Nance vs. Watkins vs. Birch

[NowherePoke]

So, there has been a ton of bitching from both BSU and UNLV fans about the inclusion of Nance over their respective players on the All-MWC 1st team. While it is of course irrelevant (it's a done deal at this point), I think they are missing a key point:

Number of players/coaches that received all-MWC honors by school (posted in order of conference finish):

SDSU - 6, including POY, COY, 6th Man, and NCOY - Well deserved. League champ and only one team was close to them.
UNM - 4 - actually had more 1st teamers (2) than SDSU (1), but fewer overall. Logical for their position.
UNR - 2
UNLV - 3, including DPOY
WYO - 1
BSU - 3
FSU - 2
USU - 2, but only Honorable Mention for both
CSU - 2, a 2nd team and 3rd team
AFA - 1
SJSU - 0



So, if Watkins and Birch are so much better than Nance, and Drmic/Marks/Dejean-Jones/R. Smith are all better than anybody else on Wyoming's roster (they each made an All-MWC team which nobody from Wyoming other than Nance did), why was Wyoming comparable in performance with BSU and UNLV?

Either Adams was shafted in favor of Marks or BDJ (Adams outscored Marks in conference play, and led both in assists by a significant margin as Adams was Top 5 in assists in conference play), or Nance was that critical to Wyoming's success? Obviously it's a little of both, but having watched Wyoming play without Nance it is more the latter (not a criticism of Adams, just a reflection of the importance of Larry Nance).

They want it both ways. Stats can be misleading. If we are just looking at stats, than Avila should have been the first team frontcourt addition, but anybody that watched this year could clearly see the impact that players like Watkins/Birch/Nance had on a game in contrast to Avila. Any of the three are of course deserving of 1st team honors, but Nance's inclusion shouldn't be controversial on his merits. The only criticism should be whether or not the missed time should be held against him. That can be debated. His inclusion among the Top 5 players in the league should not be.


In conclusion: heal fast Larry and make them pay next year.

 

[stymeman]

pardon my French, but Fuck all those other fans, Larry was playing well woulda kept playing well and I'm still upset he didn't make the all defensive team either.......who ever's bitching about it doesn't watch the MWC the way they should, Larry is/was a force to reckon with, not to say how many years do we go not having any player on lists 1 2 or 3 as well over the years, especially 1st team MWC....they'll get over it

 

[seattlecowboy]

I agree Nowhere.
I looked up the stats of the three players this morning to compare them and of you take the all around best player then it is Nance. Birch is more of a defensive guy with his stats and the only thing he beats Nance in is offensive rebounds and block shots.
Watkins in my opinion was more deserving than Birch. But again the only thing he beats Larry in is rebounds. Nance beats him in points,ft%,3 pt%, steals, blocks and assists.

So if you put the all around game of all 3 together Nance is the best of the 3.

Not much of a contest really. The only reason you could keep Larry out is because he missed 5 games.

If you look at conference stats only Nance was 2nd in defensive boards,4th in blocked shots, 2nd in steals which is tremendous for a big man. Then you add in he averages 15 points and 8.6 boards per game and was 2nd in fg%. Don't see how he doesn't get first team.
Where Watkins matches up more offensively he doesn't match up to Nance defensively and where Birch matches up better defensively he doesn't match up with Nance offensively.

 

[WestWYOPoke]

pardon my French, but Fuck all those other fans, Larry was playing well woulda kept playing well and I'm still upset he didn't make the all defensive team either.......who ever's bitching about it doesn't watch the MWC the way they should, Larry is/was a force to reckon with, not to say how many years do we go not having any player on lists 1 2 or 3 as well over the years, especially 1st team MWC....they'll get over it

FYI, Nance did make the All-Defensive team. All-D was: Alex Kirk, Kendall Williams, Skylar Spencer, Xavier Thames, Khem Birch, and Larry Nance Jr.

 

[Wyo2dal]

pardon my French, but Fuck all those other fans, Larry was playing well woulda kept playing well and I'm still upset he didn't make the all defensive team either.......who ever's bitching about it doesn't watch the MWC the way they should, Larry is/was a force to reckon with, not to say how many years do we go not having any player on lists 1 2 or 3 as well over the years, especially 1st team MWC....they'll get over it

FYI, Nance did make the All-Defensive team. All-D was: Alex Kirk, Kendall Williams, Skylar Spencer, Xavier Thames, Khem Birch, and Larry Nance Jr.

I think he maybe meant DPOY? That is what he deserved and he got robbed.