Mike Gesell will play Big Ten basketball at Nebraska’s new arena.
He just won’t be wearing red.
Gesell announced his commitment to Iowa on Monday, ending a three-year recruiting battle between local programs on each side of the river.
The All-Nebraska captain from South Sioux City, who led the Cardinals to Class B titles the past two years, had narrowed his choices to Iowa, Nebraska and Stanford. He also had offers from Creighton, Iowa State, Northern Iowa, Drake, Utah and Harvard.
The Huskers not only lost the highest-ranked homegrown prospect of the Doc Sadler era. They lost him to a new conference rival that went 11-20 in Fran McCaffery’s first year.
“Doc is doing something great there,” said Gesell, who made his decision and informed his suitors last Friday. “I don’t think it had anything to do with negatives about Nebraska. I saw a lot of positives at both schools. I just wanted to be at Iowa.”
The decision stressed Gesell, said South Sioux City coach Terry Comstock.
“It was really, really weighing on him pretty hard,” Comstock said. “He didn’t want to let anybody down. He made the comment one time that he wishes there were three of him, so he could go to all of three schools.”
Iowa isn’t foreign territory to Gesell, a 6-foot-1 point guard. He spent the past few summers competing with an Iowa-based AAU team.
Teammates included highly ranked prospects Marcus Paige (Linn-Mar), Adam Woodbury (Sioux City East) and Kale Abrahamson (West Des Moines). Paige is headed to North Carolina. Iowa is still chasing the latter two.
Gesell’s commitment deals a recruiting blow to Nebraska, where Sadler has emphasized in-state prospects but hasn’t signed a freshman scholarship player from Nebraska since he arrived in 2006.
Former Husker Andy Markowski said the news disappointed him.
“The momentum of the program is waning again,” Markowski said. “I just felt that was a chance to energize the fan base. We always say that there’s no local kids. And the reason why we struggle is there’s no recruiting base. Well, here’s a chance to sign a kid and unfortunately, it didn’t happen ...
“You lost him to a program that has struggled maybe more than you have recently and doesn’t have any of the facilities coming in their direction. I’m sure Doc and his staff worked hard, but if you offered him a scholarship, you have to sign that kid.”
Gesell, who averaged 25.2 points, 8.2 assists and six rebounds as a junior, has been on the recruiting radar screen since eighth grade. He had four scholarship offers before he ever played a minute of high school basketball.
He is considered a four-star prospect by major recruiting services. ESPN, Rivals and Scout each ranked him among the nation’s top 100 seniors.
Gesell isn’t perfect. But Markowski, a former Division I assistant, said he has learned to focus on strengths, not deficiencies, when evaluating players like Gesell.
“You sit there and say, ‘Well, he’s not super athletic laterally. He’s not a great shooter.’ But that kid doesn’t make negative plays. And when you have that kid in your program, you never want to take him off the floor.”
Gesell’s mid-range game is excellent, Markowski said. He’s athletic enough to get to the foul line. But Markowski liked his intangibles best.
Gesell’s decision-making, leadership and work ethic on and off the floor can raise an entire program, Markowski said. He would’ve infused NU with homegrown pride and toughness.
“He’s a kid that the state of Nebraska could identify with,” Markowski said. “A hard-working kid that was player of the year in the state as a junior. And he’s going to play for what will probably become a pretty good rival in Iowa.”
(Sadler did secure a recruit over the weekend. A junior point guard from Arkansas named Imara Ready committed to join the Huskers in 2013.)
Gesell passed on an opportunity to steer Nebraska into a new era. The Huskers open Big Ten play this year, and they will break in the Haymarket arena in 2013-14. That would be Gesell’s sophomore season.
By then, he may be orchestrating the Hawkeyes’ offense, facing NU twice a year.
“People always say that this is one of the most important decisions of your life,” Gesell said. “I really feel like I made the right decision.”
Gesell’s relationship with Iowa began with former coach Todd Lickliter. When Lickliter was fired in 2010, McCaffery told Gesell the offer still stood. At almost every AAU game Gesell played this summer, McCaffery was in the bleachers.
Gesell, who has a sister in Omaha and a brother in Lincoln, never had a dream school growing up, he said. He didn’t enter the process with emotional attachments. That would’ve made the decision easier, he said.
This summer, he took official visits to Iowa City, Lincoln and Palo Alto. He liked all three places.
According to the South Sioux City coach, McCaffery emphasized that Gesell would be a point guard, not a combo guard who sometimes played off the ball, which often was Gesell’s role on the AAU circuit. That was a factor in Gesell’s decision.
“That’s really where his heart is,” Comstock said. “Being able to control the game.”
Gesell felt relieved to put the decision behind him. His final prep season starts in four months. And he’s shooting for a third consecutive state championship.
The Class B final is scheduled for March 10 at 1 p.m.
On the Huskers’ home court.
Contact the writer:
402-649-1461, dirk.chatelain@owh.com
twitter.com/dirkchatelain
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