NIC star chooses Vandals

Darin Nagle chose his backyard over the beaches of Honolulu.

Nagle, a 6-foot-10, 215-pound forward from North Idaho College by way of Potlatch High, has signed to play for the University of Idaho men’s basketball team. Nagle had narrowed his list to Idaho and WAC rival Hawaii.

“I went home over the weekend and talked with my parents and we had a pretty good discussion about everything,” Nagle said. “We came to the conclusion that Idaho was the best place for me.”

Nagle averaged 13.2 points and 6.2 rebounds to earn All-Region 18 first-team honors last season and help NIC earn a share of the Scenic West Athletic Conference title. Nagle shot 42.4 percent from the field and made 41 3-pointers while shooting 33.6 percent from behind the 3-point line. He blocked 42 shots, third most in the SWAC.

He was All-Region 18 honorable mention as a freshman.

Nagle was being recruited by Nevada, Utah State and Wyoming, but trimmed his choices to Idaho and Hawaii after visiting Honolulu two weeks ago.

“We have a little farm (in Potlatch) with horses and the whole family is pretty involved,” said Nagle, who plans on studying agriculture. “That was something we really talked about and I had to think about the education part of it, too.”

Nagle is the fourth junior college player to sign with Idaho and new head coach George Pfeifer. Nagle joins Michael Crowell, a 6-7 forward from Central Arizona College who averaged 21.7 points and 11.3 rebounds; Mario Mackey, a 5-10 point guard who averaged 14 points and seven assists at Otero (Colo.) Junior College; and Trevor Morris, a 6-4 shooting guard from Miles (Mont.) Community College who averaged 18 points. Morris has three years of eligibility remaining.

Pfeifer tried to recruit Nagle at Lewis-Clark State College when he was the coach at the Lewiston school.

“I can’t remember being involved with somebody as much as him, which would define how much we coveted him here,” Pfeifer said. “I think his strength is to face-up. He can shoot the ball and he’s a good passer and he’s athletic and bouncy, but I think he can flash in and post up.

“The beauty of his game is he started off kind of as a small forward and grew into an interior-sized player, but still has all those perimeter type attributes.”