Whenever Mike Hart got the chance this season, he escaped the rigors of coaching high school prep basketball in Rhode Island by tuning his satellite dish to a Syracuse men’s basketball game. He’d watch for St. Andrew’s alum, Demetris Nichols – the best kid he’s ever worked with, he says – to see how many points the lanky swingman would score.

But more often than not this year, Hart didn’t like the images that flashed onscreen. There Nichols would be, barely making it into the game before winding up back on the bench. It wasn’t Nichols’ struggles that caused Hart to frown, though. It was the way Nichols carried himself after being replaced in the starting lineup. It was the way he sulked while his teammates fought for playing time. This wasn’t the Demetris Nichols Hart knew.

Nichols started the first eight games of the 2004-2005 season, but was replaced in the lineup by classmate Louie McCroskey after sustaining a back injury. Once Nichols returned, he never regained his spot in the lineup, and more importantly, he never regained his confidence.

The conversations Hart and Nichols had over the phone were always the same, Hart says. Nichols would be quiet, Hart would do most of the talking.

Hey

Hey

Why aren’t you playing, Demetris?

I don’t know.

You’re not making shots, that’s why. When you were starting, Louie was up cheering you on. If I’m coach, I’m not gonna put you back in. You should be excited you’re even there.

Hart said Nichols never complained – he understood his role on the team and he knew how SU head coach Jim Boeheim worked. Hart had explained Boeheim’s coaching philosophy time and time again when Nichols was a senior at St. Andrew’s, a boarding school in Barrington, R.I. He even told Nichols to visit Providence before he ever made a trip to Syracuse.

‘At SU, if you don’t make shots, you don’t play,’ Hart would say. ‘And it will be very tough to steal minutes from another player.’

‘Those are what we call emergency minutes,’ said SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins. ‘You gotta be able to come out there and perform. That’s the toughest thing in the world to do.’

Unfortunately for Nichols, Syracuse isn’t like St. Andrew’s and Boeheim couldn’t let him play through his struggles like Hart did. Though Nichols hates the label, he became a role player – a 3-point specialist with a cold hand.

Nichols earned a starting role as a freshman when Billy Edelin left the lineup in January of 2004. He started the last 15 games that season, continuing into his sophomore campaign. In the Orange’s second game of the 2004-2005 season, he played all 40 minutes against Princeton, scoring a season-high 14 points. But shortly thereafter, Nichols season took a sharp turn.

He said he woke up one day in early November 2004 with pain in a disc in his lower back. It became so bad he couldn’t even run.

Nichols received treatment three times a day, including a half-dozen shots. He never told the coaches how bad the pain was in fear of losing playing time. This behavior was typical of Nichols, Hopkins said. He never cared about himself as long as he could help the team.

‘He just wanted to get out there and get a chance to get a team win,’ Hopkins said. ‘This is a team sport and we’re trying to make it a team thing.’

After a 14-point loss to Oklahoma State on Dec. 7, a game in which Nichols scored zero points, he told Boeheim about his back.

‘It took hold of me and I couldn’t play anymore,’ Nichols said. ‘I told coach and he said ‘well, tell me when you’re ready.”

Nichols missed three games and McCroskey replaced him in the starting lineup. When he returned, he played sparingly. Orange fans became accustomed to his erratic play, like his three-point, three-turnover performance against Georgetown on Jan. 18 in only four minutes.

It was one of SU’s most exciting games – an overtime win, igniting an old rivalry – but Nichols was invisible. He entered the game at 11:15 of the first half, swished a 3 in his first shot attempt, but turned the ball over on SU’s next possession on an ill-advised drive to the hole. It earned him an earful from Boeheim and a seat on the bench for the rest of the game.

Instead of becoming jealous of McCroskey or his roommate, Terrence Roberts, who later took the starting spot, Nichols grew discouraged. As his playing time decreased, his confidence plummeted.

