Showed the potential to be the best center in the B1G, and one of the best in the country. If he improves half as much between now and next year as he did between last year and this... watch out.
Big Matt
- Thread starter Smolmania
- Start date
Most improved NU player I've ever seen from one year to the next.
And he has so many more ways to get better. If he gets the post moves/footwork that we’ve seen from Pardon and Young, look out…
If Big Matt develops a post move or two he will be the best big man in the conference. He won't be lacking experience coming into next year as he was this year. He will be a major piece of next year's team and we all will be looking forward to see his improvement going forward.
I said early in the season he would score 20 in a game. He had 17 tonight. His offense hasn’t developed as quickly as I thought it might, but he certainly has a role. I hope he can develop a little hook or even jumper, though that seems a lot to ask.
He absolutely has to develop a post move. He has nothing right now in that regard. He got the ball deep in the paint tonight, with plenty of space, and he didn't even try to turn and take a shot. He just passed it back out.
I criticized Matt and Beran for being soft early in the season. Began still is, but Matt improved tremendously this season. Kudos to his hard work, and the coaching staff for coaching him up.
Nicholson played very physically last year in his few minutes of action. Bloodied Kofi Cockburn's mouth with his shoulder. Pretty much the opposite of soft.
Besides the post move, Big Matt needs to learn that once in a while he can afford to give up a foul and be an animal stopping someone who is effectively attacking the rim. Jaquez is a great player who was eating the Cats up. It would have been helpful if Matt could channel the bad boy Pistons of the Chuck Daly era and had punished him once or twice rather than avoiding the foul. He was not soft, but on defense he was not savage either.
If he can develop some around the basket he will be a total beast. There was one play in the game where pivoted around his man and instead of going to the basket he threw an errant pass to Buie. Next year he dunks or lays that ball in
Most improved ever. His development can give some Srs a reason to return or a grad transfer a reason to come to NU next season
Even with significant improvement, I'm not sure that Nicholson will become best-center-in-the-country good, because he simply doesn't have the quickness or athleticism to get there (and he's never going to be threat outside of the paint), but I agree that developing a serviceable post-move or even a floater for whenever he's in front of the rim would go a long way to making him one of the best in the Big Ten.
At the beginning of the year, Nicolson couldn't even make a lay-up. He was literally throwing them off the back board. And now he's making them through contact, sometimes even with his left hand! To me, that's less "improvement" so much as gaining comfort on the court with game experience.
Lastly, Ryan Young made significant improvements in his free throw shooting during his time at Northwestern. I hope to see the same out of Nicholson.
At the beginning of the year, Nicolson couldn't even make a lay-up. He was literally throwing them off the back board. And now he's making them through contact, sometimes even with his left hand! To me, that's less "improvement" so much as gaining comfort on the court with game experience.
Lastly, Ryan Young made significant improvements in his free throw shooting during his time at Northwestern. I hope to see the same out of Nicholson.
Another off-season under the tutelage of Brian James should do wonders. BJ is known for his development of “bigs”. He’s had a positive impact on Olah, Pardon, Young and now Nicholson.
He is plenty athletic and quick. He just needs to work on finesse.
He was awesome, and if he plays like that all next season he will be All Big Ten.
We need a better nickname for him than “Big Matt”.
Any ideas? How about NicholMAN?
We need a better nickname for him than “Big Matt”.
Any ideas? How about NicholMAN?
Teen Wolf, as long as he keeps that beard
Big Matt needs to develop a few inside moves in addition to the alley-oop dunk. A hook shot would be nice to add to the arsenal. I'd also send him to the best free throw shooting coach in the country for a week. The guys arrow is pointing up and he will be major factor in the Big Ten next season.
The Bearded Behemoth.
Matty Ice.
The Nicholbomb.
The Clarkston Clubber.
The Big OOP (that’s oop, as in alley)
Ess-Fos (‘Seven Feet of Sexy)
Huge Matt
Matt the Cat
The Purple People Eater
Chicago’s Big Ten Center
The Heartthrob
Lunchpail Matt
Pistol Matt
Clarkston High School is, in fact, the Wolves.
The most exciting thing about Matt and I will throw Barnhizer in this conversation as well is that both players have room for improvement. With the playing time both players got this year and in high intensity ball games they will be seasoned veterans instead of young guys playing big time minutes for their first time in their college career.
Both players fit this team to a T as they are nitty gritty not afraid to mix it up kinda guys. You can see both of them want to get better so we know this off season both will bust their butts to improve their respective games.
What a difference a year makes as this time last year after we got pasted by Io-a in the BTT many on this board myself included were wondering about a coaching change and if we would even get to double digits in wins. Well CCC and his staff and players believed in themselves and gave us a year we all will remember for all time.
Yes sometimes we can have good things.
Both players fit this team to a T as they are nitty gritty not afraid to mix it up kinda guys. You can see both of them want to get better so we know this off season both will bust their butts to improve their respective games.
