Let’s get it (re)started!

We are just past the half-way mark in the Wolfpack’s 2012-2013 ACC Basketball season. While the season hasn’t gone quite as swimmingly as we all would’ve liked, things could be a lot worse.

Sheesh! How weird is it that things have changed so much where we can accurately characterize a Wolfpack performance that is ranked #17 in the RPI (having played the 8th toughest schedule in the country) as not going so well?

The six day break before Saturday’s home game against Virginia Tech kind of feels like a ‘mid-season break’ and provides an opportunity for the team and fans to catch our breath. It also times itself well to help Lorenzo Brown get back to 100% healthy. As we turn this page towards the stretch run, I am hoping that Coach Gottfried realizes that he actually has (at least) a seven man rotation instead of the exhausting six man rotation to which he had previously been so married. (Newsflash — we could play Jordan Vandenberg more strategically and potentially expand to a limited eight man rotation. I just hope that Gottfried doesn’t have to have an injury to a post player to have the realization like unfortunately had to happen to show everyone that Tyler Lewis should’ve been getting more playing time).

The final seven games on the schedule also provides a catalyst to kick the season back into gear as every remaining game is winnable, with the toughest test of the home stretch coming on February 23rd’s visit to North Carolina.

It looks like the good folks at NC State also used the six day break to get ‘re-freshed’. The video below updates State’s introduction video with highlights from this season.

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12-13 Basketball

51 Responses to Let’s get it (re)started!

  1. Kevin Armstrong 02/14/2013 at 12:23 PM #

    Would be nice if Vandy could play 10 minutes and contribute a total of 10 points, rebounds, blocks, assists and steals in any combination.

  2. JeremyH 02/14/2013 at 12:27 PM #

    A couple of silly tip-ins, losing a couple due to running out of gas, a bum ankle, and here we are. The defections can’t be helped, can try to mitigate that in the future, but you can’t help but appreciate Gott’s first two recruiting classes.

    I agree LifeLongWolf, its like playing quarterback, to be good, you have to absorb a lot of information and translate that on the court. Point guard is the most important position to play. The heels would love to have the luxury of two very capable point guards. And what more do you want, he’s a 4-year type player, McDonald’s all-American, successful in HS/ winner’s mentality, that runs the point. The additional BBIQ gives us better half-court sets. And I feel like the only reason there was negativity directed towards him is we expected him to be the 7th man out of the gate…funny things expectations are.

    I think our record is deceptive, and we’re very well positioned. But the scary part is that no win is guaranteed even against “lower echelon” ACC teams, since at least from our record, we’re not that far away from being one.

    I think Vandy is good for 3-8 minutes a game for defensive presence, and maybe some fouling inside on players that aren’t good free throw shooters. We just need to make sure Leslie and Howell are not in foul trouble, because we tend to lose those games. If that means Vandy plays 4 minutes per half and tallies 4 or 5 fouls, so be it, purpose served. Someone playing overly-aggressively inside would be a nice change from us being taken to the woodshed on the defensive side. Also for a while I was calling for Robinson; I’ve stopped calling for him but my call remains the same. Give him a chance to play outside of garbage minutes. We have enough offensive firepower to mitigate any concerns we have about his offense.

  3. Wulfpack 02/14/2013 at 12:44 PM #

    Vandy has not shown me much this year. Just does not seem to be in the flow. Don’t play him unless you have to.

    Every game is going to be tough. We are good, but anybody is capable of beating us. I remain very disappointed in our defense. That must improve for this to be a special season.

  4. lush 02/14/2013 at 1:01 PM #

    In the one game Vandy was allowed to play more than 1 minute at a time, wake forest, he was 3-3, 6 points, 3 rebounds, block, assist, 0 turnovers, in the first half. Thats not something that could help this team?

    Some of you think he needs to be all acc in order to get in the game. You people are crazy.

    He should play 5-8 minutes and give 4 -5 fouls every game. If for no other reason to give our other 2 post players rest.

  5. Rochester 02/14/2013 at 1:11 PM #

    Some of you think he needs to be all acc in order to get in the game. You people are crazy.

    He should play 5-8 minutes and give 4 -5 fouls every game. If for no other reason to give our other 2 post players rest.

