Nick Martinelli

ricko6543211

Junior
Nov 15, 2006
4,231
229
47
In 2 games BTT:
26.0 ppg
6.5 rpg
3 apg
2.5 steals
20-35 FG (57%), 3-7 3pt (43%), 9-11 FT (82%)
1.5 turnovers per game

2-0 wins, while getting double teamed every possession.

That’s a very solid 2nd team all conference player, right?

Great work Nick and the team these two days very fun to watch. Loving the effort and enthusiasm and performance. Purdue is a very tall task especially after 2 straight days of games. I have no doubt we will give everything we can. Let’s see if maybe we can maybe make Nick’s career last one more day.

Just love watching this team fight and compete and how they want to play for Nick and for each other. One more day.

Go Cats!
Rick
 

hdhntr1

All-Conference
Sep 5, 2006
37,658
1,271
113
In 2 games BTT:
26.0 ppg
6.5 rpg
3 apg
2.5 steals
20-35 FG (57%), 3-7 3pt (43%), 9-11 FT (82%)
1.5 turnovers per game

2-0 wins, while getting double teamed every possession.

That’s a very solid 2nd team all conference player, right?

Great work Nick and the team these two days very fun to watch. Loving the effort and enthusiasm and performance. Purdue is a very tall task especially after 2 straight days of games. I have no doubt we will give everything we can. Let’s see if maybe we can maybe make Nick’s career last one more day.

Just love watching this team fight and compete and how they want to play for Nick and for each other. One more day.

Go Cats!
Rick
Ya, right (sic) (the second team)
 

Purple Pile Driver

All-Conference
May 14, 2014
27,614
2,956
113
In 2 games BTT:
26.0 ppg
6.5 rpg
3 apg
2.5 steals
20-35 FG (57%), 3-7 3pt (43%), 9-11 FT (82%)
1.5 turnovers per game

2-0 wins, while getting double teamed every possession.

That’s a very solid 2nd team all conference player, right?

Great work Nick and the team these two days very fun to watch. Loving the effort and enthusiasm and performance. Purdue is a very tall task especially after 2 straight days of games. I have no doubt we will give everything we can. Let’s see if maybe we can maybe make Nick’s career last one more day.

Just love watching this team fight and compete and how they want to play for Nick and for each other. One more day.

Go Cats!
Rick
I got a bad feeling about this Purdue game. Hey, maybe it will work twice!
 
Sep 9, 2015
2,115
591
113
Greatest offensive player I have seen at NU. Top 3 all around player as well. His defense has improved a ton. I also don’t know that he has much room for improvement offensively, he is just that good at everything on that end.
 

JoeWildcat

Sophomore
Jul 31, 2001
2,717
129
46
In 2 games BTT:
26.0 ppg
6.5 rpg
3 apg
2.5 steals
20-35 FG (57%), 3-7 3pt (43%), 9-11 FT (82%)
1.5 turnovers per game

2-0 wins, while getting double teamed every possession.

That’s a very solid 2nd team all conference player, right?

Great work Nick and the team these two days very fun to watch. Loving the effort and enthusiasm and performance. Purdue is a very tall task especially after 2 straight days of games. I have no doubt we will give everything we can. Let’s see if maybe we can maybe make Nick’s career last one more day.

Just love watching this team fight and compete and how they want to play for Nick and for each other. One more day.

Go Cats!
Rick

In 2 games BTT:
26.0 ppg
6.5 rpg
3 apg
2.5 steals
20-35 FG (57%), 3-7 3pt (43%), 9-11 FT (82%)
1.5 turnovers per game

2-0 wins, while getting double teamed every possession.

That’s a very solid 2nd team all conference player, right?

Great work Nick and the team these two days very fun to watch. Loving the effort and enthusiasm and performance. Purdue is a very tall task especially after 2 straight days of games. I have no doubt we will give everything we can. Let’s see if maybe we can maybe make Nick’s career last one more day.

Just love watching this team fight and compete and how they want to play for Nick and for each other. One more day.

Go Cats!
Rick
What is amazing is that those numbers are not much different from his season numbers. The guy has been so consistently good. Won’t happen, but IMO he should be the conference player of the year.
 

AdamOnFirst

All-Conference
Nov 29, 2021
10,068
1,664
113
So I held my fire on this "Nick Martinelli being second team is a massive abrogation of justice" thing for awhile because I thought maybe his usage is just sky high but he isn't that efficient or maybe he is an obviously lesser contributor in rebounds or defensively than the other guys.

But after spending some time boiling the ocean with AI to compile from stats... his lack of recognition is more beyond outrageous than I'd thought. It goes deeper than him being the leader scorer, he's pretty clearly the second best player in the conference being PoY Yaxel Lendeborg. He's second in PER at 28.4, second in BPM at over 10, and second in Win Shares at 4. Nobody else other than Lendeborg, who had almost 5, is much over 3. Nick is far and away the second best player in the conference by every statistical measure AND has off the chart usage statistics. It's genuinely ********. Pryce Sandfort in particular has zero ******* business being ahead of Nick.
 

ricko6543211

Junior
Nov 15, 2006
4,231
229
47
So I held my fire on this "Nick Martinelli being second team is a massive abrogation of justice" thing for awhile because I thought maybe his usage is just sky high but he isn't that efficient or maybe he is an obviously lesser contributor in rebounds or defensively than the other guys.

