This 'little' brother more than holds his own
One of five basketball-playing siblings, North Park sophomore Lance Nelson has taken giant strides in forging his own identity
The driveway would not suffice. Not for Mark and Kim Nelson. They were a basketball family. Mark had played the game. So had his two brothers. And Mark and Kim, a three-sport star in high school (gymnastics, softball, and diving) would ultimately have five boys of their own, and they all played basketball, too.
So when it came time to build their house in Cottage Grove, Wis., outside of Madison, they were in agreement on what they needed.
A concrete slab in the backyard, the size of a basketball half-court, a stanchion with a basketball hoop looming over all.
“It was super awesome,’’ Mark Nelson, their oldest son, said by phone this week. “There were a lot of heated battles back there and we actually got to put a sport court on top, so it was a pretty dope setup.’’
This is where you have to begin if you want to understand how Lance Nelson, North Park University’s undersized (6-foot-1) sophomore guard, leads the Vikings in rebounds entering Saturday’s game against Wheaton College. Nelson pulled a game-high 10 rebounds in Wednesday’s 84-82 overtime loss to Carthage, even though he was ill that night, according to Coach Sean Smith, and has 19 offensive rebounds this season, eight more than any other teammate.
Sophomore guard Lance Nelson, who grew up in a family of five basketball-playing brothers, has claimed a spot in North Park’s starting lineup with his fearless rebounding.
Nelson is No. 4 in the family pecking order, six years and change younger than oldest brother Mark, who is 6-foot-4 and was an All-Stater at Monona Grove before playing at Wisconsin-Stevens Point. “He was always the top dog on his teams,’’ Lance said. “He really made me want to try and get to the next level.’’
Luke (6-foot-5), five years older, played at the Milwaukee School of Engineering and Max, three years older, came next, followed by Lance. The baby in the family is A.J., four years younger than Lance and now a junior at Monona Grove.
“I feel like it built my character,’’ Lance said, “being one of the youngest, like knowing that my older brothers are always going to be bigger and better than me. So they’re always beating up on me, so today, my resume on how I play basketball, is working for everything I can get.
“Growing up, I was one of the smaller guys on the court. Always. So doing the little things is the most important thing for you to be able to play and like, get minutes. So I feel like throughout my whole life, I’ve tried to do the little things and that helped me to play when I was younger and even today in college.’’
Dan Zweifel has been coaching at Monona Grove for 28 years. He coached all five Nelsons. If he had to put them all on the court at the same time, here is how he would line them up.
“Mark would be the shooter,’’ he said. “Luke, he’d be the defensive specialist. Max would be the 3-point specialist, Lance woud be the point guard, and A.J. would play inside.’’
The bloodlines did not end with the immediate family. There were cousins who were accomplished players as well and played in college, including Taylor, who finished high school as the No. 2 all-time scorer on the Monona Grove girls’ team. Her teams won three straight conference championships, and she went on to become a third-team junior-college All-American before completing her collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Every year around the 4th of July, three families’ worth of cousins would gather at the family cabin near Hayward, in far northern Wisconsin, and would stage “The Nelson Family Olympics.” Eleven cousins in all, all intensely competitive, wearing each other out in a best-of-seven series. “There were injuries, a lot of ‘em,’’ Lance said. “Cement court. Lots of scrapes.’’
“It’s funny,’’ Mark Jr. said, “in high school Lance was not a big rebounder at all. He’s made a big jump this year, and we’re all really proud of him for it. I think it has a lot to do with the [family] Olympics. Lance was always one of the smallest kids out there, and I think that’s where a lot of his savvy comes from, is being able to get into those little spots and make plays, because he couldn’t do that unless he was in the right spot growing up.’’
Lance Nelson’s own basketball dreams were temporarily hijacked by Covid. His senior season at Monona Grove was limited to 11 games; recruiting was nonexistent. Nelson, who also played tennis in high school, like his dad, enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Basketball and tennis were in his rear-view mirror, except for intramurals. His parents were both math teachers; Lance was going to focus solely on academics. But then came a dawning.
“In the springtime, I was like trying to find my identity and what I wanted to do with my life,’’ he said. “And I realized I missed basketball. I wanted to play again.’’
Lance had stayed in shape by lifting and working out, but in May he resumed training for basketball again. He posted videos on recruiting sites, hoping to attraction attention. North Park’s Smith, who had known of Lance while coaching at Wisconsin Lutheran but hadn’t recruited him, noticed.
“He reached out, I visited campus here in May of that year, really liked it, really liked the coaches, really liked Coach Ed (associate coach Edwind McGhee). I just thought it was a good fit. I was glad to get the opportunity.’’
Nelson averaged nearly 11 minutes a game last season off the bench, shooting 54.2 percent from the floor and 47.6 percent from three-point range (10 for 21). There also was an extended stretch during the season in which Nelson fell out of Smith’s regular rotation, snd he was dealing with an ongoing tendinitis issue in his knee. But this season Smith inserted Nelson into the starting lineup in the team’s eighth game of the season, against Illinois Wesleyan, and Nelson knocked down four treys in six attempts, grabbed five rebounds and did not commit a turnover in 21 minutes.
He has remained a starter since, playing a career-high 33 minutes in the OT loss to Carthage.
“Lance just does all the little things we’re looking for,’’ Smith said. “Offensive rebounds, guards, hits shots.
“He’s our best offensive rebounder, and it’s not even close right now. He just goes with reckless abandon to the boards, which is what you need to be a great rebounder. He doesn’t care how big you are, he’s going to go in there, and he’s gonna fight you.’’
Over the holidays, when North Park was playing in a tournament in Gallatin, Tenn., outside of Nashville, Lance’s parents and all four brothers showed up in support.
Big brother Mark believes the year away from basketball wound up being a positive for Lance. His younger brother, he said, has grown up so much.
“He is a completely different person than he was one year ago. He’s much more personable. You can tell he’s met some adversity over the last year, and a lot of times, as a college athlete, I believe that’s where most of your growth comes from.
“With him fighting for playing time last year, and then also kind of putting his neck out there and going into a new experience at a school where he leaves home and doesn’t know a lot of people, I think it’s kind of forced him to grow on his own. He’s more social, he’s more personable, he’s easier to talk to and more outgoing now. It’s awesome as an older brother to see his growth.’’