Vandals add JC transfer from titlists

University of Idaho men’s basketball coach George Pfeifer says he’s not losing sleep about the recent defections of three players/recruits and an assistant coach.

The Vandals had four recruits visit campus during the weekend and Pfeifer is confident his staff is assembling a quality incoming class.

“We respect people’s decisions,” Pfeifer said of the departures of assistant coach DeMarlo Slocum and players/recruits O.J. Avworo, Andre McFarland and Harvey Perry. “We’ve moved on and we feel like the young men we’re bringing in are going to be tremendous contributors. So, no, we’re not tossing and turning.”

One of those newcomers, Jordan Brooks, signed with Idaho Monday. Brooks, a 6-foot-3 wing, played on the last two national junior college championship teams as a freshman at Arkansas-Fort Smith and as a sophomore at Midland (Texas) College. He was named to the All-NJCAA tournament team last month after scoring 16 points in a semifinal win over Coffeyville and 15 points in the title-game victory against Chipola. He also was all-tournament as a freshman.

Brooks averaged 14.2 points, second highest on the team, and a team-leading 8.7 rebounds last season.

“Jordan gives us a multi-dimensional player who is a basketball player in every sense of the word,” Pfeifer said. “He will impact our program right away. He has tremendous athletic ability, great strength and he knows how to play.”

Idaho’s roster seemed somewhat set roughly two weeks ago.

“About 10 days ago, we (Slocum and Pfeifer) talked about what it would be like with everybody here and all of a sudden (Colorado State) hit him with an offer,” Pfeifer said.

Slocum’s exit contributed to the departures of top recruit McFarland and University of Washington transfer Perry, both of whom played on Slocum-coached AAU teams in Las Vegas. McFarland and Slocum are cousins, Pfeifer said.

Attempts to reach Perry have been unsuccessful. McFarland, in e-mails to The Spokesman-Review, expressed concern about Pfeifer’s and athletic director Rob Spear’s contract situations and whether they would be around the next four years.

Spear adamantly disputed McFarland’s contention.

“For him to make those allegations is simply untrue,” said Spear, who is under contract until August of 2008. “The bottom line is he is leaving because he is a relative of DeMarlo’s.”

Slocum’s replacement is expected to be named this week. It’s believed Mike Score, who assisted Ray Giacoletti at Eastern Washington and Utah, will join UI’s staff.

Idaho is also expected to announce another player signing later this week.