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Coach Chris Collins received some good news on Sunday night when Matt Nicholson announced his commitment to Northwestern via his Twitter. Nicholson is the lone commit to the Wildcats for the 2020 recruiting cycle.
Thank you to all of my family, coaches, teamates, mentors and supporters who have helped me on my journey. Excited to start my next chapter at Northwestern University! Go Cats! pic.twitter.com/LAhsBi8pbB
— Matthew Nicholson (@mtnicholso20) September 22, 2019
Nicholson is currently at Clarkston High School in Clarkston, MI and is listed at 6-foot-10 and 215 lbs per 247Sports’. He is ranked as the 202nd-best prospect in the country for the class of 2020 according to 247Sports Composite rankings. Northwestern was his only offer from the Big Ten, however, Nicholson also had offers from Creighton, Ball State, Toledo, and Western Michigan.
When Nicholson arrives in Evanston after his upcoming senior year, he will join a talented, but inexperienced frontcourt. The Wildcats’ two centers on the roster heading into the 2019-20 season, Ryan Young and Jared Jones, have combined for zero career minutes played. Young redshirted last year, sitting behind Dererk Pardon and Barrett Benson who have since moved on from the program. Meanwhile, Jones is entering his first year on campus after playing high school basketball in Georgia.
While Nicholson is the only current commit for Northwestern, highly-rated prospect Joe Bamisile previously flipped his commitment from the Wildcats to Virginia Tech earlier this summer. Chris Collins will look to continue his work on the recruiting trail in the coming months as the Wildcats still have multiple scholarship slots open. It will be interesting to see how Collins decides to fill those slots. He has shown the propensity to utilize the transfer market with three players currently on the roster who started their college career elsewhere.