The NIU men’s basketball team did some addition and subtraction last week.

On the same day the Huskies announced their signing of two new recruits, they also announced that forward Craig Reichel will not return to the Huskies next season.

Reichel will attend Division II Rollins College next season and refused to comment on his reason for leaving the team.

The Huskies will hope Reichel’s 4.8 points and 15.7 minutes per game can be replaced by their new additions.

Egan Grafel of Oberlin, Kan. and Jarvis Nichols of Carol Stream both came to NIU from junior colleges and will look to make an immediate impact.

“Egan is a good athlete who throughout the course of his junior college career has greatly improved and will continue to do that for us at NIU,” said coach Rob Judson.

Judson also praised Nichols’ athleticism.

“Jarvis is an explosive basketball player whose athleticism allows him to play a number of perimeter positions,” Judson said.

The old stomping grounds

Former NIU receiver P.J. Fleck is returning to DeKalb to host the “Live Your Dream” scholarship fundraiser Friday at Fatty’s Pub & Grille.

Joining Fleck for the fundraiser will be former NIU receiver and current New York Jets receiver Justin McCariens as well as former Miami and current Cleveland Browns quarterback Ken Dorsey and former Northwestern quarterback Brett Basanez.

Fans will have a chance to meet the athletes from 7 to 8 p.m. A silent auction, featuring various sports collectibles including a signed Garrett Wolfe jersey and Mike Ditka signed football, also will take place.

Anything you can do…

Not to be outdone by teammate Garrett Wolfe’s string of preseason honors, senior Huskie offensive tackle Doug Free had his name added to the 2006 Outland Trophy watch list for the best college lineman by the Football Writers of America.

The announcement came a week after Wolfe’s addition to the Maxwell Award watch list for the nation’s top running back.

“What it means is that we have a good football team with some high quality individuals such as Doug and Garrett,” said NIU coach Joe Novak.

NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper, Jr. ranked Free among his top 25 senior prospects for the 2006 campaign.

Wolfe, on the other hand, is also getting respect from the video gaming world as well. According to ign.com, Wolfe is the fourth-best rated running back on EA Sports’ NCAA College Football 2007.