College basketball preview: Northern Illinois
As coaching resumes go, Mark Montgomery owns a pretty good one.
He spent the past 10 years as an assistant to Tom Izzo at Michigan State. Before that, he was a four-year starting guard for the Spartans from 1988-92 and still ranks among the school’s career leaders in assists.
Sure, it sounds cliché to say Montgomery took his time waiting for the right opportunity and Northern Illinois is it. But the DeKalb newcomer swears that’s the truth.
“I tell a lot of people, there are a lot of good coaches out there and sometimes you’ve got to wait your turn or wait a little longer,” Montgomery said. “I always appreciated the job I had. It’s not easy to leave Michigan State with all the success we had over the years.
“Why Northern Illinois? I’ve been in the conference before. I’ve been in the Midwest my whole life. I’ve recruited Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana. I always wanted to go to a school with great facilities and NIU had that. The location, where you have a recruiting base, NIU has that.”
The Huskies lost top scorer Xavier Silas and return a solid veteran in 6-7 senior Tim Toler, but Montgomery plans to rely heavily on his freshman class.
Abdel Nader, a 6-6 swingman from Niles North, has the potential to be a big scorer. Montgomery sees Nader becoming an all-conference performer before his college years end.
Keith and Kevin Gray, 6-6 twins from Brooks Academy in Chicago, 6-1 guard Marquavese Ford from Saginaw, Mich., and point guard Zach Miller from Glenbard East will all be in the playing rotation from Game 1.
“We’re playing our young players a lot of minutes in the preseason,” Montgomery said. “With our youth, and the experience we get in the nonconference schedule, we’ll definitely be ready for the MAC.”
The Huskies aren’t like to overpower anyone. Toler and 6-7 sophomore Aksel Bolin from Norway are the tallest players on the roster. Then again, they play in the MAC, not the Big Ten.
“We’re small. We’re just going to have to play defense by committee and rebound by committee,” Montgomery said. “But that’s one thing about MAC play. You don’t have a lot of those 6-9, 7-foot bruisers. We’re just going to have to use our athleticism and our defensive quickness to compete.”