Sonnen chooses UNI

Three star point guard Marc Sonnen will become the eighth Tartan Titan of the decade to go on to play division one basketball. Sonnen chose Northern Iowa over Colorado State, Wisconsin-Green Bay and others this past weekend and the 6-foot-3 point guard now turns his focus to AAU traveling play with 43 Hoops and his senior year at Tartan.

Titans coach Mark Klingsporn led the Titans to the state title in the year 2000 and since that point eight players will have donned division one uniforms (when Sonnen arrives at UNI) over the decade plus two more had D-1 offers but turned them down (Gameli Ahelegbe and Abe Kpaka). Jake Sullivan played at Iowa State for four years, Lamont Mack is now at Charlotte, Valparaiso currently has Urule Igbavboa and had Dan Mullen, and then there is Northern Iowa who will add a fourth Tartan Titan to their program in 2009.

The first was Erik Crawford who started his career at Bowling Green and then transferred to the Panther program. Years later he was followed by Eric Coleman, Kwadzo Ahelegbe, and in the future Marc Sonnen.

This past season Sonnen averaged 19.8 points per game with seven assists while leading the Titans to a 22-7 record on the year. He had a season high of 40 points on the road in Las Vegas against Spring Valley and then in Minnesota has high for the year was 33 points against a Mayo team with division one players Jordan Hicks and Lucas Kuipers.

Over the course of the year Sonnen had Midwest high major programs checking him out and watching his games but in the end he was choosing between offers from Northern Iowa, Colorado State, North Dakota State, and Wisconsin-Green Bay plus some interest from Gonzaga and San Diego who was close to offering. With stellar AAU play on the summer circuit Sonnen would have surely received more mid-major offers but the quality of Northern Iowa and Colorado State was already there so Sonnen wanted to make his decision final.

This weekend Marc made the sound decision of committing to Ben Jacobson and the Panther program in Cedar Falls. "The reason I chose UNI was because it was the right fit for me," Sonnen explained. "The system of play they have with three guards fits me and hopefully with that I may be able to come right in and play. I've known the coaching staff at UNI for a long time and they are good guys. I like the program they have as well as their arena the McLeod Center.

"I also like that Kwadzo plays there and I will be able to play with him for two years. I like the players they have been getting into their program and the team's reputation for how they have been playing. The school is close to home but yet still a little ways away and my dad can come and see me play which is one thing that really appealed to me.

"The school also has really good academics in business which is what I am going for. I really like the campus. It's not a really big campus but it's still pretty good sized. Northern Iowa just had the right things I wanted in a school and the team plays in a good league in the Missouri Valley. So all of that really led to this being the right choice for me."

Northern Iowa has obviously had the connection with the Tartan program as Sonnen will be the fourth Titan to play for Northern Iowa. However, the reason Marc chose Northern Iowa had more to do with the school then the pipeline from Oakdale, Minnesota to Cedar Falls, Iowa. "It wouldn't have mattered if no Tartan players had ever went to Northern Iowa," said Sonnen. "I know Kwadzo goes there now but overall the coaches were just right for me and they are a good coaching staff. I have formed a good relationship with them after meeting them, having them come up to our gym, and just meeting with me. It's not the pipeline or anything like that it's just that the school is a good fit for me."

Sonnen is now happy to focus on the rest of his high school basketball career with this decision out of the way. "Making this decision is one of the best feelings a person can feel," Marc explained. "It's one of the biggest decisions you can make and as a teenage it was really stressful playing and being worried about having bad games. With coaches always watching there is pressure, there is all the phone calls, all the letters, and meeting coaches. It just feels really good to get this off my chest."