Pete Nance is already the most talked-about Tar Heel.
He hasn’t played a real game for Carolina, and he is learning a new program after spending four years in a diametrically opposite place.
UNC plays in the finesse-filled ACC, resides in a small southern town and has enormous expectations after last season’s NCAA finish. Northwestern, where Nance played four years for ex-Dukie Chris Collins, competes admirably but unsuccessfully in the more-rugged Big Ten and is located in the scholarly city of Evanston, Illinois.
Nance’s new school has four starters back, and he is the new role player who is supposed to replace the almost-legendary role player Brady Manek, who is now shooting long balls in Australia. And it’s clear that Nance’s skill set is even wider than Manek’s.
Not like bearded Brady, Nance has shorter facial hair. More than Manek, who spent his whole prior life in Oklahoma, his replacement from Ohio at the important “4 spot” has not taken much time to adjust to his new school, surroundings and teammates.
Basketball aficionados who have seen Nance practice and play in scrimmage games say he is really good. Not quite the outside shooter as his predecessor, he is quicker, longer and a better defender and shot blocker. That all gives Hubert Davis more frontcourt versatility.
Nance admits he’s been a basketball junkie his entire life, looking up to his dad and big brother, former and current NBA players. He wanted a 5th year where he could fit in wherever needed, compete in big games at full houses and improve his trade on his way to the NBA.
When you have commanding players like rebounding machine Armando Bacot, dynamic drivers and shooters Caleb Love and R.J. Davis and defensive savant Leaky Black, Nance already knows where he can help this team be one game better than last April. Anywhere.
Normally, the newest kid on the block is a talented-yet-untested freshman with a big high school rep and not a great communicator. Nance, the grad transfer with a degree from Northwestern, talks to reporters easily and already talks to teammates on the floor fluently.
No, he’s not exactly Brady Manek who did so much for the Tar Heels that he would be tough to replace.
Yes, Pete Nance is good, but he’s also 6-11 and just what they need to fill one gaping hole in a veteran lineup.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Maggie Hobson
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