Nick Collison knows what fans are saying about him.
“People call me, ‘Consistent or fundamentally sound,”‘ says Collison, Kansas University’s 6-foot-9, 250-pound junior forward from Iowa Falls Iowa. “I’m not real flashy. I’m not volatile like Drew.”
Volatile?
“That’s the way he is … he’s a very excitable person,” Col-lison said of bookend forward Drew Gooden. “He can get mad, then happy in a real short period of time. He’s excitable. I’m more bland.”
Consistent … bland … non-volatile … whatever, Collison has been in a word, productive, during his KU career, averaging 14.0 points and 6.7 rebounds last year after logging 10.5 points and 6.9 boards his freshman season.
“I think I did OK last year,” Collison said. “I had to shoot a better percentage. I was not above 50 percent my first year.”
Collison hit 59.7 percent of his shots a year ago compared to 49.7 percent his frosh season.
“I did a better job knowing when to score,” Collison said. “It takes a year to realize what you can do out there. I think what helped me more than anything was the experience and strength.”
He put on up to 20 pounds between his frosh and soph seasons.
“I think playing a year of basketball at college level and year of weight training helped my stamina. I didn’t feel worn out like freshman year,” Collison said. “My freshman year I gave the tired signal the first six minutes a game. Last year I played until I screwed up and coach took me out. I think I could really play the entire game. I’ve not done it yet.”
Collison bulked up so much between his first and second seasons …
“I started out a little too heavy, maybe that’s why I struggled early. My body was not used to the weight, it was a little too much. I got used to playing at that weight, and by the end of the year it helped.”
This past summer, Collison didn’t lift as much. He played for USA Basketball’s Under 22 team.
“It was great to win the gold medal for the U.S. It’s definitely a better feeling than losing. You put in all that time and effort, you want to win for your country,” he said.
One of his teammates was Duke power forward Carlos Boozer.
“He is really strong,” Col-lison said. “He does a good job getting to open spots. He had 29 against Argentina and shot all lay-ups. I never saw so many lay-ups. He obviously does something to get in position. He’s a big strong guy who finishes everything.”
Interestingly, Collison could have been a teammate of Boozer in college.
“I was down to Duke and Kansas,” Collison reflected of the recruiting process. “Duke is a heckuva school, but Kansas had the distance factor. I liked Duke for obvious reasons. It was more at Kansas I could play at a national program where my parents could still drive. They saw all my home games in high school.
“Also Duke at time had Elton Brand, Chris Burgess and all those big guys. I thought I had a better shot at playing right away at Kansas. I feel I trusted coach Williams a little more than coach K at the time because I’d known coach Williams longer.
“Coach K got me really excited. He is a heck of a motivator. He does that in recruiting, too. I think he’s kind of a psychologist as well. I knew my parents would support me no matter what but also knew they really wanted to come watch me play. They had a great time doing it in high school. I’m happy with my decision. I’ve had two good years here to start with and I think we’ll really be good this year.”
Of last year, he said: “We played real well at times. We went through a period where we struggled a little bit. Most teams do that. But 26-7 is a good year for anybody. We played well the first two games of tournament and in third game ran into a good team. We’d all like to have done better. We did play up to our ability. I think that’s all you can do.
“This year we can be right up there. There’s no guarantee we will. Duke will be very talented. The way college basketball is now, there are so many teams with talent. Each team can play at a high level. It’s the team that can prolong it and do it the most .. we’ll have a lot young guys. it may take us a while to get rolling. we do have experience to go with youth. It could be a real good year. It might take some time.”
He’ll be there as the steady one.
“It’s always good to have a quiet leader. Most of the time I can pretty much be counted on to be in the right place every night and to play hard,” he said. “When you bring consistency your teammates can count on you always showing up. being in the right place, good leader. being able to trust a guy who will always be there. what I bring to it is consistency. they’ll know i’m always going to play hard.”
With a handful of freshman on the squad, Collison hopes to set an example.
“I’ll do my best to show ’em the ropes,” he said.
