Alli Nieman Selects Vandals Sandpoint Star To Play Basketball, Volleyball At Idaho
Alli Nieman of Sandpoint, easily the top prep basketball and volleyball player in Idaho this year, has decided to continue her career close to home.
The University of Idaho women’s programs received an early Christmas present Monday morning when the 6-foot-1, two-sport standout faxed her letter of intent to the Vandals.
After concluding a visit to Washington State University Sunday morning - her third campus visitation - Nieman drove to Moscow to meet with Idaho women’s basketball coach Julie Holt and volleyball coach Tom Hilbert. Nieman, who plans to play both sports in college, gave the coaches a verbal commitment.
After a night’s sleep, Nieman made her decision official before going to school Monday.
Nieman chose Idaho over WSU and Oregon largely because the UI coaches embraced her desire to play both sports.
“The thing that impressed me about (Holt and Hilbert) is how they got along,” Nieman said. “They called me together, they recruited me together. They were totally willing to work together so I could play both sports. I sensed the other (schools) just tolerated the idea. I didn’t believe they were going to work it out.”
Nieman was particularly impressed when the coaches shared a 5-1/2-hour home visit in September. Nieman was at the top of both coaches’ recruiting lists.
“On a 1-to-10 scale, our recruiting is a 12 now that we’ve signed Alli,” Holt said.
Nieman gained national recognition the past two seasons playing on the Spokane Stars 18-and-under AAU basketball team, and will be a showcased player for the Stars next summer when they play host to the U-18 and U-16 national tournaments July 5-13.
“Idaho is getting the best power forward in the country,” Spokane Stars director Ron Adams said.
Though Nieman, an honors student who carries a 3.9 grade-point average, could have picked just about any college in the nation, she said the size or name of the schools wasn’t important.
“I wasn’t caught up in the prestigious name or conference,” she said. “I wasn’t dying to play in the Pac-10. I think the Big West (Idaho joins the conference next year) will be a competitive conference.”
Nieman took her first visit to Idaho. “I loved everything about it and kind of knew then that I’d go there. But I was committed to the other trips.”
A four-year starter at Sandpoint in both sports, Nieman played in four state championship finals in volleyball (including back-to-back state titles the past two years). As a sophomore, she led the Bulldogs basketball team to a state consolation championship.
Nieman will continue to add to several school records in basketball as the season begins this week. Through three seasons, she’s scored 1,384 points (a 20-point career average) and grabbed 666 rebounds (10 per game).
She’s been a first-team all-tournament selection in volleyball since her freshman year and a first-team all-state pick in basketball the past two years.
Nieman plans to play basketball her freshman year and redshirt in volleyball. Then she’d play both sports the next three years and play her final season of volleyball during the fifth year.
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