behind current NBA G-League guard Javonte McCoy. As a scorer in high school, Ethan said this forced him to look deeper into his bag of tricks.
“I had to learn how to play the game in a different way than I did [in high school],” he said. “It forced me to learn the game in a different way. Like, ‘How good can I be off the ball? How good can I screen?’”
After two seasons playing for the Terriers, the team went 21-13 his junior season (2019-2020) and won the Patriot League Tournament. Because of that, Boston made the NCAA Tournament. But before Ethan could play in the field of 64 teams, his first major obstacle hit: COVID-19.
The NCAA Tournament was canceled and so were the Terriers' dreams of playing in the event.
“I felt terrible for my seniors. We won the championship, had a meeting the next day at 3 p.m. and they all said March Madness [has been] canceled,” Ethan said. “We all had this blank look on our faces because that never happened in any of our lives … We were right there, and it got taken away from us.”
During the difficult time, he talked openly with his parents and asked questions. It didn’t shock Michelle when he took the approach, as the family always had discussions about everything. It’s still something they do.
“He will often research [something], and he'll call me and say, ‘Hey, I read this article. Can we talk about it?’” she said. “I'll pull it up and I'll read it. Then, we'll have one of those conversations about what does this really mean? And then what are the implications?”
After playing one more year at Boston, Ethan was ready for something new. After jumping into the transfer portal, it did not take long for Ball State men’s basketball head coach Michael Lewis to jump in. When Lewis was an assistant coach at Nebraska, he saw Ethan play and liked what he brought to the table. For Ethan, it was Lewis that caught his eye.
“He just wants to win. He wants the best out of you, and he believes in all his players, so he's going to demand that,” Ethan said. “He's played at the level that we all want to play, including the Big Ten and overseas. He's been an assistant coach for 20 years before becoming a head coach … He's just seen a lot of basketball, and he knows a lot of basketball.”
Though Michelle told her son he could go anywhere for college, his return to his home state had her excited.
“He's an Indiana basketball kid,” she said. “So, it was always nice in our mind to have him play somewhere here in the state, but that didn't happen. But we are extremely thrilled that he’s close and more family can see him.”
‘See it in a different light’
However, his reunion wasn’t what he expected.
“I think it was September, and I got my foot caught in someone's jersey,” Brittain-Watts said. “Kind of did the splits. It didn't initially take me out of that practice but [the pain] just kept coming.”
After seeing a doctor in Philadelphia, Ethan learned he ripped the entire right section of muscles around his pelvis. Learning the left side was also in poor condition, he went to surgery that day, and it sidelined him for the entire campaign, delaying his playing time with the Cardinals.
Yet, his parents attended every single home game and every road game they could. When he initially had the season-ending surgery, Ethan didn’t know what to do. He had never had to be off his feet that long. He had to rely on someone. And for him, it was Michelle.
To Michelle, she was just trying to do what her son needed. It was the same situation when she and Mark watched Ball State games, knowing Ethan would never see the court. She wanted to be there for both him and his teammates.
“I pride myself in representing and supporting the other players as well, whose families do not have the means to do that,” she said. “… I think it’s important for the other players as well to know that they have a fan club.”
While he couldn’t play, he did everything else. From being in the weight room three times a day to just watching the coaches and learning about the Mid-American Conference (MAC), he wanted to get better.
“It really taught me just like to take it day by day,” Ethan said. “… How can I just keep getting one percent better?”
While Michelle watched her son go through this, so did Lewis.
“I do think that being away for a year and being forced to watch the practices and watch the games [helped],” Lewis said. “… When the game is taken from you in an instant, and you're able to watch it, you begin to see it in a different light.”
To start the 2024-25 season, Ethan is averaging 8.8 points per game and 3.3 rebounds per game. After his college basketball career, he wants to continue playing, but he also wants to help the people who gave him everything he has.
“I want to keep that ball bouncing as long as I can and get overseas,” he said. “I want to make some money and give back to my parents for everything they've given me in my life.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu or via X @ZachCarter85.
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