Basketball: Geneva guard Nate Santos transferring to Connecticut prep school

GENEVA – Geneva guard Nate Santos is on the move.

The 6-foot-7 guard on Tuesday announced he is transferring to the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Conn. Santos received his acceptance letter two days ago, but had to wait to announce the decision on Twitter due to completing some forms.

The Santos family has experience with transferring from public high schools to a college prep school. K.J. Santos, his older brother and a standout forward at Missouri, also took this route in the past.

"It wasn't a for-sure decision that I was going to do it coming up to it," Santos said on transferring. "After thinking awhile, I got some great opportunities that were brought to me to go out east...it was a great experience [at Loomis Chaffee] that I could take, and so [our family] decided to jump on it."

Loomis Chaffee first came into the picture toward the end of the Geneva varsity basketball season, and one of the allures is to play alongside 6-foot-8 power forward Jaiden Delaire.

Delaire, class of 2019, is Connecticut's third-ranked recruit and the 21st-ranked power forward in the country, according to the 247Sports.com website.

"I can learn based off him," Santos said of Delaire. "Get some good exposure...I feel like for practice and games, playing alongside him and obviously the other players there, will get me better."

Santos also announced he will re-classify to the class of 2021, considered a "post-grad year". Santos, however, can play right away.

By re-classifying, it means that he could play another year beyond the typical high school eligibility of four years. Scheduled to be a sophomore in the fall, Santos will still technically graduate in 2020, but then he will play during his post-grad year of 2021.

Should Santos make a decision on a college or university for basketball, and he wants to go to his chosen school in 2020, he could re-class again and forego the post-grad year. It would then mean he'd move back down to the original class he was in.

Santos currently has two offers from Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Creighton. Verbalcommits.com lists Santos as a two-star prospect, and he currently is receiving interest from Illinois, Missouri and Utah.

The Loomis Chaffee boys varsity team went undefeated in Founders League play last season. The Pelicans went 17-7 before falling in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class A Division Quarterfinals 67-64 to Tabor Academy on Feb. 28.

Santos, who averaged 4.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and about one assist in 30 games played last season for the Vikings, shot 32 percent from the field and 28 percent from the three point arc.

Santos, who played with Geneva as recently in a basketball shootout in Palatine last week, was likely in the mix to start with guards Jack McDonald and Mitch Mascari alongside forward Kross Garth.

The Vikings fell to Naperville North in the 4A regional finals last season 64-51. Santos showcased one of his best performances of the season by finishing with 14 points, including draining a buzzer-beater three to close the first half.

"It's going to be difficult [leaving Geneva]," Santos said. "I'm also going to wish them good luck. I'll still be rooting for them. I'll definitely miss playing with them."

Geneva coach Scott Hennig, who Santos told the transfer news over the phone on Tuesday, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

McDonald, who said the announcement was "definitely a surprise", learned the news via the Twitter announcement.

"I'm about to send him a text; wish him good luck," McDonald said. "It's a big loss. He's been playing really well this summer, and he would've been a huge part of our team next year. We're just going to wish him the best, and we're going to move on with who we got."