Paige's basketball dream comes true

The videos that entranced the Paige children were as different as you can get.For Morgan, it was Barney. That's not unusual.For younger brother, Marcus ... Well, it wasn't Barney."When he was two years old, I would tape all these NBA games," said their father, Ellis Paige. "Allen Iverson, all those guys. He would sit on the couch, watch those games and just be entranced. It was Barney for Morgan, it was basketball for Marcus. Just one of those things."It's not like basketball was never important for Morgan Paige. She's doing very well as a freshman starter for the Wisconsin Badgers.Marcus hit the jackpot, too, announcing Saturday night that he has given his verbal commitment to the North Carolina Tar Heels. The junior point guard is considered the 37th-overall recruit in the nation by rivals.com and picked UNC over Kansas, Iowa and a bunch of other schools."Coach (Roy) Williams developed a really good relationship with me and my parents," Paige said Sunday. "That was important."Paige said all along he would take his official visits next fall before deciding on a school. That changed when he and Ellis Paige took an unofficial visit last month to Chapel Hill.The presence of Ames freshman Harrison Barnes was a factor, Paige said, but Williams, the school and its basketball tradition pushed things over the top. Marcus Paige always was a North Carolina fan, his father said."I waited a couple of weeks (after his visit)," Marcus said. "It just felt right.""It's a perfect fit," Ellis Paige said.Paige never called a press conference to announce his decision. He didn't use Skype to inform the "winning" school.He and Linn-Mar simply issued a press release minutes before the Lions' game Saturday night against Apple Valley (Minn.) at the Timberwolves Shootout in Minneapolis and sent it to The Gazette, the Des Moines Register and the three area television stations."He's not like that," Ellis Paige said. "He didn't want to go on TV with five hats in front of him."