Will Chris Collins roll the dice?

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Kinda hoping we open the game tonight with Nicholson, Williams, Roper, Simmons and Berry as our starting 5.
Fairleigh Dickinson may not have anybody on their roster who could play for us.

Lets play our youngest guys for 10 minutes and go from there.

It will get the new guys some riskless minutes and give the starters a reason to get enthused about the game.

 

[GatoLouco]

We’re only favored to win by 24.5. Too risky

 

[SimpsonElmwood]

Kinda hoping we open the game tonight with Nicholson, Williams, Roper, Simmons and Berry as our starting 5.
Fairleigh Dickinson may not have anybody on their roster who could play for us.

Lets play our youngest guys for 10 minutes and go from there.

It will get the new guys some riskless minutes and give the starters a reason to get enthused about

This scenario never happens. Come on, man.

 

[CSCatFan1]

Kinda hoping we open the game tonight with Nicholson, Williams, Roper, Simmons and Berry as our starting 5.
Fairleigh Dickinson may not have anybody on their roster who could play for us.

Lets play our youngest guys for 10 minutes and go from there.

It will get the new guys some riskless minutes and give the starters a reason to get enthused about the game.

You’re just trolling now, right?

 

[freewillie07]

Kinda hoping we open the game tonight with Nicholson, Williams, Roper, Simmons and Berry as our starting 5.
Fairleigh Dickinson may not have anybody on their roster who could play for us.

Lets play our youngest guys for 10 minutes and go from there.

It will get the new guys some riskless minutes and give the starters a reason to get enthused about the game.

We might see this lineup toward the end of the game if NU builds on its 20 point lead. But the idea of opening with it... no.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

We might see this lineup toward the end of the game if NU builds on its 20 point lead. But the idea of opening with it... no.

There is really no downside.
Fairleigh Dickinson is bad.
We could spot them 30 points as an alternative.
Personally I'd play all the young guys.

Literally a win win.

 

[freewillie07]

There is really no downside.
Fairleigh Dickinson is bad.
We could spot them 30 points as an alternative.
Personally I'd play all the young guys.

Literally a win win.

Roper and Simmons are getting plenty of run already.

 

[Hungry Jack]

We might see this lineup toward the end of the game if NU builds on its 20 point lead. But the idea of opening with it... no.

Out there with under 2 mins

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Barnhizer, Nicholson, Simmons, some guy I've never seen before (Dixon???) and Williams...

they played the last 5 minutes but could have played all 40 and won easily tonight.

 

[Alan Smithee_rivals156293]

Or, we could have our starters play in socks without shoes. Sure they’d slip around some but still win. Makes about the same amount of sense.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Or, we could have our starters play in socks without shoes. Sure they’d slip around some but still win. Makes about the same amount of sense.

Its about getting the young guys playing time. That gets them film to study. They learn, they improve.

What did we gain by playing Buie, Young or Nance more than 10 minutes tonight? Not much, if anything.

I do find it humorous that they gave Nicholson a turnover when Williams threw a pass at his ankles.

 

[Alan Smithee_rivals156293]

Its about getting the young guys playing time. That gets them film to study. They learn, they improve.

What did we gain by playing Buie, Young or Nance more than 10 minutes tonight? Not much, if anything.

I do find it humorous that they gave Nicholson a turnover when Williams threw a pass at his ankles.

Of course we gained something tonight. One of the patterns in the first three games was sluggish starts. We needed to come ready to play from the opening tip. Our starters did that tonight.

 

[CSCatFan1]

Its about getting the young guys playing time. That gets them film to study. They learn, they improve.

What did we gain by playing Buie, Young or Nance more than 10 minutes tonight? Not much, if anything.

I do find it humorous that they gave Nicholson a turnover when Williams threw a pass at his ankles.

Definitely trolling us.

 

[DaCat]

Definitely trolling us.

