Working hard this off-season. Team will be counting on him to take a big leap forward this year. Hope he’s up to the task. Will be rooting for him.
Big Matt
- Thread starter CoralSpringsCat
- Start date
Matt's working his ass off while his teammates are goofing off at a baseball game.
/s
/s
If Nicholson can't make a 3-pointer, Collins probably won't play him much, no matter how physically dominant he is under the basket. I'd love to see the coach prove me wrong...
If Collins can't figure out a way to give Nicholson some decent minutes this season, I'm afraid he'll go the Ryan Young route to the portal. Why wouldn't he if he's destined for 10 minutes per game in Collins' game plan? But if Collins gets sacked after this season, maybe he'll stick around to see who will be the next coach. The program is not in a good place right now.
The other possibility is, of course, that he’s not a very good player.
Perhaps there’s a reason that, while playing alongside a MSU recruit (Foster Loyer) for a perennial state title contender, he only received three (Rivals-reported) MAC offers, plus five others, plus Creighton, Xavier, and NU.
I can’t see a good reason for Nicholson not to get minutes — but, if he doesn’t, he’s probably not going to get many minutes anywhere.
Perhaps there’s a reason that, while playing alongside a MSU recruit (Foster Loyer) for a perennial state title contender, he only received three (Rivals-reported) MAC offers, plus five others, plus Creighton, Xavier, and NU.
I can’t see a good reason for Nicholson not to get minutes — but, if he doesn’t, he’s probably not going to get many minutes anywhere.
Bigs often develop late. I wouldn't give up on Nicholson yet. This year, he has his chance and if he can be a defensive presence and rebounder, he might not have to shoot 3s. Young couldn't, and he was pretty effective despite his lack of defensive skills that perhaps Nicholson can bring to the table.
I'm bullish on the The Nicholbomb because I still believe in the American Way: Hard work, perseverance, and a good social media presence.
BTW, the comments on Matt's post are worth a read.
BTW, the comments on Matt's post are worth a read.
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To be fair, he didn't start while Foster was there, and during the Fife era, if you didn't start, your minutes were extremely limited. He was dominant his senior year, and they probably would have gotten to the finals if covid hadn't hit.
His recruiting took off as a rising senior when he played for the Family. I still think it's nuts that Michigan mid-majors weren't offering him as a sophomore, when you could clearly see that he'd have the size to play D1 and showed potential.
I see his role at the high-major level being a rim protector, and I continue to believe he can be an effective one.
I agree that, in a vacuum, there is a possibility that Nicholson is not a very good player and that is why he didn't play last year. But, in the glimpses we've gotten, Nicholson has made it obvious that he is not a stiff. He would be a starter on the vast majority of the 350 D1 teams. He runs the floor well. He is physical around the basket. Yes he has been foul-prone and can't really shoot the ball from outside 8 feet. However, his strengths overwhelm his weaknesses. But the coach has to be willing to play a certain way. Nicholson is the opposite of a "stretch 5."
Nicholson was a 6'8" 200 backup center as a high school sophomore. He played only 1 minute in Clarkston's state title victory that year. He became a 6'11" 215 starter as a junior, then committed to NU. After committing to NU he continued to grow taller, passing 7 feet and adding muscle. His senior year he was dominant against Michigan's best teams. He has a 7'4" wingspan.
Yes, he's definitely foul prone and can't shoot from the outside and those are two major reasons he doesn't get many minutes. Not sure if he's really physical in the paint and theirs is no way he'd be a starter on the majority of Div.1 teams. Not even on half of them.
Well, Collins did make extensive use of Dererk Pardon, who wasn't a prolific three point shooter. What was different about Pardon?
The question was, "What was different about Pardon?"
Different from Young or different from Nicholson, take your pick.
NUs bball is a lot like NUs football in that they have to take a little risk on some guys and hope they can develop them....So this is the year to see if Matt has improved and developed.....I am voting YES
A bunch of people will say Nicholson improved and possibly credit the coaching staff and I will say he was always a capable player, that the coach just didn't realize it or didn't understand that Young should have played 27 minutes a game, with Nicholson backing him up.
And if Nicholson is actually given the opportunity and doesn't get the job done, I will question our coaching staff's ability to teach anything to traditional centers.
