Busting Brackets
Fansided

Inside look at Northern Iowa Basketball junior star guard AJ Green

By Jason Burgess

Northern Iowa guard A.J. Green takes the ball up court during a NCAA Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019, at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa.190105 Uni S Illinois 016 Jpg
Northern Iowa guard A.J. Green takes the ball up court during a NCAA Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019, at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa.190105 Uni S Illinois 016 Jpg /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 5
Next
Northern Iowa guard A.J. Green 181017 Uni Mbb 018 Jpg
Northern Iowa guard A.J. Green 181017 Uni Mbb 018 Jpg /

His college decision wasn’t an easy one

After graduating from Cedar Falls High School in style, going out on top with a state championship, Green was a consensus top-100 recruit according to all the major outlets including 247Sports (77), ESPN (74), Rivals (81), and Scout (77).

As a result, he had plenty of interest from schools all across the country. Looking back on that time, AJ told me, “It was tough, definitely, obviously with all the connections at UNI being around the program my whole life. But I knew early on in the process that I wanted to look at some other schools, I wasn’t completely set on UNI. I looked at schools like Iowa State, Minnesota, Virginia, and Clemson to see what they had to offer. As the process went on, I realized that everything I needed was at UNI.”

The decision to stay home and play for the Panthers has turned out to be a good one, both for Green and Northern Iowa. From the first time AJ put on the Northern Iowa jersey, it was clear he was going to be an immediate impact player. That foundation that had been building over the previous 14 years led to what has happened over the last three seasons for this hometown hero.