Nicholson with those two slams, with authority, deserves All Big honors, 35 minutes per game, and nomination to the NU basketball hall of fame. Could be better than Eschmeyer, and is a sure lottery draft pick.
/s

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Just admit that you have no understanding of basketball, player development or sports in general and we'll move on.
Until then you are wrong about Nicholson and even more wrong for incessantly ragging on one of our players who hasn't really seen the court.

Your problems are your own.

 

[Catreporter]

Nicholson could develop into a very good player before his career is over. I've referred to a '60s big named Bill Woislaw in the past. For three years, he played only sporadically, looked out of his depth, but then in his senior season, he blossomed into a legit Big Ten starter. Practicing against Young and Nance should be very helpful to him as well as playing time in some of these nonconference games.

 

[NUCat320]

PWB has definitely had the Rassler/Ash effect on Nicholson, which is definitely a shame. (Serious, @PurpleWhiteBoy , we get it. I think incessant posting about Nicholson could actually be considered a violation of TOS.)

There is a ton to like about Nicholson, biographically. I still haven’t seen him on the court.

The ideal trajectory is that he sees 5-10 minutes this season, and 10-15 as Young’s primary backup next season, and is a starter for his final two years on-campus.

The fact is, Young and Nicholson can’t and won’t ever play together, so there’s no need to rush Nicholson out there in competitive conference games yet. Minutes for Nicholson mean fewer minutes for Young, and that’s just not smart unless Nicholson is dominating Young in practice.

 

[CSCatFan1]

Just admit that you have no understanding of basketball, player development or sports in general and we'll move on.
Until then you are wrong about Nicholson and even more wrong for incessantly ragging on one of our players who hasn't really seen the court.

Your problems are your own.

Let's be clear here...no one on this board is rooting against or ragging on Nicholson. We all want him to be successful. It's your unrealistic expectations and over the top mentions that have elicited these responses. Very reminiscent to the PR campaign ECat ran for Hunter Johnson on the football board.

 

[JournCat]

Let's be clear here...no one on this board is rooting against or ragging on Nicholson. We all want him to be successful. It's your unrealistic expectations and over the top mentions that have elicited these responses. Very reminiscent to the PR campaign ECat ran for Hunter Johnson on the football board.

I caught myself smirking when he missed a rebound last night and realized it's because of this board campaign ...

 

[ThatadultfromHolland]

Just admit that you have no understanding of basketball, player development or sports in general and we'll move on.
Until then you are wrong about Nicholson and even more wrong for incessantly ragging on one of our players who hasn't really seen the court.

Your problems are your own.

You very clearly don’t understand basketball so I wouldn’t be saying that to other posters.

Nicholson isn’t ready yet. He needs to hit the gym hard because he doesn’t have the quickness that Pete has. Dude needs to work on low post (Offense and Defense) work and building a B1G body that can bang down low. Needs to make much smarter passes as well. He made some dangerous ones in limited playing time. His ceiling is banger and glass cleaner that is a solid B1G center.

Young is great offensively. His decision making passes and scoring is great. He scores really well because of how and when he uses his moves. This is because he is athletically limited comparatively to B1G centers. Defensively is where he struggles against more athletic centers. He even struggled at time last night when getting backed down. Dude is already a solid B1G center. He’ll never be the best player on a good team but he’s an excellent role player and I wouldn’t want anyone else backing up Nance at the 5.

Beran while struggled offensively during his career here gets a lot of unfair criticism. He’s played solid defense and has a lot of upside offensively. He’s one of the better defenders on the team.

I think overall this board pays too much attention to the stat sheet and offense in assessing talent. Defense is what Collins values. Right or wrong that why Beran gets the min he does. I’m not saying Collins is perfect or defending or condemning him. Just that is why Beran plays. Upside to score and solid defense.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Nicholson is the biggest, most physically intimidating player on our roster.
He came to campus weighing 250 because he hit the gym hard and added 25-30 lbs of muscle.

NOBODY is comparing him favorably to either Pete Nance or Ryan Young at this point in his career.
His skill set is rebounding, altering shots and occasionally scoring in close. That is a valuable skill set for a backup center.

