No one plays with a chip on their shoulder quite like Nick Boyd. He uses any and all disrespect as motivation and a desire to prove the doubters wrong. In the post-game press conference after Wisconsin beat Iowa and Boyd nearly posted a triple-double, he was offended by a well-meaning question. When a reporter asked him if he takes it personally playing against the best point guards in the Big Ten and "holding his own."
He latched onto that phrase, "holding his own," and was baffled. He said, "What do you mean by 'holding my own'?" And couldn't believe that was the phrase choice. In his mind, he's better than them and beating them all. Now. This week, Mike DeCourcy and Raphael Davis released their top-3 point guards in the Big Ten, and Boyd wasn't on either list.
The chip just gets larger. Way larger. Hopefully, Nick Boyd saw the lists and has them pinned up by his locker. He plays with a chip, and he's good because of it; he's going to go nuclear this week.
— Jordan Stocks (@StockTalks21) February 24, 2026
Raphael Davis and Mike DeCourcy didn't include Nick Boyd in their top PG rankings for the Big Ten
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As you can see above, Davis didn't even stick to three players like he's supposed to. He went with Keaton Wagler, Jeremy Fears Jr., Braden Smith, and Bruce Thornton. DeCourcy chose Braden Smith, Keaton Wagler, and Bennett Stirtz.
This should offend Boyd, and Wisconsin fans did jump to his defense, but maybe we actually want Boyd offended. Let him keep grinding and proving more doubters wrong. But maybe you are curious, why should Boyd be included on this list?
In PPG, Nick Boyd and Bennett Stirtz are the two highest point guards at 20.6. However, he's doing it on way fewer minutes a game than Stirtz. Stirtz is averaging almost 40 minutes a game at 36.9, while Boyd is at 31.1. While Jeremy Fears and Braden Smith are leading the conference in assists, Nick Boyd is outpacing Stirtz and right behind Wagler.
Boyd also has 17 games now where he's scored 20+ points. That's an insane stat that leads all these players. Stirtz has 16, Thorton has 13, Wagler has 8, Smith has 7, and Fears has 5.
This isn't about winning the list; this is about being included on it. In many ways, both can be true, but to not even mention him when he's clearly doing more than even "holding his own" against this list is stunning.