Dave Leitao DePaul

Northwestern head coach Chris Collins first witnessed the positionless basketball trend during his college career at Duke, where then-Blue Devils forward Grant Hill went on to play point forward in the NBA. He continued to see it within the program once he became an assistant coach under Mike Krzyzewski, who used Luol Deng and Shane Battier -- both 6-foot-8-inch forwards -- in similar roles. Chicago native-turned-Bulls’ forward Jabari Parker did the same during his lone season (2013-14) in Durham, N.C.

Entering his sixth campaign as Northwestern’s lead voice on the sidelines, Collins noted how he and his coaching brethren are recruiting and coaching positionless basketball players more than ever.

“You’re seeing basketball at all levels going to more to a skill-based game,” Collins said. “Learn how to mix and match lineups and take advantage of mismatches. Switching on defense. In order to do that, you have to build skill-development in your guys. I think you’re seeing that in a lot of teams across the board [do this], trickling down from the highest level to our (college basketball) stuff.”

DePaul will face Northwestern come December for the fourth consecutive season, and Collins’ opponent will be employing that exact tactic. Thanks to a sound core of ball handlers, Blue Demons coach Dave Leitao said he won’t shy away from operating in a small-ball lineup -- with Max Strus playing “power forward.”

According to KenPom, Strus manned that role in roughly two percent of DePaul’s final five games last season. But the 6-foot-6-inch, 215-pound redshirt senior possesses the skillset needed for the position, exhibiting elite-level scoring prowess (16.6 ppg) with decent handles. Although his 40.8 percent clip from the field -- and 33.3 percent clip from behind the arc -- don’t necessarily demonstrate that, he maxed out in numerous contests. Strus finished tied for 55th in the nation under percentage of minutes played (88.7 percent), along with facing countless double teams.

He also emphasized in June that his shot release and ball-handling must improve in order to have a shot at playing in the NBA. He’ll possess no issues at the four-spot if he’s cleaned up his game in each of those departments.

Angry Max Strus is a bad man ?? pic.twitter.com/h9OSmAKmOf — FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 8, 2018

“It’s a dangerous position for a guy (Strus) that can score,” Leitao said. “It allows us to put more versatility on the court because players one through three can do a lot of different things. I’m happy that we’ll be able to do that.”