What a difference a year makes as this time last year after we got pasted by Io-a in the BTT many on this board myself included were wondering about a coaching change and if we would even get to double digits in wins. Well CCC and his staff and players believed in themselves and gave us a year we all will remember for all time.
Yes sometimes we can have good things.
Would love to see 1 more year of Nicholson + Buie at least. Audige would be great too but don't want to be greedy. Those two are just starting to click.
Nicholson has been a revelation, but development is rarely a straight line up. I hope people don't boomerang back to trashing the kid if he doesn't average 18 and 10 next year. If Boo and Audige leave, Barnhizer and Nicholson will suddenly be getting a lot of attention from opposing defenses and that's a completely different thing. If Nicholson doesn't look like this UCLA game every time out and Barnhizer doesn't pleasantly surprise all season long, it doesn't mean they haven't developed. It might just mean that it's a lot harder to produce when you're who the other team is game-planning for.
And all that said, I hope their development is nothing but a straight line up.
Good point on his development, but I think this coaching staff will do a great job with that.
Along with other things mentioned, I think hemis capable of a one dribble drive from the foul line extended for a dunk. He would do this when the execute the guard-center hand off. He would let the guard go through and pivot for the drive.
He tried this a couple of time this year, not great results, but he is thinking the game. He ended up traveling or tripping over his feet.
But the way this staff is using him on the court is much better than Purdue. Edey just stands jn the middle in offense and defense and does not move much. MN is being used more like the bugs in the Big12.
Along with other things mentioned, I think hemis capable of a one dribble drive from the foul line extended for a dunk. He would do this when the execute the guard-center hand off. He would let the guard go through and pivot for the drive.
He tried this a couple of time this year, not great results, but he is thinking the game. He ended up traveling or tripping over his feet.
But the way this staff is using him on the court is much better than Purdue. Edey just stands jn the middle in offense and defense and does not move much. MN is being used more like the bugs in the Big12.
I'm not sure that's the best thing for Nicholson to be working on developing this off-season. I'd much rather he work on a few back to the basket moves off of cuts and face up jumper from 6-10 feet. I could see a one dribble move within a few feet of the basket, but I'm not certain the dribble drive from the top of the key handoff is a great use of him.
That said, I wouldn't have used Edey in any way other than close to the basket either. His massive size (he made Nicholson look like a small forward) and lack of foot speed make that seem like the obvious move.
High scroll roll off the elbow, if the guard draws both players, kick it out for a shot at the foul line. Filapowski has a 7 foot twin brother that goes to Harvard. Not very mobile, etc. But he could execute that very well.
This is another year where the Big10 has received and large number of bids to the tournament and minimal teams will make it to the sweet 16. Some of the coaches have to change their thinking. CCC seems li,e he has.
A lot had to do with the D they were facing last night. There was so much emphasis on shutting down the guards that he was able to get to scoring position with no one on him so a quick pass and thunder chunkie. In the BIG that might only happen a couple times a game but last night, that was a hole in the D and it was able to be exploited
If the lane is open, that might be possible but in the BIG it generally has not been.
I would suggest that he needs to work on his fouls shooting as I see him getting to the line a lot next year and 50% won't cut it
Journalism Mutombo is already the greatest nickname ever. Nicholbombs are the dunks themselves.
No bad ideas when you’re brainstorming.
Journalism related nicknames
Cronkite
Dunker Carlson (gross!)
Edward R. Nicholson
Ford Pick
Lob Woodward
OK, Lob Woodward is pretty good.
My son-in-law went to Clarkston High. He wore a Clarkston shirt to the Purdue game.
I, being a heckuva guy, was nice enough to bring him.
It was the best game he’s played. He was finishing in traffic which we hadn’t seen much of prior. The sell out of UCLA to stop Buie and later Audige opened the door for MN and he capitalized on the opportunity. Great game for him.
On this message board, Martinelli went from "gotta redshirt him - he's not nearly ready" to rotation player - in about 6 weeks.
He can play - like others I saw him in the Pitt game and came away hopeful - and started questioning why he wasn't getting minutes in some of our blowout victories to help him develop.
Hunger was basically the same situation. He showed a lot of potential in his limited minutes before he got hurt. Both can shoot the ball and have good size.
I think of Boise State's Degenhart as a smaller version of Luke Hunger. Not a basketball body, but strong base.
An offseason with assistant coach Lowery and they should be up to speed defensively.
Roper had a disappointing year. Even before he got hurt. Not much progress on offense. With only Ty Berry as a true guard and two unproven freshman guards, our needs are pretty clear.
But I have to say, if Buie decides that grad school and basketball are in his best interests, we have a very solid group, even before we start considering the guys who want to transfer into prestigious Northwestern. Based on the abilities of Martinelli and Hunger, Collins incoming freshmen will probably bring something to the table.
Gotta be optimistic about next year.
