Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Wright State basketball coaches knew they’d be in a fight to land Tim Finke once he announced he was transferring from Grand Canyon, and they went the extra mile — extra miles, actually — to show him he was a priority.
They took a trip to Phoenix to meet with the freshman guard during a break from classes, making an effective pitch there, and they also hit a home run while getting more acquainted with the player and his family at their home in Champaign, Ill.
But though Finke warmed to coach Scott Nagy and his assistants and found the Raiders’ style of play ideal — they run a motion offense that creates plenty of open looks for shooters — he wasn’t quite ready to sign until spending a couple of days on campus.
“On my visit, it checked off every box for me,” he said. “The staff has always been really, really good. They were incredible then, too. The facilities were better than I even expected. They had said great things about them, and it’s really nice to see all of that. Then I got to hang out with some of the guys.”
He was hosted by the affable Loudon Love, the All-Horizon League center, and hobnobbed with other Raiders.
“They were really genuine and really good guys,” said Finke, who lives just down the street from Nagy’s boyhood home in Champaign.
“To be surrounded by great people on a team is something that was big for me. I feel like they definitely fit the part.”
The 6-foot-6, 215-pound Finke, who played in all 34 games with three starts for Grand Canyon last season, became the second transfer to sign with the Raiders last week. And the other, former Northwestern guard Jordan Ash, believes he found everything on his wish list, too.
Unlike Finke, who will have to sit out next year because of transfer rules, Ash will be eligible immediately as a grad transfer, having earned his degree in communications with a long-term plan to get into broadcasting.
