Nicholson mentioned on ESPN.com blog draft buzz

[njbona02]

Stock Watch: As ACC play starts, Alabi on the rise

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 | Print Entry


Posted by Chad Ford

NBA scouts are getting their last looks at prospects before conference season begins. This week a few familiar names are mingled with a handful of sleepers in our latest NBA Stock Watch.



STOCK: UP

Andrew Nicholson, PF, St. Bonaventure


Nicholson has been flying under the radar his whole career. He got a late start playing basketball, a foot injury kept him from being a top college recruit and despite winning freshman of the year honors in the Atlantic 10 last season, he didn't really start generating draft buzz until recently.



Nicholson had his coming out party in a big game versus Syracuse on Saturday. The Bonnie's didn't win the game, but Nicholson was huge, scoring 18 points and going 9-for-10 from the field -- before he was ejected for hitting Syracuse guard Andy Rautins in the groin.



Nicholson has drawn comparisons to another former A-10 big man, David West. Nicholson is a bouncy big who loves to attack the basket. He needs to get stronger, but scouts love the tenacity he plays with -- even if he does go a little bit overboard at times.



Nicholson cracked our Top 60 for the first time this week and could end up being a first round pick -- especially if he continues to develop that face-up game.

[LumsdnA10Academc98]

[The Bandwagon's collective panties in a bunch as the "He's leaving early!" cries start in 4, 3, 2 ... ]

[ka]

[The Bandwagon's collective panties] is a scary thought.

[pete]

It seems to me that this draft projection has AN dominating the A10 this season. I would like to see that and even if I did, I think at best he is a junior year early add

[lazer]

A) (And an overwhelming fact) He first came to Bonaventure to pursue his science career - chemistry initially and now physics I believe - so for him to leave early, even after his junior year, I don't think would ever happen.

B) He needs to put another 20-30 pounds of muscle on first. He added about 15-20 over last summer, and he has to at least duplicate that this coming summer. Watching him in person for the 6 or 7 games I've seen this year, he was clearly bigger and better than anyone else on the court, save for Syracuse. That was a real eye opener when he stood side-by-side with the likes of Jackson and Onuanku as to how much bigger he still needs to get because they cast a pretty big shadow. However, with that being said, for Andrew to go 9-for-10 and be the game's leading scorer despite being ejected tells you he clearly has the ability.

C) I completely agree with pete that I think we'll really find out how special this kid can be starting in about 10 days.

[njbona02]

This isn't a raft projection at all. It just states that scouts are beginning to notice and liked what they saw against Syracuse. As he continues to get better he will garner more attention. Thats all. Its nice to see one of our players getting national recognition.

[magnusbu]

The best part about this is what it can do for our recruiting. Next year we may start to see some NBA scouts at our games which will generate interest for potential high rated recruits.