Nicholson
- Thread starter CSCatFan1
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Another Detroit Free Press story. He's cited as 7'1" now and played point guard in his younger days:
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/...tball-matt-nicholson-shot-blocker/4610035002/
I can’t see how this program, with such little roster depth, can afford to redshirt anybody. And with the grad transfer rule and portal, I certainly wouldn’t redshirt anybody — especially a developmental big who will likely take three years to become effective— and then hits “free agency.” Play ‘em all.
He looks pretty filled out for a hs senior. He'll add mass, but looks like he has nice size.
Hot damn. Hope he forces his way into the lineup like Pardon did. He and Tyberry boosting our core of Kopp, Boo, Beran, Nance, Young, etc. could lead us back to the dance, as early as next year.
Hope he does more than worry. He seems to be a nice, happy kid. When he makes a good play, his smile and joy is brilliant. He just needs to get a little nastier and aggressive on offense. Hope Spencer's attitude rubs off on him.
One of the best things that could come out of this year is some of Spencer’s moxie, grit, and determination rubbing off on his teammates.
I assume he means behind Young. And Beran is already better than Nance at stretch 4.
Same. Baran is a sweet-shooting freshman who actually (and effectively) looks to attack the rim, while Nance is a 6-11 sophomore who prefers to fade away and clank threes. I give Nance the edge on D, though (but it’s closer than one might think).
My son played against him last night. It was his school's senior night, and his family was decked out in NU gear. It's hard to assess him because he's so dominant, but I was really impressed by how well he got up and down the floor.
both have been improving through the season. We thing every high school kid is the next star cause they are all dominant in high school
Jones is going be good. I hope that he stays and plays. NU has length and front line potential never seen before in Evanston. To lead that Nance needs an injection of Spencer lacrosse aggressiveness or my favorite QB Dan Persa's will to compete to become a rebound ripping inside presence to match his ability to move outside. His shot will come but the rest needs to happen as the other bigs are developing. NU just got caught without a scoring 2 guard. This is the most promising single digit win team ever.
Thanks for asking! We got bounced. Really ugly. We're way too young, inexperienced, and small, and we're dealing with injuries to the experienced players, to compete with a well-oiled machine like Clarkston, which should make a run at the state title. My son is a 6'6" shooter who's still growing. He did well defensively, considering all they asked him to do, and is getting better at handling the physicality of elite competition. But against strong defensive teams like Clarkston he's not able to generate points when he needs to yet. He did execute a nice step-back against Nicholson, though.
Not the last few weeks. Beran has skill, but needs to put on some weight and get stronger. He gets outmuscled and pushed around way too easily.
Pretty impressed with nance recently. He could have easily pouted and packed it in after a rough stretch, but the light bulb seems to be getting brighter for him on the court.
I try to not post on Nance because what I see is the opposite of what I read here. I have no issues with Nance, he's a nice player who will get better.
what do you mean by opposite? The narrative on this board seems to be he has a lot of upside but needs to develop, played soft early in the year but now playing with attitude that is showing up on the boards and defense, with scoring a work in progress. What is your view?
Probably smarter to not have posted that innocuous message.
But since you asked....people are critical of his three point shooting, much more so than of Boo....they are basically shooting exactly the same from three as one another. I think both will be nice three point shooters for Nu when their careers are over.
People are critical of his playing too far outside because he needs to be low rebounding. He's out rebounding Young. People posted that Robby passed him. Look at the stats, not close.
I think there's so much hope and potential for Nance that he gets tons of attention and a lot of that is driven by what the team needs versus what is in Nance's game. Like the suggestion that he should play at 5. Talk about cancelling out every part of his game.
I think the takeaway for Nance this year is he got much, much better over his truncated frosh year.
Agreed, I think the criticism is based on the high expectations coming in. We want to anoint guys before they get into big ten action and then get upset that are not immediate saviors. Also, he seemed to be lost and a tentative earlier in the season. He is finding his way and his upside remains outstanding. We'll see what he creates.
Earlier in the year, Beran was playing better than Nance and Nance presented as petulant and lackadaisical. I think that’s what most of the criticism of him has been, and it looks larger because of expectations for him.
yes there has been a lot of posting about his shot arc.
but I think posters have also noted the recent upswing in his attitude and his game, and in the last month he has been playing at a higher level and has been a much bigger factor in games.
yes there has been a lot of posting about his shot arc.
but I think posters have also noted the recent upswing in his attitude and his game, and in the last month he has been playing at a higher level and has been a much bigger factor in games.
Nance is progressing like his brother, Larry Nance, Jr. (I know this is a Nicholson thread but it has morphed).
Larry Nance, Jr played at that blue blood basketball powerhouse, University of Wyoming. His other offer was Bowling Green. He didn't really click until Junior year. He went from 4 pts/gm freshman year to 10, 15 and 16 after that. Again, against U of Wyoming competition.
Pete Nance is playing against much tougher competition and the curve is tougher. He was a kid in a huge body. Now he is starting to mature and grow into his body. He missed a lot of his freshman year. This is his first full year and he is finally getting it. Next year should be exciting for him.
Love the team for next year. Finally, 2 good players at each position. Finally, depth. When was the last time that happened? Very excited.
Larry Nance, Jr played at that blue blood basketball powerhouse, University of Wyoming. His other offer was Bowling Green. He didn't really click until Junior year. He went from 4 pts/gm freshman year to 10, 15 and 16 after that. Again, against U of Wyoming competition.
Pete Nance is playing against much tougher competition and the curve is tougher. He was a kid in a huge body. Now he is starting to mature and grow into his body. He missed a lot of his freshman year. This is his first full year and he is finally getting it. Next year should be exciting for him.
Love the team for next year. Finally, 2 good players at each position. Finally, depth. When was the last time that happened? Very excited.
I thought about responding but you said it much better than I could have. If you watch Nance during games he is very engaged. He talks with teammates coming out of timeouts more than another player. Beran is a much better 3-point shooter but otherwise gets a pass on many of the same issues that Pete has been criticized for. Pete lost his confidence for a long stretch of games. It's back and he is playing pretty well. He could have been redshirted last year. He needs to get stronger and continue to develop his game but his ceiling is really high.
I think its great news all around Pete is the guy Robbie is competing with for time, so the more Pete improves, the more Robbie needs to improve. An upward spiral sounds good to me.
Damn, he’s pretty athletic for his size. That’s very impressive video. Wow.
I agree. Though I would have liked to see at least one highlight where he took a shot beyond 2 feet. Wonder if he has any kind of jump shot. Do we know his FT %?
I've seen him play maybe 20-25 times over the past three years and don't recall him shooting beyond 6-8 feet except for free throws. I don't know his FT% but he's solid at the line. One thing the highlights don't show enough, IMO, is his ability to get up and down the floor and the way he passes out of double teams to find open shooters.
He looks like a well built and fluid if not explosive athlete for 7 ft 1. But one wonders why he averages only 16 pts/game, seems like he could score 30 pts at will and that type of scoring is not uncommon among dominant D1 recruits. Looks like a typical Wisconsin big man recruit that gets developed into an all big ten player over 3-4 yrs. Hope Coach James can do the same with his NBA pedigree.
He's still on a development path, but I wouldn't attribute the scoring average to his shortcomings. He's a team player on a very strong team that scores in several different ways. Emoni Bates, the top-rated sophomore in the country who plays in Ypsilanti, scores 30+ because he handles the ball a lot and takes a lot of shots.