    Agreed. Vandy might not be all that good, but we shouldn’t be comparing him to rested Howell/CJ. Compare him to winded at crunch time Howell/CJ, because that’s who shows up when Vandy doesn’t give them a blow. If we want our best guys in the game when it matters, we need to tread water for a few minutes a half even when no one is in foul trouble.

  6. triadwolf 02/14/2013 at 1:45 PM #

    Vandy just has not shown that he gets it. In several games he has bailed players out by fouling them when all he had to do is move his feet, stand tall and force a tough shot. I noticed Gott getting irritated with this a few times as we had played good D running the shot clock down, then Vandy ends up putting a player on the line.

    Having this week off came at a good time for this team, but here it is rivalry week and we are playing …. nobody. Feels a little like a slap in the face. I know we aren’t going to break up the UNC-Duke lovefest, but at least have us play Wake.

  7. vtpackfan 02/14/2013 at 1:57 PM #

    I’d like to see us press more. The last three games we have pressed the final minutes and received some nice dividends. Yes we’re not Donovan or SHAKA!!! deep, but just running back down the court and getting leaned on or fighting through screens isn’t exactly “rest” for a short bench. Speed things up- stop letting these Big10 lite coaches dictate tempo.

    If we pressed more I could see bring Vandy in and giving more minutes. If we don’t, then a completely fagged out and fatigued big that we play is > than supercharged JV. Sad but true.

  8. Prowling Woofie 02/14/2013 at 2:20 PM #

    Food for thought:

    Our last National Championship team had 10 losses going into the ACC Tournament… they were a fourth-place team.

    Our current team has only 7 losses. We have 7 games left, with 4 at home (all winnable), and two of the three (if not all three) road games extremely winnable. Plus, Lo is almost healed up (or should be by Saturday ?) and ready for the stretch run.

    Preseason fantasy aside, we’re in great shape !!!

  9. 61Packer 02/14/2013 at 2:44 PM #

    So we need to lose 3 more games to get to the point the ’83 team was at with 10 losses?

    This team could WIN its next 10 games and still probably wouldn’t be as good as the ’83 team. But there are some similarities, at least in that most players on this team, like the ’83 team, didn’t return the following season.

    It WOULD be interesting, though, if this team went on a 10-game winning streak now, wouldn’t it?

  10. JEOH2 02/14/2013 at 2:50 PM #

    Vandy has been in the program for 4 years…I like him and want him to be successful…but he has too many defensive lapses and is completely ineffective on offense…

    We want rest for Howell and CJL, sure, but not at the expense of a 6-0 run by the other team because V didn’t grab a board or turned over the ball or picked up a silly foul…

    I see what everyone is saying but I’d argue our REAL problem is our games have been so close all year we couldn’t find time to rest our stars early in the ACC season…if it is agreed that the purpose of Vandy is to help spell Rich or CJL for the long haul then our problem is primarily the lack of a true killer’s instinct when playing inferior squads…

  11. 61Packer 02/14/2013 at 3:21 PM #

    Our REAL problem this season has been our inability to win the close games we’ve lost due to having no other way to win if we’re having an “off” day shooting.

    To cut to the chase, this team doesn’t play defense worth a damn.

  12. BJD95 02/14/2013 at 3:34 PM #

    The “switch flipped” and “got a chance to prove it” theory works for me. Nothing else makes sense.

    Even though MG likes a smaller rotation than I would ideally prefer…you can’t say with a straight face that he would rather only play 6 guys. And he certainly wouldn’t have recruited Lewis if he thought he couldn’t play or didn’t “like” him.

    What MG saw in Nov/Dec was a freshman who wasn’t ready to play yet. And you saw it in overreactions by some fans as to whether he was a bust (always WAY premature). Now there is overreaction in the other direction – ie, “he’s fantastic, how could MG not played him more all along?”

    It’s simple. He wasn’t ready when he got the first chance to reprise the AJ role (7th man). He got another chance several weeks later, and he stepped up.

    That’s just common sense logic, isn’t it?

  13. Thinkpack17 02/14/2013 at 4:10 PM #

    ^^Makes sense.

    “Some of you think he needs to be all acc in order to get in the game.”

