Brooks
- Thread starter CSCatFan1
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Barnhizer doesn't seem like a guy who shies away from the spotlight. Coach's son. 35 points a night in high school. Wants the ball.
He was unhappy as a freshman because he was not getting playing time, while Casey Simmons and Julian Roper were. His play was erratic and hyper when he did get into games. Barnhizer was 11th in minutes. Nicholson was 12th. Barnhizer did not play at all in 20 of the 31 games. Nicholson sat on the bench for the entirety of 16 games.
Rather than sulk (or transfer) he decided to improve - and force Collins to play him. So he and Nicholson signed on with a summer team that played a series of games in Europe. I have to assume those two are on the same page and actively support each other. Nicholson/Barnhizer was much better last year than Nicholson/Beran.
When Simmons transferred to Yale, Barnhizer benefitted. When Ryan Young transferred to Duke, Nicholson benefitted.
Both showed what they can do when they got their opportunity last season.
Brooks was battling and coming off injuries his freshman year. He didn’t get the full off-season to get D1 ready and then wasn’t fully healthy throughout the season. Julian was the most D1 ready as a freshman. Casey had what I thought a very high ceiling.
Brooks doesn't have to be the #2 guy, he just needs to continue improving and be one of several #2 guys.
Arguably Barnhizer was the #2 guy on offense last year starting Feb 19 against Iowa.
From that game forward he had 12, 11, 11, 19, 16, 15, 10, 4 points. (98 points on total of 82 FGA)
Audige had 7, 7, 16, 6, 8, 6, 20, 16 over that same span. (86 points on total of 96 FGA)
Nicholson had 9, 2. 10, 0, 10, 4, 5, 17 (57 points on 32 FGA)
I definitely preferred Barnhizer taking a shot instead of Audige.
To me, Barnhizer is the #2 option on offense until proven otherwise. Hopefully Langborg or Nicholson or even Berry or Martinelli have games where they put up 20 points.
In any case, NU should have better balance this season.
What’s your take on Mullins? He seems to be a bit overlooked on here. Do you think he’s a year away from making a significant contribution?
Since I / most of us haven't seen him play in person, its difficult to guess.
Stats-wise he played 29 minutes a game for Denver as a true freshman.
Denver was not very good - a full 20 points worse than NU last year.
He strikes me as an athletic, versatile player who defends. Was totally under the radar until he exploded as a high school senior, after he had committed to Denver.
He is probably a bit of a project, but should contribute off the bench. He seems like one type of guy Collins likes to have on the team (built similarly to Casey Simmons, but more solid). Not a bad pickup, in my opinion.
Here is an evaluation of him...
This is correct. BB was awesome down the stretch.
He realized he belonged and made the leap.
I disagree. We need another go-to guy the way Chase was last year. I don't think anyone else on this roster can do it. They can all have their moments, but none of them will be the consistent other guy the way Brooks can.
Which is why the bad game he had shooting against UCLA was out of the ordinary. He has a normal shooting game that night and things might have turned out better for the Cats.....
I suppose I should ask then, what you mean by the #2 guy. Because what Barnhizer did in that stretch was be a more consistent shooter than Chase or Ty. But I don't know that he was the second option or took more shots than Chase/Ty, although you can probably run those numbers down as well.
I hear you. What I believe we need is at least three guys + Boo on the court at all times who are a decent, consistent scoring threat. I agree that Brooks was more consistent by the end of last year and it was great to see.
What I don't think is that anyone on the team outside of Boo is prepared to face the kind of defensive attention that comes with being the only #1 or only #2 guy every night. It would be better if they had to spread their attention between Brooks, Ty, Langborg, and BM, while trying to deal with Boo.
These are predictions, so we all may be dead wrong, but I don't think MN will ever be much of an offensive force. He just isn't skilled enough. He went most of the season unable to hit a layup last year. That kind of player doesn't become one of your consistent top scorers overnight. I'd love to be wrong, but I think MN will help us in other ways with rebounding and clogging up the paint.
