By Taylor Nigrelli
Sports Editor
Andrew Nicholson graduated from St. Bonaventure in May 2012. Based on how often he’s mentioned on campus, you’d have to forgive someone for not realizing he had ever left.
While taking a stroll around campus, one might see a few people sporting brown number 44 shirts and a few more Orlando Magic jerseys than would be expected for an Upstate New York campus. You might hear a discussion between a few St. Bonaventure students, ripping Orlando Magic Head Coach Jacque Vaughn for not giving Nicholson more playing time.
But beyond casual conversation and sports apparel, Nicholson’s impact is still felt all around campus.
After the tournament ended in 2012, some theorized that the Nicholson-led St. Bonaventure success would create a better chance at luring quality high school prospects to St. Bonaventure.
While the last three recruiting classes have undeniably been better than the three before Nicholson’s arrival, it’s difficult to determine what impact he had on the process.
Sure, the Bonnies don’t go to the NCAA Tournament in 2012 without him, but how important was that tournament bid to recruiting the likes of Dion Wright, Jalen Adams, Denzell Gregg and Jordan Tyson?
It seems safe to assume Nicholson’s success played a role in wooing such talent. But no assumptions have to be made in one case.
The Bonnies leading scorer and offensive catalyst, senior guard Matthew Wright, only agreed to attend St. Bonaventure due to Nicholson’s persuasion.
“He’s a huge influence,” Wright said of Nicholson. “He’s the one who basically told me to come here.”
But Nicholson didn’t mislead Wright with false promises that he too could make a major impact from the first few games of his freshman year. He didn’t promise Wright attention from NBA scouts that Nicholson was receiving at the time. He didn’t try to sell him on St. Bonaventure being a glamorous campus in an exciting metropolitan area.
Nicholson told Wright he would get a chance. He explained to him the team that Mark Schmidt’s staff was putting together was full of guys like Wright. Guys major schools overlooked in the recruiting process. Guys that were hungry to prove their worth as college basketball players.
Perhaps this was Nicholson’s greatest trait – an acute understanding of his surroundings on and off the court. Because he couldn’t have been more spot-on about the program that Schmidt and Co. were building.
A quick look at this season’s minutes’ leaders shows the coaching staff had to look far and wide to find overlooked players.
Senior guard Charlon Kloof hails from Paramaribo, Suriname. Senior forward Marquise Simmons was a lightly-recruited Washington D.C. product. Schmidt found junior guard Andell Cumberbatch at a community college in Kansas. Sophomore forward Dion Wright and junior guard Jordan Gathers grew up in California.
Schmidt had to look all over the country and world to find talented players everyone else seemed to be overlooking. And that’s where Nicholson came in.
He knew that Wright would succeed at St. Bonaventure as an overlooked prospect because he once did the same. Nicholson didn’t start playing basketball until well into high school.
He injured his ankle in his senior year and missed a litany of games during the time of year when many major recruits are committing to American colleges. Due to a combination of his injury and his relative inexperience, the Mississauga, Canada native was not heavily recruited by American colleges.
Nicholson wasn’t just a very talented basketball player who happened to attend St. Bonaventure. He was just as overlooked and underappreciated as any recruit that ends up with the St. Bonaventure basketball program.
So, Nicholson’s place in campus lore may be as some human-alien hybrid that could seemingly score at will and grab as many rebounds as entire teams. But it shouldn’t be.
Nicholson should be viewed as the one who established, or, at the very least, majorly impacted St. Bonaventure’s identity as a destination for passed over and neglected basketball players.
Taylor Nigrelli is the sports editor of The Bona Venture. His email is nigreltn11@bonaventure.edu.