    I just want him to catch the ball cleanly and then dunk it. We don’t completely ice him out on the offensive end, he should be engaged enough so when we pass him the ball it doesn’t hit him in the face.

  14. Wufpacker 02/14/2013 at 4:48 PM #

    ^^ What BJD said.

    And for this team it’s time to put up or shut up, so to speak. Get down to business Saturday and dismantle the Hokies and I’ll be happy.

  15. 1990alum 02/14/2013 at 4:57 PM #

    Let’s hope Howell has worked on making a layup. I have never seen anybody miss as many easy shots as him. If he could make those shots, he would be an all-american. Maybe he should just try to dunk everything.

  16. Gene 02/14/2013 at 5:29 PM #

    Maybe Vandy’s shoulder injury took some of the love of the game out of him.

    He seems like a guy, who played basketball because he’s tall but his heart really isn’t into the game at this point in his life, i.e. strength training, staying in shape, working on low post footwork, etc. aren’t things he seems to be doing.

    Part of his problem on defense is he seems out of shape compared to other players out there. Sort of like what Howell used to be like, before Howell took his conditioning very seriously.

    He seemed to be a lot quicker, with regards to blocking shots and playing defense as a freshman compared to now.

  17. JeremyH 02/14/2013 at 6:33 PM #

    “That’s just common sense logic, isn’t it?”

    Funny how that works.

  18. Wufpack1981 02/14/2013 at 9:37 PM #

    Anyone remember Glen Sudhop. As bad as I hate to say it, Vandy doesn’t even measure up to him IMO.

  19. rb30et-1 02/15/2013 at 1:42 AM #

    Gene, I agree with you completely. He probably has lost his enthusiasm to play from being out of the game for a whole season! He then comes back, having not had the atmosphere of playing which is COMPLETELY different to just training or sitting watching others play, and gets no court time. This would dampen anyone’s spirits. As a big man you also need time to warm up coming off the bench cold, and worrying if you do something wrong you will get pulled does not help which could be why he looks confused (i have also seen him playing perfectly well and get pulled, yet starting five players can do 5 mistakes in a row and stay on the court). Saying all this he does need to work on his skills. His footwork, not fouling, his agility, and his shooting technique. But it might help actually giving him a couple minutes and getting his drive back, rather then killing it more and people complaining about it.

  20. coach13 02/15/2013 at 8:06 AM #

    We at the halfway point we may not be the top dog but we ARE in the thick of it which is bettter than previous decades. been a fun group to watch, and this group is seldom “out of it” with their scoring ability.

    Vandenberg can’t score. His defense is shakey and if I did give him 2 minutes/half we would be in zone and I there would be lashings if he left the paint on defense. He is what he is. Get 3-4 minutes /game and move on (And I really love the idea of having a 7 footer). Sorry V.

    And yes, Zo’s injury may in the long run be a blessing. A real 7 man rotation.

  21. JohnGalt78 02/15/2013 at 1:12 PM #

    So Vandy, perhaps you’re reading all this stuff that we’re chatting about here. Hope you feel the love between the lines. But also hope it pisses you off and next time you’re on the court you make fools out of all of us experts here.

  22. Texpack 02/15/2013 at 3:26 PM #

    Gott likes to go zone for a few minutes a game. Why not go zone for half of the time Vandy is in the game?

    He is a huge liability on offense because he has bad hands, poor ball skills, and no shot. Teams can double off of him without fear and that is the biggest problem he has in my mind.

  23. ILPackfan 02/15/2013 at 4:49 PM #

    If Chuck Nevitt could get on the floor, I don’t see why JV can’t at least do that well.

  24. Texpack 02/15/2013 at 5:09 PM #

    “If Chuck Nevitt could get on the floor, I don’t see why JV can’t at least do that well.”

    That’s exactly who I was thinking of when I suggested camping Vandy in the middle of the zone. I think Nevitt was the subject of a column in the Charlotte Observer entitled “Valvano’s Reclamation Project.” His ability to get meaningful minutes out of Nevitt was a real key to the success of the 81-82 season.

  25. Prowling Woofie 02/16/2013 at 8:47 PM #

    Doesn’t Chuck Nevitt have a couple of NBA championship rings ?

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