The main differences (as I see it) will be that Nicholson will have had much more offseason attention from the coaches than in the past. Nobody on the staff strikes me as a wiz with the big men, but maybe Brian James was able to focus specifically on helping Matt develop a post move or two. It seemed like a good idea to have Nicholson work with a specialist, but no word of that.
He also was not viewed as an offensive option by either Beran or Audige. (or Chris Collins for that matter) Guys like Barnhizer, Martinelli and Berry are more willing to try to get him the ball. Buie figured out that he could just drive the lane and lob the ball up in Nicholson's vicinity and he was likely to score or draw a foul. Since Nicholson was your most efficient scorer (by far) you have to figure out how to get him some opportunities.
I just want to see Nicholson add something offensively beyond just alley-oops, as fun as they are. Don't get me wrong - I'm a big fan - but he could be even better than he showed last year. Even adding a few percentage points to his free-throw percentage makes him that much more valuable to the offense.
Is the scrimmage before the Howard game this Saturday? Is it open to the public or do you have to be special?
EagerFan used initials that confused me at firstIt took nearly a decade, but Ignore finally scored a point on these boards!
After a quick "Who is BM?" I guessed that BM meant Big Matt, although MN seems more obvious.
Matt has proved a lot of doubters wrong so far in his college career. He is surprisingly athletic, moving well for a big man. I would not be surprised if he adds a post move or two, in addition to the two handed dunk, to up his game.
BM will always be Bryant McIntosh to me.
In any case, while obviously MN advancing his offensive game is better than not, to me the biggest key for him this season is just staying on the court without fouling. Advanced stats had him as a more impactful defender (efficiency-wise) than even Audige last year (not due to skill, but because of the outsized impact a good rim protector has on the college game). If he is able to increase his minute share significantly from the 52% he had last year that will go a very long way towards replacing Audige. I have more confidence the offense will be okay, especially balance wise if MN stays the same (threat of the dunk + Buie/Barnhizer as slasher types and Langborg/Berry as 3 point shooters) than if we're constantly needing Preston or Hunger to play the 5.
In any case, while obviously MN advancing his offensive game is better than not, to me the biggest key for him this season is just staying on the court without fouling. Advanced stats had him as a more impactful defender (efficiency-wise) than even Audige last year (not due to skill, but because of the outsized impact a good rim protector has on the college game). If he is able to increase his minute share significantly from the 52% he had last year that will go a very long way towards replacing Audige. I have more confidence the offense will be okay, especially balance wise if MN stays the same (threat of the dunk + Buie/Barnhizer as slasher types and Langborg/Berry as 3 point shooters) than if we're constantly needing Preston or Hunger to play the 5.
Interesting points. I also thought Nicholson was very important to our improved defense last season.
Assistant coach Lowery has gotten a lot of credit for improving individual players awareness/technique, Lowery and Collins also got some guys to commit to working harder on the defensive end, but there is a portion of the credit that goes to Nicholson and Verhoeven specifically.
Nicholson, by season's end, was limiting our opponents inside game, facilitating the frequent double teams when the ball went inside. He got much better at staying between the opposing big guy and the basket. He did not get pushed around much - unlike, say, Pete Nance. And Verhoeven, though not as physical as Nicholson, was fairly effective against many of the guys he guarded.
Its difficult to statistically compare the impact of Nicholson versus Audige, simply because Audige was almost always on the court and basketball is a team sport, so there's not a lot of data to evaluate the defense "sans Audige."
I think Nicholson rarely went to the bench because of fouls - it was more about stamina. The ball screen offense that Collins ran thru Buie was very draining physically on Nicholson. He ran around a lot on the offensive end and he is moving a large body. Hopefully Collins can modify that approach somewhat and let Nicholson try to set up in the paint from time to time.