Reaching the NCAA men's basketball tournament seemed to be the deciding factor.
Putting his signature on the dotted line Wednesday, Warsaw Community High School senior Nic Moore signed his national letter-of-intent to continue his academic and basketball career at Illinois State.According to the recruiting website rivals.com, Northwestern, Akron, Evansville, IPFW, North Carolina-Asheville, Ohio, St. Bonaventure, Valparaiso and Western Illinois had all given Moore offers, but Illinois State got him.
"I felt it was the highest mid-major that could give me the best chance to reach the NCAA tournament," Moore said after his signing at WCHS. "With Northwestern playing in the Big Ten, it could be a little tougher to make the tournament."
Moore's Illinois State Redbirds play in the Missouri Valley Conference, the same conference 1996 WCHS graduate and Indiana Mr. Basketball Kevin Ault played in while playing for Steve Alford at Southwest Missouri State.
Southwest Missouri State now known as Missouri State, and joins Evansville, Southern Illinois, Bradley, Indiana State, Creighton, Wichita State and last year's champion Northern Iowa in the conference known as The Valley.
Despite having to get through Northern Iowa, which knocked off top-seeded Kansas in last year's NCAA tournament, the Redbirds will also face resistance from Creighton and others, but Moore likes the direction his new team is headed.
"Their style of play fits me," the 5-foot-9 Moore said. "It's up-tempo. They also like to spread it out and attack."
Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich also seems to like Moore's fit with his program.
"Moore is a jet-quick point guard who possesses the outstanding combination of tremendous scoring ability to go along with exceptional playmaking skills," Jankovich said on the school's website, goredbirds.com
Entering his senior season at Warsaw, Moore ranks fourth on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,319 points. Just ahead of Moore is Whitey Bell's 1,331 points, while Jeff Grose sits at 1,749 and Ault tops the list with 2,028.
During his time with the Warsaw Tigers, Moore has career averages of 21 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals per game, starting since he was a freshman.
With those numbers, Warsaw coach Doug Ogle is happy with how things are turning out for the point guard that led his team to the Class 4A state championship game last season.
"I'm happy for Nic and his family," Ogle said. "To get this taken care of his helpful for all involved. The pressure is off now. This allows Nic to focus on his senior season at Warsaw."
Signing his letter on the first day he could, Moore was also happy to get the signing out of the way.
"I visited the campus in August, and after I left the campus, I called and gave my commitment," Moore said.
"When I went, the summer semester was just ending, so no one was on campus," he added. "But they have a good education program, which is what I want to get into.
Moore also took a liking to the Redbirds coaching staff.
"I'd talked to (assistant coach) Rob Judson a lot, but Coach Jankovich is laid back, but can also be demanding," Moore said.
Coupled with his competitiveness, Ogle sees Jankovich pushing Moore to be one of the top players in the MVC.
"Illinois State realizes they have a terrific basketball player," Ogle said. "They are looking forward to getting Nic out there. He will be a force in the conference."
