Northern Illinois Huskie Hoops News & Notes

As we head into the critical July evaluation period for basketball recruiting, we take note of a few off-season developments for Northern Illinois on the hardwood. We also look at the tentative non-conference schedule for the Huskies.

Northern Illinois coaches will soon be heading out on the recruiting trail with the July evaluation period beginning. This period is even more crucial this year, because the NCAA eliminated the spring evaluation period for college coaches for 2009.

- Northern Illinois head coach Ricardo Patton will have some limited mobility on the recruiting trail as he recently separated his shoulder. Nonetheless, Patton will be out there checking out the young talent.

- With the departure of associate head coach Dennis Gates to Nevada, newly hired assistant coach Todd Townsend will be out recruiting for the Huskies for the first time in July along with assistants Sundance Wicks and Will Smith.

- Director of Operations Scott Stevens left the program last month. The Huskies hope to fill his position soon.

- Highlighting the 2009-10 non-conference schedule for the Huskies will be a trip to Champaign to take on the Fighting Illini for the first time in program history. Non-conference games for NIU for the 2009-10 season include:

at Illinois (November 17th)

Tennessee State (November 20th)

SE Missouri State (November 22nd)

Bradley (December 2nd)

at Minnesota (December 15th)

at UIC (December 19th)

Maryland Eastern Shore (December 22nd)

at Chicago State (December 28th)

Temple (December 30th)

North Dakota (January 2nd)

* Note: Dates are tentative

- Junior guard Darion Anderson will be back on the court for the Huskies after withdrawing from the NBA Draft last month.

- NIU Athletic Director Jeff Compher was spotted at this year's NCAA Final Four in Detroit along with some Huskie boosters.

- Among the summer tournaments that Huskie coaches figure to be at in July are:

Next Level Invitational in Mequon, Wisconsin - July 6th to the 9th.

Adidas it Takes 5ive tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio - July 6th to the 8th.

Chicago Summer Classic at the Joy of the Game Center in Deerfield, Illinois - July 9th to 11th.

HuskiePride.com & Scout.com will have coverage from all three events.

- The Huskie coaches conducted their 2009 High School Team Camp at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago a few weeks ago. Be sure to check out HuskiePride.com's detailed report on the camp.

NIU Team Camp

- Be sure to stay tuned to HuskiePride.com for an upcoming update on class of 2010 guard Mike McCall from Foreman High School in Chicago.

- Lastly, HuskiePride has just launched updates on Twitter. You can now follow HuskiePride.com on Facebook & Twitter at the links below...

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