A couple years ago when Nik was a freshman, I came up with the nickname "Drunken Master" for him, referring to an old Chinese fighting style where your opponent appears to be stumbling, off-balance and out of control to lure you into a false sense of security, then that dude who is actually in complete control gives you a swift roundhouse to the face.
That was Nik's style when he had the ball; incredibly reckless, yet completely in control. There were some drives he had against UW in 2007 that made us think we had something incredibly special for the next two years....
So then his leg falls off, yadda yadda, you know the rest of the story...now he's back and something seems a bit "off" offensively. I don't think he's lost a step from his injury, as he's able to keep up on the defensive end as well as anyone in the conference, and we've seen flashes of brilliance this season (the Stanford game comes to mind: Nik had two of the prettiest baseline deke's I've seen this year, leaving his defender's shoes around the 3-point line. The problem was a Cardinal defender would position himself under the hoop, not allowing Nik to land and he was tacked with two of the most egregious charge calls I've ever seen...and the fact that they called it twice speaks volumes. Nik picks up two quick fouls, goes to the bench, and we don't see that move again for the rest of the game.) Are teams keen on his deceptive game now, and they now just give him enough rope to hang himself? Will he be able to adjust?
The genesis of this rant came from watching the USC game from the rafters... Coug Nation is fed up with Nik; and I'm still not sure why. He's still one of the best match up-defenders on the team, if not the best (the job he did on Josh Shipp in the 2nd half of the UCLA game was nothing short of masterful, and his work on Kuksiks on Thursday night was completely overshadowed by Casto's big night....which might bring me to my next point).
Anyway, at the USC game, Nik checks in for the first time since putting up solid minutes against the Bruins and plays pretty quietly for about 3-4 minutes, then commits a turnover. Boo-birds. At home. I don't really mind it when people boo, nor do I care when people get on players on message boards, etc., as long as it's warranted. Nik committed one turnover and got booed. Meanwhile, Casto was absolutely used by Dragovich on Thursday and used even harder by Gibson Saturday and leaves to standing ovations both times.
I guess that wrapping up my rant will just say this: cut Nik some fucking slack. He'll figure it out. My original thoughts on this were why Coug Nation was so down on Koprivica, yet had turned Casto into a folk hero, when in essence they were the same player: both are sensational situational defenders (and can get torched in other situations), both are turnover prone, yet can show a flash of offensive brilliance, and both can make you gasp at least once a game (both good and bad).
Then it dawned on me: Casto is the 2009 incarnation of Nik: the freshman phenom to come from out of nowhere that we overlook their glaring weaknesses and simply embrace everything that is awesome about them. So now I have to come up with a fighting style for D'Angelo now.
PS: Again, cut Nik some fucking slack!
