HawkeyeReport.com - Media Day: Nick Neari Q&A

October 12, 2009

Tom Kakert
Publisher

Once his long time friend Cully Payne decided that he was coming to Iowa, Nick Neari decided to challenge himself and join him as a walk-on to the Iowa Basketball team. The 6-foot-2 guard from St. Charles, Illinois talks about taking on the challenge of walking on to the world of big time basketball, his relationship with Payne, plus much more.

Q: How did you end up at Iowa?

Neari: Basically through Cully. He was a really big part of me coming here. I talked to the coaches and Coach Walthall was my main recruiter.

Q: Did you kind of recruit yourself to Iowa?

Neari: A little bit. I sent in a tape and they looked at it and gave me a call back. Then we just kept in touch through my college search. At the end of the day I just figured I wanted the challenge of trying to come here.

Q: Did you play against Cully in high school and play AAU together?

Neari: Yeah, we actually grew up together. I moved to Illinois in 5th grade from Connecticut and he lived right down the street from me. We went to the same elementary school and middle school. Then he moved to Burlington, IL and I went to St. Charles North and we kept in touch.

Q: Cully is an interesting kid. He doesn't lack confidence on the court.

Neari: No he doesn't. (laugh) Cully doesn't lack confidence, but he is a tough player. He has very good skills and fundamentals.

Q: What are you going to bring to the table for this team?

Neari: Hopefully just to give everything I have got and play some defense. I really take pride in my defense and I plan to do whatever I can to help the team win.

Q: Were you looking at walking on at Iowa before Cully decided to come here?

Neari: No, not really. I was looking at mainly D2 or D3 schools. I just sent the tape in once Cully decided to come here. Coach Walthall was from Loras, so he knew a lot of the D3 coaches and talked to them about me.

Q: What has it been like for you since you got here?

Neari: It's been awesome. I've met a ton of great people and it is a really good campus.

Q: This team seems like a pretty close group.

Neari: Oh yeah. We have really come together quickly. Probably better than I thought we would because we are so young. The upperclassmen have really helped us out a lot and been very inviting.

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