NIU men’s basketball coach Jim Rosborough’s recruiting show might have hit full throttle with the signing of four players last November, but the tour has picked up a second head of steam this spring.

osborough will add two more high school players to the Huskie lineup by end of the week. Rosborough said Tuesday he will sign Stacy Arrington from Calumet High School Thursday and Donald Whiteside from Leo High School in Chicago Sunday. These signings come with today’s spring signing date.

Arrington is a 6-foot-2-inch off-guard weighing 175 pounds, while Whiteside is a 5-10 point guard. Along with Jo Jo Jackson, who was signed in November, Arrington and Whiteside will give NIU seven guards next year, four of whom will be in their first two years. Rosborough said that might be the end of the guard search for a while.

“We were interested in Stacy because he had a great summer,” said Rosborough. “By his own admission, he has not had a great senior season. He is a great kid. Basketball-wise, if he works at it, he can be a good player.

“He’ll (Whiteside) be a great addition. (He is a) great defender, quick—can’t be pressed, up-tempo type player, smart. We’ve brought in nothing but winners this year.”

osborough said Whiteside has met all the Proposition 48 requirements for grade point average, core classes and ACT or SAT scores. As for Arrington, Rosborough said his GPA and core classes are all tidied up, but he has to take the ACT exam this week.

The Proposition 48 status of two of NIU’s earlier signees still is unclear. Rosborough said last week Antwon Harmon from Hyde Park High School is doubtful for next season because his GPA is below par. Rosborough said Tuesday Harmon and fellow recruit Donnell Thomas are taking the tests one more time.

“I think it is going to be very hard for Antwon Harmon to make it,” Rosborough said last week. “It’s highly suspect that he’s going to make it. He has to have a great semester.”

osborough said Tuesday one thing that might help Harmon is a recent rule passed by the NCAA. He said that rule allows any player taking the ACT more than once to take the best score from each of the sections of the test (math, history, social studies and science) and come up with a combined score from that.

osborough said Thomas was in good shape with his GPA, but the ACT is uncertain yet.

“I’m confident he’s in,” said Rosborough. “We just have to wait and see there.”

osborough said last week Brian Banks has met all the requirements but still has to go through admissions. Jackson already has been admitted.

ecruiting is not the only thing occupying Rosborough and his staff these days. Rosborough has to find a replacement for DePaul now that the game has been called off. Rosborough said the Blue Demons did not want to come to Chick Evans Field House, wishing instead to play at the Rockford MetroCentre.

“It’s really Northern’s decision,” said DePaul Coach Joey Meyer. “They didn’t really fulfill what the contract said. It was a mutual thing. Jim Rosborough just has a different philosophy about where to play the game.”

osborough said he has called around about a replacement, but only Gonzaga has called back so far. He said he would like to schedule that game later in the season—in February or as the last game of the year.

With the DePaul cancellation, the Wisconsin game now has been set for Dec. 1 in Madison, Wis.

osborough said NIU will play Loyola in a home-and-home series as a replacement for Davidson, which decided to stay in its conference. Because Oral Roberts dropped out of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, Rosborough said Loyola had some dates to fill. He said NIU’s home game will be at the fieldhouse, while the road game probably will be at the Illinois-Chicago Pavillion.

“This will probably be about 98 percent as good as having DePaul here,” said Rosborough about the Loyola game.

osborough said it is possible NIU will play both games against Loyola in February. NIU now has only three games scheduled for that month.

Until Illinois-Chicago selects its new coach, the Dec. 8 game originally scheduled is not certain, Rosborough said. But he said Illinois-Chicago officials have assured him the Flames will come to DeKalb.