[7] During his junior year of high school he averaged 21 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists with a field goal percentage of 59%.
[13] Recker officially signed to play for Indiana in May 1997 after having verbally committed in his sophomore year of high school.
[12] He ended the season having started 30 of his 32 games, with averages of 12.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals, shooting almost 50% from the field.
During his freshman year he mainly played the small forward position and was named an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention.
[18] His successful sophomore season earned him a place in the All-Big Ten Third Team, and he was also an Academic All-American.
[12] Despite his success at Indiana, in April 1999 he announced his desire to transfer to another program, stating he was not «satisfied with his development as a player».
[21] While they were on County Road 240 heading to Durango for a carnival, a truck driven by Bob Hardwick invaded the central lane and collided with two other vehicles at 70 mph.
[3] John Hollberg died while Recker, Kelly and Jasper Craig suffered severe injuries that required surgery.
[5][21] After the accident, Recker began treatment to recover from his injuries, and changed his college choice, deciding to transfer to Iowa instead of Arizona.
Among the factors that contributed to this decision was Recker's intention to stay closer both to his father (who lived in Washington, Iowa)[5] and his girlfriend Kelly Craig, who was in Chicago, Illinois still recovering from the accident.
[5] Originally ineligible until January 2001,[23] he sat out only his first semester at Iowa[22] because the NCAA granted him a waiver to come back to play one semester earlier due to his involvement in the accident, which was considered a case of "special circumstances" after Recker appealed to the NCAA trying to regain his eligibility.
[29] After being cut from the Heat roster, in December 2002 Recker joined the Asheville Altitude, a team that played in the NBA Development League.
[34] He had a career-high 35 points against Skipper Bologna: he shot 11 from 20 from 3-point range,[34] one of the all-time highs of the Italian basketball league.