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Courtesy of Whittier Athletics--
Nick Potthoff ’20 had one of the most distinguished four-year careers in the recent history of the Whittier College men’s basketball program. Playing under head coaches Rock Carter ’89 and Mark Jensen ‘00, Potthoff averaged double-figures for his career, and made a sound difference for Whittier both on and off the court. The 6-foot-7 power forward finished his rookie year among the top SCIAC freshman behind 12.5 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game. For his efforts, he would be named Whittier Male Freshman of the Year at the All-Sports Awards Banquet in 2017.
The Phoenix, Ariz.-native would follow up his freshman year by averaging 8.2 and 10.3 points per game as a sophomore and junior. His junior year was particularly notable, as he averaged less than a turnover per game despite being among the team leaders in minutes, starting in all but one contest. He also won SCIAC Defensive Athlete of the Week for the first time, and went on to achieve the honor again during a senior season in which he averaged a career-high 17.4 points per game, and finished third in conference scoring behind only Jacob Adler of Occidental and SCIAC Athlete of the Year Micah Elan of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. Potthoff won Defensive Athlete of the Week for a second time at the end of his senior season, and went on to be named to Second Team All-SCIAC for his spectacular campaign. He is also one of just three Whittier players in the last 20 years to have scored at least 1,000 points for his career, closing his career with 1,206.
After graduating Whittier with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Potthoff moved overseas to Derby, England, and featured for the University of Derby men's basketball team, one of the top public universities in the area. The Whittier standout went on to assist the team on the strength and conditioning end of things, and earned his Master of Science degree from Derby in Applied Sports and Exercise Science. He has since relocated stateside, where he is currently working as a Performance Specialist for the Peak Performance Project (P3) out of Santa Barbara, Calif.
P3 is the first performance facility to use advanced sports science technology to assess and train professional athletes, and has worked with professional athletes from three of the four major American sports organizations.
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