It might not seem like it to their fans, but the North Idaho College men's basketball team will have a bunch of familiar faces on the floor next year.

Familiar to the incoming players, that is.

Cardinal coach Jared Phay announced the signing of the final three players of the 2013 recruiting class in Shikel Blake, Nicholas (Cole) Kesler and Marquis Davis.

Blake, a 6-foot-6 forward, played AAU basketball with Tatafu Nuku, a 6-7 post, who signed with NIC in April.

"We got hooked up with him watching Tatafu and saw some video of him playing," Blake said. "He's really long and athletic and can play either the 4 or 3. He's really good inside the key and outside and can really score around the basket. I think he might be our best back-to-the-basket scorer. Our other posts are good, but that's not some of their strengths. He's really crafty around the hoop and kind of a cross between Mike (Middlebrooks) and Jordan McCloud. He's pretty quick off the ground like Mike was."

Davis, a 5-9 180 pound point guard, was a three-sport athlete at Rainier Beach High in Seattle, playing football and basketball, as well as winning the state 3A long jump title with a jump of 23 feet, 6 3/4 inches.

"He's an interesting athlete," Phay said. "He's a really good football player and a D-1 player for quite a while and runs a 4.3 second 40 (meters), but wanted to play basketball. He's a good basketball player and really strong athlete. He's really quick and strong to the hoop."

Davis is the fifth player from the Rainier Beach squad to sign with NIC, joining Will Dorsey, Jordon King, Fuquan Niles and Wilfred Middlebrooks.

Kesler, a 6-3, 185-pound guard from Laguna Beach, Calif., will play his freshman season at NIC before going on an LDS mission.

"We actually got him through Brock Reichner, who played at Salt Lake Community College and BYU," Phay said. "He lives in Liberty Lake now, and helps us with recruiting sometimes."

Kesler also received interest from Snow College and Utah State-Eastern of the Scenic West Athletic Conference.

"When he came up for a visit, the weather was good," Phay said. "So we were able to sign him. He can really shoot the ball and could be the best of the bunch."

Nathan Rathbun, a 6-9 sophomore center from Deary High, recently returned from a trip to England after competing with an NBC Camps travel team.

"It's a pretty cool thing for him," Phay said. "He's been working with the NBC Camps and they wanted to put together a team and do a summer tour in London. He's a guy that needs to play and had a good time."

Of last year's roster, only Rathbun, Lake City High grad Jason Wheelock and Ty Higbie, a redshirt freshman from Coeur d'Alene High, return.

This weekend, Phay is on the road again starting on the 2014 recruiting class.

"We're actually recruiting for the following year already," Phay said. "It's a never-ending thing."

Joel Underdahl, a Lakeland High graduate of 2010, has signed to play at Walla Walla Community College after last playing in 2012 at NIC. He will have one year of eligibility remaining at Walla Walla.

The NIC women's team added Bailey Schroeder, a 5-7 guard from Benton City, Wash.