Nicholson etching his name in SBU lore

By Paul Casey Gotham

Mark Schmidt remembers it well. He had just finished his first season as head coach with St. Bonaventure, and his Bonnies, who hadn’t known a winning season in five years, limped to the finish line with just two victories in Atlantic 10 conference play and an overall record of 8-22. He introduced his recruiting class – the group to which he would stake his claim and received a tepid response especially for one player whose name created little interest.

Four years later, the Bonnies are looking for back-to-back winning seasons, and Andrew Nicholson, whose name was known to few at one time,  is now a player-of-the year candidate.

“No one knew who he was,” Schmidt recalls. “On our recruiting we brought four or five guys in.  He was this kid from Toronto.”

Nicholson  scored 12.5 per game and grabbed 6 rebounds that year to earn A-10 Rookie of the Year. The native of Mississauga, Ontario led freshmen nationally in field goal percentage (.602) and blocks (81).

“He surprised people by being the Atlantic 10 rookie of the year,” Schmidt recalled. “By the time they figured it out that, man, this kid is pretty good, the game was over.”

Bonaventure improved to 15-15 that season including six wins in the A-10. Nicholson took with him the respect of  peers and opposing coaches and the weight of responsibility.

“His sophomore year we challenged him,” Schmidt continued. “It’s like now you’ve got a target on your chest. People are going to come after you. He accepted that challenge.”

Nicholson responded by scoring more than 16 a game his sophomore campaign while corralling 7 boards. The Bonnies improved from 11th in the A-10 to 8th with a mark of 7-9 in conference play and earned the right to host a first-round game in the A-10 tournament.

The power forward’s progress continued last year as SBU finished 8-8 in conference play and 16-15overall – the school’s first winning record since 2001-02.

Nicholson led Bona with nearly 21 points a game and 7.3 rebounds. More importantly, he expanded his game beyond the foul lane and made himself a threat 15-18 fifteen feet from the basket.

The attention from opposing defenses created space and open chances for his teammates.

“I wish I was a teammate of his,” Schmidt said with a smile. “I would sit weak side. Swing the ball, it’s like playing h-o-r-s-e.”

Last season, Demitrius Conger, Michael Davenport and Matthew Wright all connected on more than 30 percent of their opportunities from beyond the three-point arc.

“He’s going to get double-teamed a lot, and in order for us to get good, those guys have to make shots.” Schmidt went on to explain the dilemma for opposing defenses. “The more those guys make shots, it’s going to be really hard (for opponents).”

The Bonnies and Nicholson, like every other team in the A-10, will be chasing pre-season favorite, Xavier.

Slowed by foul trouble, Nicholson played just 23 minutes (10 below his season average) last year against the Musketeers. Still, he scored 13 points on four-of-eight shooting from the field.

“I’m glad it’s his fourth year,” said Xavier head coach Chris Mack. “I liken him to a poor man’s Tim Duncan. He’s a match-up problem. If you stick a big, burly post player on him, he’ll take him outside. He has a great face-up game. He can put it on the floor from the perimeter. Just a soft touch facing the basket.  If you put an under-sized guy on him and say we’re going to take away that jump shot and make him go in the post, he’s really adept at going left hand or right hand. He’s developed an ability to really pass the ball out of double and triple teams which he sees every night.”

“Nicholson is a pro,” said St. Joseph’s head coach Phil Martelli. “He has the potential to have his name called.”

Martelli, the dean of A-10 coaches, has coached current N.B.A. players Jameer Nelson and Delonte West.

“He’s multi-talented,” Martelli continued. “There’s not a lot of guys who can be All-League and All-Defensive.  If you don’t decide right now that you’re going to double-team him and double-team him in a variety of ways, you’re just asking him to hang 35 on you.”

For Nicholson and the Bonnies, the present is November 11th when the Big Red of Cornell come to the Reilly Center for the season opener. A 7 p.m. tipoff is scheduled.

Nicholson’s future consists of choices. The Physics major, whose team has changed practice times around his lab schedule, will graduate in the spring.

His future on the hardwood?

“Part of my job is to maximize our guys’ abilities,” Schmidt added. “If he’s going to play at the next level, he’s not going to play with his back to the basket. He’s going to play facing the basket.”

Does that mean the power forward will spend more time outside the arc? Nicholson took 23 shots from behind the arc last year.

Not one for many words.  He smiles when his coach chides him about his shooting percentage from long range:  “8 for 23 – what is that 26 percent? He may want to take a hundred threes this year.”

Earlier this month, Nicholson was nominated to the Pre-Season Wooden Award Watch List for the top player in men’s basketball.

The Bonnies play North Carolina State at Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena on December 20th.