NIT season will result from State’s own bad habits

I think yesterday’s Wolfpack effort against the Miami Hurricanes was hilariously (and sadly accurately) summed up by the @Lee_Folwer Twitter account:

 

In hindsight, yesterday’s home loss to Miami was a microcosm of a set of consistent weaknesses that have plagued the first three years of Mark Gottfried’s tenure in Raleigh. Please note, this isn’t meant to be a critical entry or referendum on Gottfried; this is simply honest and accurate analysis of what we are seeing and have seen on the court. I fully recognize that we have to take the good with the bad in everyone and am not proposing that the bad outweighs the good with Gottfried. I also recognize that the 2013-2014 Wolfpack is very young and the future of the program appears very bright when you couple this squad with the new pieces that will be eligible next season (Lacy, Abu and the Martin twins). However, this basketball program is going to have a problem hitting up against a ceiling that is lower than we all wish if we can’t get some habitual problems extricated from our culture and practices.

The following three deficiencies proved themselves as major factors in yesterday’s embarrassing 15 point home loss to 5-10 Miami and have also consistently lacked over the last three years:

(1) DEFENSE – coming into yesterday’s game Miami had the 347th ranked scoring offenses in the country. Folks, there are only 351 teams who play Division One Basketball. How many times have we (sadly) had to make the observation that “someone is always having record games against us?” Unfortunately, that observation usually has some truth to it, and yesterday’s loss was a perfect example. The N&O shared the following specifics, “The Canes bested their season average (60.9) by 25 points. They scored 48 in the second half alone, which is more than they had in a home loss (67-46) to Duke on Jan. 22. Led by Brown and freshman guard Manu Lecomte (15 points), the Canes shot a blistering 68.2 percent in the second half and 58.7 for the game. They came in last in the ACC and 321st in the country in FG percentage (40.9).”

(2) MENTAL toughness and focus – Go figure, a let down after a fantastic effort? Have we seen that movie in the last three years? Heck have seen that movie in the last two WEEKS with Syracuse followed by Clemson? How about a win at Notre Dame followed by a 30+ loss AT HOME to Virginia? I recognize that this is a young team…but, yesterday’s game was AT HOME.

(3) Late game COLLAPSES – You probably could put this in the bucket of ‘mental toughness and focus’, but the particularly painful way that NC State lets leads slip away and folds at the end of games deserves its own category. Whether it is poor free throw shooting in the clutch, untimely turnovers, inappropriate use of timeouts or other errors in execution (some, admittedly, led by having to unfairly overcome poor officiating) , this trend couldn’t be more painful; and in many cases more controllable. How many times would NC State have won close games if someone had just hit one more free throw? In just the last three months losses to North Carolina Central, Missouri, at Wake Forest, at Syracuse and vs UNC-CH were literally pissed away in an instant with inexplicable collapses. Heck, that doesn’t even include the 17(?) point lead we held on Pittsburgh to only be outscored by almost THIRTY POINTS in just about thirty minutes of play AT HOME.

 

Today is actually a weird day for Coach Gottfried and for NC State fans. When you think about it – today literally marks the very first day since Gottfried was announced as head coach at NC State that the Wolfpack didn’t have a legitimate chance of participating in the next NCAA Tournament with performance that is/was realistically within our reach. To reach the Big Dance in 2014 it looks like the Pack will need win at Pitt and at Boston College and then probably win three games in the ACC Tournament (depending on how other bubble team’s perform). One thing is for sure, without better defense, mental toughness and execution late in games we will be having more days like this in the future.

Looking for a little more?  Please click here and take a spin in our message forums that are built and moderated in a way to avoid the usual trolling and arguing and immaturity that comes with many/most message boards on the internet. Please remember, the most value is built in communities like these when readers JUST LIKE YOU make the decision to CONTRIBUTE rather than just glance around. Please feel free to take the extra minute or two and share a little with us to help our community improve! Thanks!

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

13-14 Basketball Mark Gottfried

Home Forums NIT season will result from State’s own bad habits

Viewing 5 posts - 76 through 80 (of 80 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #43911
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    May well be. Giant miss. Guy is a proven winner.

    #43918
    Packzingo
    Participant

    I certainly can’t add any intelligent comments about our teams inability to play defense, enough has been printed. If its gotten better, I’m really scared. I will add that several weeks back I did comment about the “shooting mechanics” of several of our kids. Fortunately, soon after making that comment the kids seemed to start making more shots but for the last few games, those flawed mechanics have proven to be liabilities. (my comments were about poor arm, wrist and motion mechanics which just don’t add up to any consistency in shot percentages. just MHO). But it is what we have to work with……..
    We didn’t have high ceilings for this years group and there were some exciting games, unfortunately, we lost most of the close ones. Hopefully, there will be another run. But can you imagine how the folks at Kentucky feel? Cal is getting some heat for his system which I find humorous! Preseason No 1 projections and where are they?? Just lost to no. 180 on the rpi…….