Pete Nance is an excellent 4. Young should start at the 5. Nicholson should back up Young. Beran should back up Nance.

 

[hdhntr1]

Kinda hoping we open the game tonight with Nicholson, Williams, Roper, Simmons and Berry as our starting 5.
Fairleigh Dickinson may not have anybody on their roster who could play for us.

Lets play our youngest guys for 10 minutes and go from there.

It will get the new guys some riskless minutes and give the starters a reason to get enthused about the game.

Williams... Oh right, he already is. Two or three of them did start but better they did not put the pressure of starting on all of them All but Nicholson had fair number of minutes

 

[hdhntr1]

You’re just trolling now, right?

What do you mean, now?

 

[hdhntr1]

There is really no downside.
Fairleigh Dickinson is bad.
We could spot them 30 points as an alternative.
Personally I'd play all the young guys.

Literally a win win.

And this is why you won't be a HC anytime soon

 

[PURPLECAT88]

Nicholson is the biggest, most physically intimidating player on our roster.
He came to campus weighing 250 because he hit the gym hard and added 25-30 lbs of muscle.

NOBODY is comparing him favorably to either Pete Nance or Ryan Young at this point in his career.
His skill set is rebounding, altering shots and occasionally scoring in close. That is a valuable skill set for a backup center.

I'll buy the altering shots part, but I see no evidence yet that rebounding is part of his skill set. Last night he was getting out-rebounded on the defensive end by guys six inches shorter than he is. He had position, but instead of boxing out he just stood there as FDU players out-hustled or out-jumped him to the ball. I did like the two dunks he had in late minutes. That was at least a sign of life and potential. I so much want you to be right about Nicholson. You've really gone out on a limb for him, and while I don't expect this to be the case, someday I hope to post on this very site. "Wow, PWB was certainly right about Nicholson. Kudos to him."

 

[hdhntr1]

Barnhizer, Nicholson, Simmons, some guy I've never seen before (Dixon???) and Williams...

they played the last 5 minutes but could have played all 40 and won easily tonight.

Our next game is against Providence and the regular starters need to be working out their kinks more than an end of the bench guy does if we are trying to be successful. Roper, Simmons, Berry and Williams got plenty of time on the floor. All are on the two deep. Only Nicholson is not and so he got his minutes at the end of the game

 

[hdhntr1]

Or, we could have our starters play in socks without shoes. Sure they’d slip around some but still win. Makes about the same amount of sense.

 

[hdhntr1]

Or, we could have our starters play in socks without shoes. Sure they’d slip around some but still win. Makes about the same amount of sense.

And probably only a couple of them would need ACL replacement

 

[hdhntr1]

Its about getting the young guys playing time. That gets them film to study. They learn, they improve.

What did we gain by playing Buie, Young or Nance more than 10 minutes tonight? Not much, if anything.

I do find it humorous that they gave Nicholson a turnover when Williams threw a pass at his ankles.

You still do not get it. The goal of these preseason games is to get the guys who are going to be our main players ready to play against more formidable opponents. They are still learning to play together and everyone got plenty of minutes. The staff seems to be trying to develop Nicholson similarly to how WIS developed their bigs over the years (projects). And that is to have them ready to be THE guy for his last couple years. They got very little time their first couple RS their first year, getting 2-5 minutes their second and being the #2 guy third year. He is right on schedule. I would suggest that the coaches, who see him every day in practice, have a much better idea of where he is at than you do

By the way. Take a look at the minutes played last night. 9 guys had at least 15 minutes (Young had 15 and the rest at least 18 with Nance having 22) Pretty good distribution. (Nicholson and Barnhizer both had 5). And the need at least those minutes to have conditioning needed.

 

[hdhntr1]

Its about getting the young guys playing time. That gets them film to study. They learn, they improve.

What did we gain by playing Buie, Young or Nance more than 10 minutes tonight? Not much, if anything.

I do find it humorous that they gave Nicholson a turnover when Williams threw a pass at his ankles.

