The loss of a head coach and five players to graduation has quelled talk of the NIU men’s basketball team returning to the NCAA tournament.

But the Huskies’ chances of going to the tournament were aided with the return of one of last season’s regulars, Mid-Continent Conference All-Freshman guard Mike Lipnisky. A starter of 14 games, Lipnisky will be returning to a team that finished 25-6 one year ago. He recently decided to return to the Huskies after university shopping this summer.

To why he wanted to transfer in the first place, Lipnisky said, “I couldn’t tell you right now. I like the social life, I like going to school.

“I don’t want to make a big deal out of this. That will make it worse. Everything turned out good. Everything’s fine with the teammates. They’re all cool.”

Lipnisky is right. All is dandy between his cohorts and him. New head coach Brian Hammel let his players decide Lipnisky’s fate, whether he was on or off the team. No one objected to his return.

“I think he’s giving us a second chance,” second-year NIU center Steve Oldendorf said. “There are no hard feelings. We’re all glad to have him back. He just made a mistake.”

“He’s a good player and he can help us out a lot,” senior NIU forward Mike Hidden said. “He got a second chance. He’s not going to hurt the team; he’s going to improve it.”

All of Lipnisky’s problems weren’t solved once he was accepted back on the team, however. He had to scurry to find a place to live and classes to take. He handled both of those hassles last Friday.

“There was an open spot in Neptune,” Lipnisky said. “I got lucky there.” As for classes, he said he was able to sign up for 12 hours at schedule completion.

“I was in and out,” Lipnisky said. “I didn’t get one English class, but it went great.”

“I’m ready,” he continued. “I need to get in shape. I’m kind of looking forward to conditioning, playing ball.”