But after spending some time boiling the ocean with AI to compile from stats... his lack of recognition is more beyond outrageous than I'd thought. It goes deeper than him being the leader scorer, he's pretty clearly the second best player in the conference being PoY Yaxel Lendeborg. He's second in PER at 28.4, second in BPM at over 10, and second in Win Shares at 4. Nobody else other than Lendeborg, who had almost 5, is much over 3. Nick is far and away the second best player in the conference by every statistical measure AND has off the chart usage statistics. It's genuinely ********. Pryce Sandfort in particular has zero ******* business being ahead of Nick.
So even the advanced stats agree, it's preposterous! Especially as he was leading scorer last year so it's not like they have the excuse of not being familiar with him. And those other teams had much more talent around them, they weren't dealing with double teams almost every possession all conference season. And on the efficiency point - he shot >50% in the regular season while having the highest usage rate in the conference at 31.1%.

I think maybe part of it is these writers are rating people on what their prospective NBA futures are, but that's stupid - the point of an all conference team for a given season is to identify the players that had the best production and impact on their team THIS YEAR, in college. The other part of it is what I can only imagine is basically assigning a Northwestern discount to Martinelli's production because he isn't on a top 25 team. Dumb.
 

AdamOnFirst

All-Conference
Nov 29, 2021
10,068
1,664
113
So even the advanced stats agree, it's preposterous! Especially as he was leading scorer last year so it's not like they have the excuse of not being familiar with him. And those other teams had much more talent around them, they weren't dealing with double teams almost every possession all conference season. And on the efficiency point - he shot >50% in the regular season while having the highest usage rate in the conference at 31.1%.

I think maybe part of it is these writers are rating people on what their prospective NBA futures are, but that's stupid - the point of an all conference team for a given season is to identify the players that had the best production and impact on their team THIS YEAR, in college. The other part of it is what I can only imagine is basically assigning a Northwestern discount to Martinelli's production because he isn't on a top 25 team. Dumb.
It's not even NBA pedigree, it's pure "Northwestern didn't win that many games and also they're Northwestern" bias. Pryce Sandfort is straight up only in there because Nebraska is good, he is conspicuously non-deserving.
 

olsh

Junior
Oct 6, 2001
3,569
213
63
Man, what a career. NOBODY here thought this was possible for a guy that got an offer from Elon and .... yeah.

Nobody thought this was possible after a pretty forgettable freshman season. OK, UNFORGETTABLE because the Cats finished 2nd in the B1G. But nothing Martinelli did suggested stardom.
A few probably thought something big could happen after the sophomore season. The game at Maryland. Some really nice momentum late. But surely that was 2nd or 3rd option material, a nice solid B1G player.

AND THEN ... OH. MY. LORD. The most unique star player we've ever seen. B2B B1G scoring champ. And there haven't been many. None from here. Universally admired and ... universally underrated. The ever-relentless pursuit to get better. Never left Northwestern when he could have chased a tournament or more money his senior year. Incredible loyalty. Incredible teammate. Incredible leadership.

The secret sauce - he never stopped getting better at everything he did. You could see it on the court. Willed himself into being a better shooter. Attacked the gym so that strength became a strength. I know he wished his legacy included a tournament this year. But hopefully his legacy comes in the way these freshmen and sophomores grow into stalwart B1G players in the future.

Thank you, Nick Martinelli. Northwestern has never had a player like you in its history. And may never again. Thankful to be able to witness it.
 

Arlcatsfan

Sophomore
Jun 2, 2021
1,509
187
62
Nick should be 1st team All-Big no question. If Andre Dawson won the MVP back in the day on a horrible CUBS team, Nick who was the prime target of opposing defenses to take the ball out of his hands and force the other guys to score and still led the league in scoring not to be 1st team, common that is BS.
 

macarthur31

Junior
Nov 9, 2006
1,658
244
63
Man, what a career. NOBODY here thought this was possible for a guy that got an offer from Elon and .... yeah.

Nobody thought this was possible after a pretty forgettable freshman season. OK, UNFORGETTABLE because the Cats finished 2nd in the B1G. But nothing Martinelli did suggested stardom.
A few probably thought something big could happen after the sophomore season. The game at Maryland. Some really nice momentum late. But surely that was 2nd or 3rd option material, a nice solid B1G player.

AND THEN ... OH. MY. LORD. The most unique star player we've ever seen. B2B B1G scoring champ. And there haven't been many. None from here. Universally admired and ... universally underrated. The ever-relentless pursuit to get better. Never left Northwestern when he could have chased a tournament or more money his senior year. Incredible loyalty. Incredible teammate. Incredible leadership.

The secret sauce - he never stopped getting better at everything he did. You could see it on the court. Willed himself into being a better shooter. Attacked the gym so that strength became a strength. I know he wished his legacy included a tournament this year. But hopefully his legacy comes in the way these freshmen and sophomores grow into stalwart B1G players in the future.

Thank you, Nick Martinelli. Northwestern has never had a player like you in its history. And may never again. Thankful to be able to witness it.
Perfectly captured, Osh. You still got that fastball humming.
 
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