And the guys that need that most are the guys going to be handling the load. Plenty of new guys as well as guys like Berry trying to make the step up. They need to learn to play together and get enough time for conditioning. And when you look at the minute distribution, 9 guys had at least 15 minutes (Young) with most right around 20. This included two Frosh (the third is just coming off illness so he only got 5) Williams etc. And that did not even include Audige. The goal is to get the team ready to play against more formidable opponents. And that is primary guys first before even thinking of end of bench guys

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

You still do not get it. The goal of these preseason games is to get the guys who are going to be our main players ready to play against more formidable opponents. They are still learning to play together and everyon got plenty of minutes. The staff seems to be trying to develop Nickolson similarly to how WIS developed their bigs (projects). And that is to have them ready to be THE guy for his last couple years. They got very little time their first couple RS their first year, getting 2-5 minutes their second and being the #2 guy third year. He is right on schedule. I would suggest that the coaches, who see him every day in practice, have a much better idea of where he is at than you do

Yes I understand the conventional thinking of the casual fan.
As I pointed out last year, every other coach in the Big Ten got his big freshman some minutes during Big Ten play.

Nance, Buie and Young don't get anything out of stomping a badly outclassed opponent.

 

[GatoLouco]

I'll get on the bandwagon that Nicholson should be further ahead in his development. He should have played 2-5 minutes a game last year. He should be playing 5-10 this year. As last year did not happen, he should be playing 2-5 this year. He would have much better positioning, the few possessions I've seen him play, he's the typical young big, figuring out timing, likely to commit silly fouls.

All of this could only happen with Nance at 4. Which is where he should have played last year and this year. As that's not how CC rolls, Nicholson will not see any minutes in meaningful games.

 

[rogerkim]

Like others on this board, I wish the best for Nicholson and sincerely hope that he develops into an All-Big Ten player by the end of his time at NU.

He certainly has potential, but based on what I've seen of him so far this season (in limited minutes, admittedly), he still has a ways to go. Again FDU, a team with a clear talent deficit compared to us, he still did not look smooth. His dunks were great, no question. But for his height advantage against the FDU players, there is no reason he should have easily corralled those rebounds. Even when he came down with the ball, he made the mistake of bringing it down low instead of holding it up high and utilizing his height to keep the ball from being knocked out of his hands. In my eyes, he doesn't play like he's 7 foot, more like he's 6'9".

As a contrasting example, Simmons has looked pretty darn good getting the boards, in spite of his build.

Nicholson looked better against FDU than earlier, when I thought he looked very tentative. So the confidence appears to be building. But I don't think he's quite there yet.

I do agree with you, PWB, that he deserves some more minutes, particularly in non-conf in garbage time, to build his confidence. But it is getting a little tiring to hear you beating the same drum over and over again. And I say that will all due respect to the analysis you do with lineups - I do not believe that "stats are for losers", so I like the deep dive into analytics.

 

[GatoLouco]

Like others on this board, I wish the best for Nicholson and sincerely hope that he develops into an All-Big Ten player by the end of his time at NU.

He certainly has potential, but based on what I've seen of him so far this season (in limited minutes, admittedly), he still has a ways to go. Again FDU, a team with a clear talent deficit compared to us, he still did not look smooth. His dunks were great, no question. But for his height advantage against the FDU players, there is no reason he should have easily corralled those rebounds. Even when he came down with the ball, he made the mistake of bringing it down low instead of holding it up high and utilizing his height to keep the ball from being knocked out of his hands. In my eyes, he doesn't play like he's 7 foot, more like he's 6'9".

As a contrasting example, Simmons has looked pretty darn good getting the boards, in spite of his build.

Nicholson looked better against FDU than earlier, when I thought he looked very tentative. So the confidence appears to be building. But I don't think he's quite there yet.

I do agree with you, PWB, that he deserves some more minutes, particularly in non-conf in garbage time, to build his confidence. But it is getting a little tiring to hear you beating the same drum over and over again. And I say that will all due respect to the analysis you do with lineups - I do not believe that "stats are for losers", so I like the deep dive into analytics.

