Bismarck, ND - University of Mary men’s basketball coach Juno Pintar today announced that Karl Effertz of Bismarck, ND, and UT Udo of Minnetonka, MN, have each signed a National Letter of Intent to continue their education at U-Mary and play basketball for the Marauders.

Karl Effertz is a 6-foot-8, 230-pound center who played for Bismarck Century High School. A member of the WDA All-Tournament team, Effertz averaged 10.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and .84 blocks per game. His rebounding and block totals were fifth-best in the WDA. In addition to playing four years of basketball, he also compete for four years in both football and track.

"We are very excited to add Karl to our program," said Pintar. "He brings a ton of athleticism and potential in a 6-8 frame. We really feel that Karl’s best basketball is in front of him."

The class valedictorian and a member of the National Honor Society while maintaining a 4.0 GPA, Karl is the son of Neil and Jan Effertz and will pursue the pre-medicine program at U-Mary.

UT Udo (pronounced YOU-TEE OOO-dough) is a 6-foot-3 wing who started for the 2008 Minnesota 4A state high school champion Minnetonka High School Skippers. Recognized as a defensive specialist, Udo averaged 5.2 points per game as a senior and earned honorable mention Classic Lake all-conference honors while helping the Skippers to the Minnesota state title in the classification for the schools with the largest enrollments.

"UT will bring strength and maturity to our program," said Pintar. "He is a very strong player who can fill a number of different roles on a basketball team. UT played on a very talented team so he kind of flew under the radar but we feel that he will make an impact for us."

The son of Okokon and Umo Udo, UT will major in physical therapy at U-Mary.

The University of Mary has now signed four players to National Letters of Intent; Effertz, Udo, Ryan Malm and Brice Hornbeck.