“I am most looking forward to a new start in their basketball program along with being able to explore the city of Duluth. I have heard so many great things about the city and the activities they have there. I can’t wait to get out there and experience them for myself,” said NDA senior Andrew Rader.

Rader recently committed to University of Minnesota-Duluth, Division Two, to play basketball.

He isn’t sure about his major quite yet, but he thinks he will do something involving finance or business.

Rader explained that he decided on UMD because of the location in proximity to home and the school’s athletic success.

“The basketball staff at UMD was very welcoming and supportive and made it clear they had a positive plan for the future of their program,” he explained.

The last few years haven’t been easy for him, though, as he had to battle a long-lasting foot injury.

“I broke my foot the summer before sophomore year (summer 2022) and decided not to have surgery but proceed with non-weight bearing. It then healed briefly until I rebroke the same bone in January of 2023,” said Rader.

In March of 2023, he went through with the surgery, which resulted in an eight-month recovery.

“Having to miss two football seasons and my 16U year of AAU took an immense mental toll on me, but as time went on, that mental toll only made coming back to basketball easier and more enjoyable,” he said.

Rader has been playing healthy since December of 2023.

This summer, Rader was able to get back to playing AAU. He was happy with how well his team did and as far as they got with almost an entirely new roster.

Rader explained, “At the end of the summer, we had a bid into our Nationals tournament and unfortunately got matched up in the best pool possible. Those games did not go amazing, but being able to play against the best players in the country is an experience I will not forget.”

Additionally, he is back to playing in his senior year of football and is looking forward to basketball in a few months.

He commented on this years basketball team saying, “I am most excited about our potential this year as a team. Our group has a really good mix of talent and camaraderie that not all programs can say they have. I am very excited to see what we can do together.”