And if Verhoeven starts and Nicholson plays less than 10 minutes a game I will say Collins is a fool who is sabotaging the team on his way out the door.
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Comparing Pardon to Nicholson...
Pardon was 4 inches shorter and 25 lbs lighter?
Pardon was left-handed shooter and did have some baby hooks and other post moves.
Pardon had a strong motor.
Pardon was quicker.
Collins used Pardon initially because Olah got injured - the plan to redshirt Pardon had to be scrapped out of necessity. Necessity seems to dictate playing time too often for NU.
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So, what you're saying is no matter what you're going to trash Collins and the staff for whatever outcome we may see.
This is one aspect of Nicholson's game I'm not worried about, he will not get pushed around. He's also more athletic than people credit him for, he has decent feet and can actually jump.
Young has some sneaky moves of his own. He's a pretty crafty scorer. I do think Pardon was better, but they're in the same league.
Pardon was considerably better than Young. Night and day on the defensive end. No knock on Young, but what Pardon brought to the table is vastly underrated.
Yes, if Big Matt succeeds, CCC is the moron who didn’t play him last year. If Big Matt fails, CCC can’t develop anyone and only wants stretch 5’s. What are you new?
Basically yes. I'm saying that
a) Collins totally blew it last year with Young and Nicholson.
b) Nicholson can play and should be pretty effective around the basket on both ends of the court.
c) If Nicholson plays well, there are some on here who will make up a story that Collins and staff turned Nicholson into a good player this summer.
d) If Collins plays Verhoeven and Hunger and doesn't play Nicholson, then Collins is dumber than I thought, because Verhoeven will be below average as a Big Ten player.
I was comparing Pardon to Nicholson! Pardon is not 4 inches shorter than Young!
I edited my comment to make that clear.
Young was a somewhat better scorer than Pardon but Pardon was certainly better defensively, as PPD mentioned.
So, if it's about defense, that would explain why Collins likes Verhoeven.
No idea why he like Verhoeven. We don’t even know what his role will be next year. Maybe Big Matt will get 25-30 minutes as the primary big. My point is there are two sides of the court. If Big Matt can stay out of foul trouble, I expect him to be better than Young was on D. However, I don’t see big Matt being as effective on Offense as Young was. I hope Big Matt does great next year. He has paid his dues. However, I didn’t see enough last year to convince me he should have been taking minutes away from Young last year. I expect his biggest asset to be his defense.
Young could not really make a three pointer and he was played a fair amount. Same with Pardon
Not really. Yes he was a crafty scorer but he never really overpowered the defender.. Probably more important, Young was not the defender that Pardon was
And when a kid grows that fast they often have trouble getting it all under control.
I'll say Nicholson would start for at least 220 of the 358 teams in Division 1.
According to Sagarin's ratings, Minnesota was #100 last year. Nebraska was #117. NU was #73.
You're significantly overrating the quality of the teams outside the Power 6 conferences.
The middle two teams were NC Greensboro and VMI. Nicholson would have been a highly valued member of either of those teams. Sagarin has NU about 9 points better than those teams.
I don’t know how much of a factor Matt will be this season but he’s already the program’s all-time leader in MBPPMP (message board posts per minute played.)
Does it really matter that he might start for low major teams? The question is if he can be effective in the Big Ten. Big if.
He’s basically asserting that Nicholson can start for the worst 220 teams in Division 1, which implies he wouldn’t for the best 138. Then he uses ratings to show three teams in the B1G (presumably the worst) were rated no lower than #117, with NU being #73.
I don’t know what kind of logic he’s applying here to his windmill of an argument, but it pretty much reflects everything else he’s been offering on the topic, and why nobody buys what he’s saying here.
Your initial statement is false. You should take a logic course!
Then you compound your blunder by saying "nobody buys what he is saying here" when all I'm saying is that Nicholson is not a stiff, that he is a legitimate college basketball player who should be a significant (possibly even good) player for NU this season. Some want to disparage Nicholson. I counter those silly statements with facts supporting him.
With the usual caveats about Collins not having a solid handle on how to use traditional "back to the basket" post players.
Except the majority on the board do not go along with your thinking. Then there are the coaches who seem to agree with our board members.
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