Because Northwestern has prevented him from playing basketball because of his heart condition, Nick Knapp announced Thursday he is transferring to Northeastern Illinois, which has cleared him to play next season.
“It’s too bad things didn’t work out with Northwestern, but I have to put that behind me,” said the 20-year-old shooting guard from Peoria Woodruff High School.
The NCAA generally requires transfers to sit out a year, but the rule doesn’t apply to players who have sat for two years at another school. Knapp has three years of eligibility left and is considering asking the NCAA for a fourth.
Knapp, who will finish the spring quarter at Northwestern, said he chose Northeastern because he wanted to stay in the Chicago area and because Rees Johnson’s coaching staff “treated me like a human being, not the kid with the heart problem.”
Knapp said he leaves Evanston with warm feelings for coaches, teammates and classmates.
“It was just a few big-timers at the top (of the university administration) who didn’t treat me like I was a person,” Knapp said.
After Knapp went into cardiac arrest during a pickup game in Peoria, Northwestern kept him on scholarship but declared him ineligible.
Knapp, who has an automatic cardioverter defibrillator in his abdomen, sued the school. He won in district court but lost at the appellate level.
Knapp joins an improving Golden Eagle team that went 16-12. The 6-foot-5-inch, 195 pounder, excels on the court and in the classroom. He hit 247 three-pointers in high school and graduated first in his class.