DeKALB | Northern Illinois University has a new man in charge of taking the Huskies to the top of the MAC West: Mark Montgomery.

Montgomery comes to NIU after spending the last ten years as an assistant to Tom Izzo at Michigan State.

Montgomery hopes his time in the Big Ten Conference will help shape the way his team plays.

“I think it is winning basketball when you can play tough defense and you can rebound,” Montgomery said. “That’s going to keep you in games.”

NIU will be playing Purdue University and the University of Iowa in tough early season road tests. Montgomery said even though the games come early in the season, a lot can be learned from them.

“I think any time you play two Big Ten teams that early it will show some of your deficiencies and some of the things that you have to work on,” he said. “But at the same time, it is an unbelievable challenge to go to a Big Ten environment and be competitive and hopefully be successful at the end.”

Despite having spent the last ten years in the Big Ten, Montgomery is familiar with the MAC. He spent four years at Central Michigan University as an assistant coach. Montgomery thinks the adjustment won’t be that difficult.

“I have done the travel. I have done the preps, so I think…it won’t be new,” he said.

Since taking the job at NIU, Montgomery has signed five incoming freshmen for the 2011-12 season. Several of the players are from the Chicago area.

The most recent recruit to sign with NIU was Abdel Nader from Skokie, IL. In his senior season at Niles North High School, Nader averaged 23.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game, which earned him first team All-State honors from the Chicago Tribune. Nader was reportedly being looked at by teams in the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC. Nader joins fellow incoming freshmen Marquavis Ford, Keith and Kevin Gray, Andre Henley, Zach Miller, and DeAndre Barnette. Miller and Barnette were signed by former head coach Ricardo Patton.

Montgomery said the incoming freshmen can learn a lot in their first year at NIU.

“[It’s] just the mindset,” Montgomery said. “You are playing against guys two or three years older than yourself”

He said this challenge helps the freshman gain experience and familiarity playing with each other.

Montgomery feels the incoming freshmen can learn a lot in their first year at NIU, “its just the mindset for our players being good team mates, playing hard, being competive, playing with a lot of energy I think within the first year its always tough leaving high school because all of a sudden you are playing against guys 2 or 3 year older then yourself so just gaining experience and familiarity with each other.”

In the next 3 or 4 years, things appear to be looking up for the basketball team. Coach Montgomery agrees, “I want this program to be very competitive on and off the court. I want our guys to start off as student athletes, from our freshmen class on to our sophomore, junior, senior. I want our student athletes to graduate and I want to be competitive in the overall MAC and our goal is to get this team and our program to the MAC tournament.”