How Kansas State landed Nijel Pack as a recruit before others saw his star power
Early June is an unusual time for Kansas State men’s basketball coach Bruce Weber to invite a high school player to campus for a recruiting visit.
There is no football game for the prospect to attend. Nor are there fans gathered around Bramlage Coliseum to greet the recruit by chanting his name. The summer months can get boring around Manhattan without students in town. That’s why most visits are delayed until the fall.
But none of that stopped Weber from asking Nijel Pack to make the trek from his hometown of Indianapolis to the Little Apple for a rare summer visit in 2019. Why? He felt like it was K-State’s best, and potentially only, chance to land the talented 6-foot guard who was about to enter his senior year at Lawrence Central High in Indianapolis.
Weber and his assistant coaches had identified Pack as a future star. He had terrific fundamentals and he could make shots from anywhere. They also liked his work ethic and his personality. The Wildcats wanted him badly. But no other power-conference schools were recruiting him. Belmont and Butler were the main competition. In their minds, they needed to impress him immediately before other schools had a chance to get involved.
Smart call. Fast forward three years, and he is now more than just a member of the K-State men’s basketball team. He has become the best scorer to play for the Wildcats since Jacob Pullen.
“I loved my visit,” Pack said. “All of my previous visits were to mid-major schools, different types of divisions, but I could tell this was a place where I could see myself thriving. The only sacrifice was the distance from home. Everything else was perfect. I loved everything about K-State. They have a family-oriented basketball team, the town is small and everybody loves sports here. I could just really see myself playing for the Wildcats.”
So much so, that he committed to join K-State’s 2019 recruiting class before he left town.
“I just felt in my heart that I didn’t want to go anywhere else,” Pack said. “I shocked everybody when I said I was ready to commit. I shocked my parents. I shocked the coaches. I just knew this was the place I wanted to be and it has played out really well.”
Recruiting has often been a roller-coaster ride for Weber since he took over as K-State coach 10 years ago. He has found some hidden gems like Barry Brown, Kamau Stokes and Pack. He has also brought in unheralded prospects who never amounted to much in a purple uniform.
But he struck gold with Pack.
“You could tell he just had those Indiana fundamentals,” Weber said. “I was in that state for a long time, for most of my coaching career and he has that feel, that understanding of how to play the game. He’s obviously had some great teachers along the way.”
Pack is now averaging a team high 17.7 points now that he is a sophomore guard with the Wildcats. He leads the Big 12 with 70 three-pointers and he has twice erupted for more than 30 points in games. He dropped 35 on No. 8 Kansas earlier this season and then piled up 31 against No. 10 Baylor in his last game.
Those numbers have made him the third-leading scorer in the Big 12. They have also put him within striking distance of the K-State sophomore scoring record currently held by Norris Coleman.
Bears coach Scott Drew stopped for a quick chat with Pack on his way out of Bramlage Coliseum on Wednesday and told him, “Keep doing what you’re doing. You’re a great player.”
Weber figured Pack was destined for stardom when he had a triple-double not long after his summer visit to K-State at the prestigious Peach Jam AAU basketball tournament. His four-star rating from Rivals was also encouraging.
Still, he had one big fear: There was nothing stopping Pack from withdrawing his commitment and signing elsewhere after more prestigious teams expressed interest. Making it to signing day wasn’t going to be easy.
“He had already committed to us by then, but the recruiting got very hot and heavy,” Weber said. “Credit to Nijel and his family, we were there first and gave him the love and the attention and they stuck with us. Obviously, it has benefited us and I think has benefited him, too.”
Believe it or not, Pack said he was so dead set on playing for the Wildcats that he refused to take recruiting calls from other teams, even after he showed off at the Peach Jam.
“I had some schools call my coaches to see if I was going to stay or if I would be willing to de-commit,” Pack said. “I was a man of my word. I wasn’t going anywhere else. They believed in me before all the hype came around, so I stuck with them and they stuck with me. I’m glad I’m here now. It worked out perfectly for me.”
In hindsight, it’s bizarre to see a four-star recruit like Pack receive scholarship offers almost entirely from mid-major teams. Before K-State got involved, his options were Ball State, Belmont, Bradley, IUPUI, Indiana State, Loyola, Miami (Ohio), Northern Kentucky, Southern Illinois and Toledo.
Perhaps that is why Pack was so willing to commit to the Wildcats, and stick with them, on that fateful summer visit three years ago.