It’s his dream team

Ben Nickol is past the stage where he has to pinch himself to believe he’s on the Notre Dame men’s basketball team, but Fighting Irish home games present a true challenge to Nickol’s game face.

“It’s a sea of green in the crowd,” Nickol said during a telephone interview. “They play the fight song when you run out of the tunnel and that’s a great experience. I’m still trying to learn not to smile, but I can’t help it.”

It’s a well-earned grin. Nickol, who grew up in Coeur d’Alene and played basketball and golf at Gonzaga Prep, is a junior at Notre Dame. He picked the school for academic reasons, not to mention that his older brother, Joe, was already on the South Bend campus.

Nickol started playing in pickup basketball games and intramurals during his freshman year. Before he knew it, he was playing six days a week and crossing paths with Notre Dame players.

He tried out for the team as a freshman, fully knowing the odds were longer than long, and didn’t make it.

“I thought it was cool because we got to play on the floor in the arena,” Nickol said.

Nickol was hurt as a sophomore, but last summer he sent the coaches some information and he was invited to attend fall workouts with Notre Dame players. He also teamed with Joe to play in Bookstore Basketball, an event billed as the world’s largest 5-on-5 outdoor tournament that often serves as another testing ground for prospective walk-ons.

Nickol shined at the fall workouts, which are off limits to the coaching staff. He was then invited to a private workout with the coaches.

“During the fall games I wasn’t nervous at all,” Nickol said, “but when I got to the private workout … my first jumper nearly hit the shot clock, but I settled down from there.”

That night, he got a phone call asking him to attend a weight-lifting session with the team the next morning. After the weight-lifting and a brief team meeting, head coach Mike Brey relayed the good news.

“He told the team and all the guys came up and gave us (three walk-ons) high-fives,” Nickol said. “I called my parents and woke them up at 5 in the morning.”

It represented a fairly meteoric rise for Nickol, who scored just two points as a junior at Gonzaga Prep. He started to emerge as a senior, averaging 11.4 points and roughly eight rebounds.

“My freshman year I didn’t make the A team, which is the best 15 in the freshman class. My sophomore year I didn’t make JV. I was on the sophomore team,” he said. “I started playing center as a senior. I’d been a 6-foot-5 wing most of the time.”

His game continued to blossom at Notre Dame.

“I don’t think a whole lot of people knew what he was capable of and I think he really improved after high school,” said Joe, who contemplated trying out when he arrived in South Bend before learning Brey didn’t take walk-ons at that time. “I think people we knew are pretty surprised with what’s happened after high school.”

Nickol recalled a conversation with an N.D. assistant coach during his freshman year tryout.

“I was wearing some Gonzaga Prep stuff and he was asking me about my high school career and if I played there,” Nickol recalled. “And he started talking to me about (Spokane prep stars Sean) Mallon and (Adam) Morrison. I thought it was funny I went to school 2,000 miles away and I was still in their shadow.”

Nickol’s playing time has been scarce, even more so with the Fighting Irish in the thick of the Big East schedule. He’s played 7 minutes in six appearances. His personal highlight is scoring against Army in a pre-Christmas game at the Joyce Center.

“There weren’t a lot of students there (because of the holiday break), but my brother was there so it was definitely worth it,” he said. “We knocked off Boston College (last week) when they were unbeaten.”

Another personal highlight was seeing his nameplate in the locker room and ‘NICKOL’ on the back of his uniform. His mom, Mary, records every game on TV, pauses the picture on the best face shots of her son on the bench and sends them by e-mail.

“She has a selection process she goes through,” Nickol said, laughing. “She only sends the best ones.”

During practice, Nickol often imitates a player on the opposing team to help the Fighting Irish prepare.

“The guys are pretty fond of calling me by that player’s name even after the game, especially if the guy is ugly,” Nickol said.

Notre Dame is 16-8, 8-6 in the Big East and sits on the proverbial NCAA Tournament bubble.

“Hopefully they can take the next step and make the tournament,” said Joe, a 3.85 architecture student who will graduate in May. “It’s fun to see him out there and hearing all the stories of him hanging out with the guys and his general experience. There’s nothing but admiration for him from my standpoint. I can’t really put it into words.”

Nickol, an English major, works with words, so it’s easy for him to describe his experience in the appropriate terms. He’s soaking up every memorable moment.

“After the season, I’ll see how I feel and see what the coaches say, but I’d like to keep playing,” Nickol said, “especially if I’m having as much fun as I am right now.”