Media types all over the country have worked hard to uncover little-known facts about Kansas University senior All-America candidate Nick Collison.
Virtually everybody has failed miserably.
“I really don’t do a whole lot,” says the 6-foot-9, 255-pounder from Iowa Falls, Iowa. “Really the only thing I do is work hard on the court. Other than that, I don’t like to do anything.”
“He’s just lazy. He just lays around,” quipped fellow senior and fellow Iowa native Kirk Hinrich.
About the wildest things probing minds have uncovered about Collison is he collects DVDs he has more than 100 and sometimes orders stuff from late-night TV infomercials.
Last year, Sports Illustrated revealed the big guy ordered a pair of Sonic Ears devices supposed to allow eavesdropping off unsuspecting friends up to 200 yards away off the television.
“They didn’t work,” Collison said. “That’s really all I ordered. It’s not like I sit around all day ordering stuff off TV.”
So what DOES he do?
“I guess I watch a lot of movies,” he said with a smile. “I’m not very good at anything except basketball and school. Ping pong I’m terrible, golf terrible, tennis terrible, video games horrible. It’s kind of bad, I guess. Right now I watch a lot of TV.”
He watches a lot of basketball and in fact is an expert on both players in the college and pro game.
Collison may not be as colorful off the court as, say, Drew Gooden who was a fisherman, piano player and mixer of musical beats, but he’s just as effective on the court.
Collison averaged 15.6 points and 8.3 boards last year, compared to Gooden’s 19.8 points and 11.4 boards for 33-4 Kansas.
This year, the numbers figure to go up with Collison becoming KU’s main inside threat.
“I will have to play a lot more minutes,” said Collison, who averaged 22.8 minutes a game last season. “I think I have a chance to shine and put up some numbers.
“We’re not going to be as deep. I think individually I’ll have to be counted on to score more, play much more aggressive than I have since I’ve been here. I just have to develop a mindset I have to get 20 shots a game which is something I’ve never done.
“Individually, it’ll be an opportunity for me to improve my game and show people some of the things I can do I haven’t shown yet. There is no way to tell what my numbers will be,” he continued. “I will have to do a better job of staying out of foul trouble, staying on the court.”
Collison thinks he will be allowed to roam the outside a bit as well as bang inside.
“With Wayne (Simien) and Jeff Graves, over 250 pounds each, I’ll be more able to go outside. It’s something different people will see out of me,” Collison said.
For sure, he sees himself playing outside in the future … in the NBA.
“I think that’s something I can do, learn to play on the perimeter,” he said. “I think a 4 (power forward) with more perimeter skills is something I’ll be. I may even develop into a small forward type like Marcus Fizer, Anthony Mason, Jamal Mashburn, guys like that who are not that quick, but can post up and cause matchup problems.”
Collison isn’t shy about talking about the NBA any more.
He learned last offseason he’d likely have been taken late in the first round had he decided to leave KU early. And over the summer, he worked two weeks as a practice player/alternate on the United States world championship basketball team.
He more than held his own during practice sessions.
“I didn’t feel out of place at all,” Collison said. “I’ve got a ways to go before I can play at that level, just in terms of strength. They are stronger than me, but it wasn’t where I ever felt I was overmatched.
“All it did was give me the confidence that some day I could play at that level. And also those are the best guys in the NBA which also gave me confidence when I can do some things against those guys.”
Collison played four minutes in one exhibition game against China. He was credited with two missed shots in two tries both blocks by 7-foot-5 Yao Ming.
“On one shot the ball slipped out of my hands. They swatted it away. They gave Yao Ming a block for it. I took him outside, drove him and as I was going up I lost control of the ball. He hit it away, they called it a block. He’s definitely going to be good.”
Collison insists he won’t be thinking about what might have been during his final college season.
He is comfortable with his decision to stay at KU.
“It’s tough as a 21-year-old man to turn down guaranteed millionaire,” he said, “doing something you like to do, but also you look at the opportunity will probably be there in the future and it’ll probably be a better one, hopefully.
“I’m counting on having a better year this year than last. I don’t think there’s any doubt in my mind I’ll have a better year. The only real issue then is getting injured. My parents told me you never have done anything in your life based on whether you are gonna get injured. You can’t take anything like that into account. You have to take risks sometimes.
“I felt like business-wise I’d be in a better situation next year. The biggest part of it is I didn’t want to give up my senior year of school. I’m really going to have a good time this year.”
Collison believes the Jayhawks will be great even without Gooden.
“We will be real tough. I think we have a chance to be very good again,” he said. “We have to replace Drew who is obviously one of the top five players in the country. He’s an All American. Also, Jeff Boschee who won three to four games for us.
“He did it all year for us, making shots. It’ll be hard to replace him, but we’ve got young guys like Keith Langford, Wayne Simien who will step in and play a lot of minutes. Then it’ll give them a chance to really shine and blossom.”
“They will have a chance to show the players they can be. We have so much potential. We’ll be a little different because we’ll probably have to run even faster than we did last year. We’re not gonna be as deep which could hurt us. Other than that, we’ll put five guys on the court who can really run and score.”
Assistant sports editor Gary Bedore can be reached at 832-7186.
