Geneva's Navigato picks Buffalo
Some who've seen Geneva's Nate Navigato play basketball believe the senior forward may be too unselfish.
He's not too unselfish for Bobby Hurley.
The former Duke all-American, the head men's coach at the University of Buffalo, showed up at a Geneva open gym Tuesday night along with assistant coach Nate Oats. The 6-foot-8, 210-pound Navigato, who had visited the Division I school Labor Day weekend with his parents, Dan and Cathy, delivered the unexpected when he committed to a prior Buffalo scholarship offer.
"They were real surprised," said Navigato, who had offers from Buffalo, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Bucknell, Air Force, Dartmouth, South Dakota State, Lehigh, Toledo, Northern Illinois and University of Illinois-Chicago. His finalists were Lehigh, Toledo and Buffalo.
"When I went on my visit there Labor Day weekend I just loved it," Navigato said. "I met the team and they're awesome, and the coaching staff is great ... Just by watching the practice I can tell that Coach Hurley's got them in that mindset to always make the extra pass and cheer on one another."
Navigato ranks fifth all-time at Geneva with 1,039 points and has a shot at Haskell Tison's program record of 1,588 points between 1959-61. In 2013-14 Navigato averaged 18.3 points on 52.6 percent shooting from the floor overall and 40 percent from 3-point range. He made 87.7 percent of his free throws.
His scoring totals would be much higher were he not so unselfish. With 152 career assists he's just 16 shy of Michael Santacaterina's program record of 168.
"I just feel like, me personally, when I'm playing I want my teammates to succeed," Navigato said.
If Navigato makes 5 more 3-point baskets he'll own the Vikings' record in that category as well. Navigato's 100 threes are second to Dan Trimble's 104 from 2009-11. His 56 blocked shots also are on the brink of Trimble's program-record 66.
Entering this season Navigato also ranks in Geneva's top-10 in steals and rebounds. On Vikings coach Phil Ralston's "Efficiency" ratings Navigato has the lead by more than 300 points over Trimble.
The senior's all-around game and ability to "stretch the floor," he said, is what appealed to Hurley and Buffalo, which last season finished 19-10 and won the Mid-American Conference East Division outright for the first time.
"They like how I can go inside and out, handle the ball a little bit, and that I play unselfishly," he said.
Getting his college decision out of the way, Navigato's goal is not to set records but to help Geneva improve on the sectional final finish of last season when the Vikings won more games, 25, since 1962-63.
"The goal is to get farther than we want last year, farther than a sectional, win a sectional," he said. "We've just got to work hard at it."