King’s High School basketball star Chris Faidley is taking his deadly outside touch to Seattle Pacific University.
The 6-foot-1 shooting guard committed to the Division II school last week after weighing offers from a handful of other colleges.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to play at a Seattle school. I’m a hometown kid. I like that,” said Faidley, who also drew interest from several schools for his football prowess.
Faidley had narrowed his choices to Seattle Pacific, George Fox, Edmonds Community College and Master’s College in Santa Clarita, Calif.
The opportunity to continue playing near family and friends was a major factor in Faidley’s decision.
“SPU is where I always wanted to be,” Faidley said. “I know people there. I feel like they know me. They made an effort to make me feel at home.”
Faidley recognized similarities between Seattle Pacific’s offensive and defensive packages and those King’s utilizes.
“They run a lot of motion like we do here and they ‘D’ up tough just like we do here. They can push it and they can slow it down,” Faidley said.
“They like to have a lot of dimensions to their team. They’re not just run-and-gun. They like to get the ball inside and their big men are smart about kicking it out.”
Inside-outside ball movement plays directly to the advantage of a spot-up shooter like Faidley, who averaged 18 points per game this season for a Knights squad that placed third at state.
Faidley lettered all four years at King’s and was a part of two state championship teams in 2001 and 2002. He became the all-time Class 1A state tournament scoring leader at this year’s tournament with 282 points in 16 games.
Seattle Pacific returns all five starters and all but one player off a group that went 14-13 overall and finished fourth in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. With six guards coming back, Faidley noted he may redshirt his freshman season.
That doesn’t bother the Chinook League MVP, who acknowledged it was a relief to have his college plans settled after months of deliberation.
“Everyone’s telling me, ‘That’s a great decision.’ That feels good,” Faidley said. “I know that it is.”
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