Signed, sealed, and soon to be delivered, are some future Huskie men’s basketball players after Wednesday—national letter of intent day.

As expected, NIU picked up two recruits who will join all-stater Mike Lipnisky, who signed with the Huskies in November. Steve Oldendorf, a 7-foot-1 center from St. Laurence High School, and Mark Layton, a 5-foot-11 point guard from St. Joseph High school, are the latest additions to the Huskies.

“I judge recruiting classes after their freshman year,” said coach Jim Molinari after completing his first recruiting campaign at NIU, “because it’s really hard to predict what will happen with them.

“I think for the most part we did accomplish what we set out to do, but the other thing we might have been looking for is an athletic forward. I think our recruiting year was good, it could have been better, but anytime you’ve signed players of this caliber it’s good,” Molinari said.

Rolling Meadows High School’s Lipnisky earned all-state honors and averaged 30.5 points for his 28-3 Mustangs. The 6-foot-3 guard captured the attention of basketball observers by hitting 71 consecutive free-throws and by leading his squad downstate for the first time in school history.

“It’s exciting that Mike is going to be part of our program,” Molinari said. “Mike is going to have to come in and work hard, but he’ll bring a lot to our program.”

Although Lipnisky is the biggest NIU recruit in name, Oldendorf is the biggest in person. The 7-foot-1, 220 pounder averaged 17.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.2 blocks. “He has some good offensive skills,” Molinari said. “One of the keys with Steve is how much stronger he can get. The quicker he gets stronger the sooner he’ll be able to help us.

“Mark (Layton) is very athletic,” Molinari said about his other recruit, the 5-foot-11 guard who averaged 14 points, four steals and four assists. “He’ll give us a lot of athletic ability in the backcourt.”

Molinari, who gained a reputation as an outstanding recruiter while at DePaul, lured his first Huskie recruits by selling basketball and NIU.

“We have a strong reputation for academics and what I did with recruiting is really market that. The other thing we have to sell is the family atmosphere on our team. I think our players did a great job with these young men and it shows how much they believe in Northern and what we’re trying to do here,” Molinari said.

“The one thing that kind of hurt us is our facilities. It’s hard to compete that way sometimes, but what I’ve learned that we have to focus on selling (is) people and relationships, because that’s what’s important.”