I am not singling you out, just using your post to make a comment to everyone dumping on MN not being ready. Which, obviously, he isn't.

Do y'all realize that it's by seeing the court that a player actually develops? And gets to "being ready"?

 

[rogerkim]

I am not singling you out, just using your post to make a comment to everyone dumping on MN not being ready. Which, obviously, he isn't.

Do y'all realize that it's by seeing the court that a player actually develops? And gets to "being ready"?

I actually agree with you - I do think he should have been getting a few more minutes in these first few games. And against FDU, I think Collins could have and should have gone to the bench 2-3 minutes earlier - both to develop the bench players and to prevent a silly injury to one of our key players.

I'm just not sure he's ready for minutes outside of garbage time, however. I think he needs to show a little bit more than he has so far before I would trust him as a part of the regular rotation. But there was progress between his last appearance and this one, so I am hopeful that this continues throughout the non-conf so that he will be ready to contribute during meaningful time during conference play if need be. (For instance, if Young gets in foul trouble.)

 

[hdhntr1]

Yes I understand the conventional thinking of the casual fan.
As I pointed out last year, every other coach in the Big Ten got his big freshman some minutes during Big Ten play.

Nance, Buie and Young don't get anything out of stomping a badly outclassed opponent.

Nance Buie and Young need to be on the same page going into the meatier part of the season. 9 guys got at least 15 minutes. It could have been 10 had Audige been ready to play. Everyone who was ready to play got minutes. They also need the game conditioning. That is why it is conventional wisdom and it isn't just of casual fans.

The only scholarship guy healthy enough to play that did not get at least 15 minutes was Nicholson and that is because he is not ready to play at this level and it was more important to give Nance and Young their minutes. If both were getting 30 plus minutes you might have a point but not when one got 15 and the other 22

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Nance Buie and Young need to be on the same page going into the meatier part of the season. 9 guys got at least 15 minutes. It could have been 10 had Audige been ready to play. Everyone who was ready to play got minutes. They also need the game conditioning. That is why it is conventional wisdom and it isn't just of casual fans.

The only scholarship guy healthy enough to play that did not get at least 15 minutes was Nicholson and that is because he is not ready to play at this level and it was more important to give Nance and Young their minutes. If both were getting 30 plus minutes you might have a point but not when one got 15 and the other 22

when you keep saying "Nicholson is not ready to play at this level" I have to correct you.
He'd be starting on all 4 of the teams we have played this year.
No one ever said he should be starting for us.
Should he be getting valuable minutes to get him ready to come off the bench for us?
Absolutely, 100%.
Williams is not the answer. He is clearly not as good as Beran. Young and Nance need to play a lot of minute together, since they are 2 of our 3 best players.
In case you haven't noticed, we don't have any other options.

 

[willycat]

when you keep saying "Nicholson is not ready to play at this level" I have to correct you.
He'd be starting on all 4 of the teams we have played this year.
No one ever said he should be starting for us.
Should he be getting valuable minutes to get him ready to come off the bench for us?
Absolutely, 100%.
Williams is not the answer. He is clearly not as good as Beran. Young and Nance need to play a lot of minute together, since they are 2 of our 3 best players.
In case you haven't noticed, we don't have any other options.

So you are saying that he will transfer to get starters minutes somewhere else/

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

So you are saying that he will transfer to get starters minutes somewhere else/

I am concerned about that. I hope not.
Assuming he wants that NU degree, he will probably stay into next year.
Young will still be here next year, Nance will be gone (I think), but if Luke Hunger comes in as a freshman and Nicholson still isn't playing, I'd have to assume Nicholson will transfer, probably to an Ivy or a mid-major with a strong academic reputation.

It usually depends on the player and his family - whats important to them.

 

[CSCatFan1]

These Nicholson conversations are Wildcat Report gold. Will go down in board history. Already beginning to rival the Ed McCants and Jordan Ash fixations. The amount of time spent discussing the last guy on the bench (and a major project) is insane.