Chris Nance

Too bad Chris Nance didnt see more play time against Rutgers. I think we would have won. He is a stud …and at least he hit his free throw. Hope to see him in there a little more. Had he played at least :blink: 10 more minutes we would have had a W last night.

If Iti can’t block shots and hit 65% of his free throws, we’ve got to play Nance more against the smaller, quicker teams like Rutgers. Iti didn’t block any of their guard’s drives late in the game, and they hacked him every time he got the ball so they could get it back without us scoring. Nance was on the floor after both loose balls that happened while he was in the game. You can’t teach that. Having a post player that can make free throws in the game won’t hurt either.

[i]Originally posted by X-49er[/i]@Nov 23 2004, 07:35 AM [b] If Iti can't block shots and hit 65% of his free throws, we've got to play Nance more against the smaller, quicker teams like Rutgers. Iti didn't block any of their guard's drives late in the game, and they hacked him every time he got the ball so they could get it back without us scoring. Nance was on the floor after both loose balls that happened while he was in the game. You can't teach that. Having a post player that can make free throws in the game won't hurt either. [/b]
I remember Iti getting at least 2 blocks late in the game (plus the goal tending) and he was 1/4 from the line. Not good, but I'll take it over Eddie's 1/8. I wanted to see Nance in the game more too - maybe some of EJ's minutes. I like EJ and think he's a good offensive player but on defense he was on his back more than on his feet.

Iti had a solid game. Nance is probably the best bench post player we’ve had in a looooong time. He’s got great defensive awareness, hustle and (gasp) he seems to be pretty smart on the court. He holds his position, doesn’t hack at the ball, rotates at the right time, and gets after the ball.

Offensively, he only takes shots he can make and is great from the FT line. He rebounds well, and is a solid passer. He deserves EJs minutes. Through 3 games, he has shown that he is playing better and should be rewarded. Lutz, make these guys EARN their minutes and you will almost always get better production.

I thought Nance should have been in the last 5 minutes of the game or sure. He was playing great and would have given use much more than Iti. I thought Iti had some good minutes in the fisrt half, but was god aweful in the second(though many times we were giving him the ball in positions we shouldn’t have). If he can’t learn to hit a FT(and it hard to image he will this season) he should play at all in the last 5 minutes of games, team will just foul him everytime he touches it, I would.

I love Nance’s hustle, he rebounds well and is very solid offensively, playing within himself at all times. He definetely deserves more time.

Even though I have no favorites, Chris Nance is rapidly moving up my charts … he’s going to be a great addition.

[b]I remember Iti getting at least 2 blocks late in the game (plus the goal tending) and he was 1/4 from the line[/b]

I don’t remember the ones late in the game. I remember the goaltend and watching Douby drive 3 straight times for easy runners or layups that should have been swatted (he either made it or got fouled). Since they were killing us on calling touch fouls late, Iti needed to figure out sooner that he had to help Mitchell more when Rutgers went to their isolation offense. I dare say that Tori Reed was/is a better FT shooter than Iti. When Iti makes one, I am surprised. Iti’s getting better overall, but against quick, good passing teams he can’t recover fast enough to be effective. When they need to, teams are going to run the HackanIti defense against him to keep us from scoring.

The refs could have called Iti for another goaltending late in the game but let one go by. I see improvement, but no NBA in the immediate future…

[i]Originally posted by run49er[/i]@Nov 23 2004, 01:08 PM [b] The refs could have called Iti for another goaltending late in the game but let one go by. I see improvement, but no NBA in the immediate future... [/b]
He will NEVER play in the NBA.

There aren’t many players I will flat out say I don’t like, but Iti is one of them. I dare say his goal is to better himself and not the team. He is very mediocre and if he doesn’t play another minute this year I wouldn’t lose a bit of sleep. I hope I am wrong and he gets better.

Iti is just too slow to react. However some of it was not his fault. If you watched once Iti turned around to Eddie with a look like where are you. The problem was that in the early 2nd half when Iti rotated over nobody dropped down to cover his man and they got easy dunks. I think Bobby must have told the big men not to drop down until the wing got over there and covered their men. Problem was that the wings weren’t dropping in to give weakside help to the rotating post player. I place this loss as the by products of our wing/guards playing terrible. I didn’t like anything except the 5 minute burst from Eddie. We played lazy and fundamentally unsound. Not a happy camper today.

Nance is definately the more fundamentally sound of the two, he shoots and boxes out well. Iti may have the size and natural talent advantage, but he seems like he is constantly pondering out there, reacting too late and hardly ever rebounds or attacks the basket on instinct. Maybe this kid just has no mean streak at all, and we need another tough guy besides curt.

I think some of you guys are so anti-Iti that you’re not even capable of recognizing when he plays well, which is exactly what he did last night.

[i]Originally posted by NinerLoudNProud[/i]@Nov 23 2004, 02:34 PM [b] I think some of you guys are so anti-Iti that you're not even capable of recognizing when he plays well, which is exactly what he did last night. [/b]
Exactly. Iti had a nice game other than the missed free-throws. He caught some difficult passes in traffic that he would have fumbled away everytime last year. Give the guy a second chance is the way I see it. We'll need him. The Iti-Nance combination is pretty solid.

I like Nance replacing Iti and Withers. Iti played well last night, especially for a sophomore big man. He had few mistakes and had some really great plays. One of the best games I have ever seen him play.

The one positive I saw in Iti was I didn’t see him get a foul till the 2nd half. As much as he irks me in many ways, I was delighted to look up at see he had only one foul in the 2nd half at one point. I wish Iti had the jump shot that Nance does or atleast has shown from time to time.