Honkers' Nelson chooses Utah Valley

Black slacks, black shoes, gray striped dress shirt, matching tie.

It was hardly basketball attire, not that it stopped Zach Nelson from making a few lay-ups inside Honker gym as he waited for friends, family, students and staff members to arrive for his ceremony Wednesday.

The star of the Yuba City high basketball team was minutes away from inking his national letter of intent for Utah Valley University, and there he was, putting up shots while dressed like an accountant.

Not that he can help it. A basketball just always seems to find its way into Nelson's hands. It's been that way since he could crawl, when he picked up the ball for the first time as a baby. That turned into games in the front yard with his dad which eventually blossomed into a prep career where he rewrote the record books for scoring and rebounding while helping Yuba City to one of its best seasons in school history this year.

Now it's time for the next level, with an all-expenses paid ticket being officially stamped when the 6-foot-7 senior put his signature on the papers that make him, as Honkers coach Kurt Grahl said to the applauding crowd, "The latest member of the Utah Valley University Wolverines."

For Nelson, the decision to go to the small Division I program, which competes in the Great West conference, simply came down to being the right fit, he said.

And after a 2009-2010 season that saw him average 23.6 points and 14.5 rebounds a game and even scored 56 in a night against Natomas, Nelson had plenty of options. Programs like Sac State, UC Riverside, Cal State Northridge and University of the Pacific wanting him to stay in California.

But Orem, Utah just had the vibe he was looking for, he said.

"You just have to feel it," he said. "And that's what happened when I went on my visit to Utah Valley."