    #43920
    Pack85EE
    Participant

    This is just one big negative Blog. So right now we are about 1 position above where we were predicted to be and we have fired the coach, or at least determined that he will never get us where we need to go. Our young guys are not getting it done but I still think the program is trending upward with the quality of players coming in each year. I just hope you don’t get the coach fired before he gets the program rolling.

    Yea, Duke should have fired their coach when Jimmy V built State up in a few years while Duke seemed to be trudging along. I’m sure they would have found someone a lot better.

    #43921
    ryebread
    Participant

    The last two coaching searches were complete clusters. The “email” from Yow was as bad as the media circus that Fowler ran.

    We seemingly had 2-3 good options that wanted to be here and ended up with a guy who was out of coaching. How we “Gott” here was and still is baffling.

    Having said that, we have Gott now and should support him. The interesting thing to me is that this is the best coaching and staff we’ve had since V. It’s not to say that we should just accept it, but we should be mindful that our previous 3 coaches over the past 20 years were just bad.

    I’m a little surprised at the level of backlash, typically given the number of games the staff has won in the time they have won them. We’ve gone from not competitive to a very tough out, danced twice, went to the Sweet 16 and have drastically improved.

    People were talking about Lutz as the defensive guru and are saying that he sets the defense. Was he really that and does he really do that? I seem to remember the “defensive guru” stuff being tied into rumors of Dino. I’ve always thought of Lutz as an offensive guy and particularly one that helps shooters. That was seemingly his role at Iowa State and what his teams at Charlotte are good at.

    I always thought year 3 would be tough due to Lowe’s scholarship spacing. Transfers haven’t helped us either. We basically have one Senior and the rest of the team are freshman and sophomores. That’s tough to win with, as Calipari is finding out for the second year in a row.

    COWDOG hit on what I have been thinking and saying for two years. I think we’d be better served by playing a match up zone defense. We don’t play fundamentally sound man to man. Yes, we’ve held teams to low shooting percentages, but when we do that, we typically don’t pair it with good rebounding, help defense or with generating lots of turnovers.

    I will admit we’ve squandered a huge amount of talent the last couple of years. Warren’s the best player we’ve had since Hodge and the best scorer we’ve had since Monroe. It will be sad to see him go so quickly, without the team meeting any higher goals.

    I’m not making excuses, but I’d expected we’d lose against Miami. It’s tough to take a loss like UNC in the way it happened and not have that carry over. That’s especially true of a younger team with younger guards.

    I see comments about Gott and recruiting. NC State has been able to recruit well at any time since Les. NC State will continue to be able to recruit well. As we’ve discussed here, coaches can recruit well because they’re at NC State. I’m not as worried about that.

    The good news is that we’re stacking classes. That’s what it is going to take to get us over the top. You can’t beat UNC and Duke who have full teams worth of players with only 1/2 a team. When we add in the class next year, assuming we can keep everyone on board (well, except Warren), we’re one step closer. Follow that up with a class in 2015, and we’ll be one of the oldest, deepest, most talent teams in the league.

    My biggest concern with Gott isn’t X’s and O’s, isn’t defense, isn’t recruiting and isn’t program management. It’s mental toughness. I don’t think he has it, and therefore it’s hard to impart that on his team. I think the mental element is the single biggest thing holding him back.

    One other thing, for all those who think Gott’s going anywhere, any time soon, they really need to review his contract extension. It’s not exactly a contract for life, but it is one that I don’t think we’re going to buy out any time soon.

    Gott is Yow’s coach. For Gott to get the hook, Yow seemingly will as well. This isn’t a coach that she inherited. This is one that she picked, and then immediately went to bat for to renegotiate the contract. To try and remove him would effectively mean she needs to be removed. Not happening. The same applies to DD in football. The fans should accept this and get on board.

    #43922
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    … the way I’m seeing it and hearing it… Lutz is the details guy (on both ends of the floor) — that Gott’s not — Gott’s the media wiz and recruiter — that’s Lutz is not… but I don’t really know much else… except…

    In theory, that’s a perfect match perhaps…. In practice.. as Rye points out… it’s a damn sight better than anything we’ve seen around here in the last twenty years… AND as I have said elsewhere… GOTT & Company has a whole lot of room on the UPSIDE as they continue to work together.

    ————–

    It’s ironic… perhaps… but at the end of day… coaches and players both get evaluated on the same two common denominators…

    1. split second decision making…
    2. ability to work and play well with others…

    in the office…
    in practice…
    during the game…

    It all counts and ultimately determines the Team’s true “success” beyond a won-loss record.

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
Viewing 5 posts - 76 through 80 (of 80 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.