‘I don’t know what happened, honestly,’ Nichols said. ‘But I couldn’t cry about it. Everything happens for a reason.’

It was at times like these Hart would reminisce about Nichols’ days at St. Andrew’s. Like when Nichols and his roommate, Abdi Lidonde, now at Old Dominion, led the Saints to the New England Prep School title game in their senior year.

Things were simple then. Nichols started each day the same as the other 200 kids at St. Andrew’s. They congregated in the campus chapel each morning at 8, then attended classes until 2:50 p.m. After a two-hour study hall session, Nichols and Lidonde played basketball or lifted weights. After dinner, they returned to the gym by 9 p.m. to play one-on-one.

Lidonde said they always planned to play two or three games, but one of them would lose and demand another game and then another. They went on like this for hours at a time, sometimes well past midnight.

‘His day was structured for 22 out of 24 hours,’ Hart said. ‘I think sometimes people take it for granted that these kids are ready for college if they’ve gone to prep school.’

Nichols and Lidonde became best friends, practically inseparable on and off the court. At their last home game at St. Andrew’s, they had their jerseys retired – something that happened only once before. Initially favoring PC, Hart changed his mind after he watched St. Andrew’s alum and Connecticut guard, Tony Robertson, play at the Carrier Dome. And after Nichols met Hopkins, he wanted nothing more than to be an Orange.

Lidonde said their excitement for college mellowed when they finally realized they were leaving Barrington, a secluded campus near Providence. Hart was pleased with Boeheim and the athletic staff at Syracuse and he knew Nichols could succeed at the college level.

In place of Lidonde, Nichols spent hours after practice each week working with Hopkins and McCroskey. Hopkins said Nichols’ work ethic reminded him of himself as an undergrad at SU.

‘They wanna work,’ Hopkins said of Nichols and McCroskey. ‘It’s the guys that really want to work that I like to help. I don’t make anybody do anything.

‘When one was going through a tough time, they helped each other out.’

So when McCroskey entered the starting lineup and everyone started asking about Nichols, he didn’t understand it.

‘I don’t know why you all try to make a story out of that,’ Nichols said. ‘It’s not like that. If I’m hurting, somebody has to take my spot. I wasn’t mad or anything.’

Hart said assistant coaches at other colleges began calling him, asking about Nichols. They wanted to know why he wasn’t playing and insisted if he transferred he would get playing time.

Instead of entertaining offers, Hart grew angry, saying Nichols was happy at SU because he was on track to graduate. He never told Nichols about the calls and he said he wouldn’t have if Nichols asked.

At ODU, Lidonde was experiencing a similar restlessness during a redshirt season. He would talk to Nichols on the phone each week, too.

‘He never said anything (about transferring),’ Lidonde said. ‘I asked him that too. A lot of people think he’s miserable because he’s not playing, but he likes it there. He’s a strong person. Because of where he grew up, he was mentally tough. To him, this was nothing.’

When the NCAA Tournament rolled around, Syracuse and ODU both played in Worcester in the first round. Lidonde hoped to spend some time with his old roommate, but the Monarchs played Michigan State right after SU’s loss to Vermont and there was never an opportunity.

Hopkins said the Vermont game showed a glimpse of the confidence Nichols had as a freshman. He made 2 of 3 3-pointers and grabbed five rebounds while the rest of the Orange struggled. This is the Nichols, Hopkins says, that will lead the Orange next year as a junior.

‘So much of his game is confidence,’ Hopkins said. ‘His experiences this year are going to make him a stronger person.’

As Nichols sat with a reporter at Manley Field House recently, he intermittently peaked over his shoulder at his teammates practicing on the court. He’s been working in the weight room several times each week and Hopkins said Nichols will be a completely different player next year.

‘He’s improved so much already,’ Hopkins said. ‘He’s got that super go-go-gadget length. People know that he plays hard and with a passion. I think they appreciate what he’s doing.’

Published on April 28, 2005 at 12:00 pm