Yes, State plays at ECU tonight. And, no, we do not think that the trip makes any sense. (Neither does Sidney Lowe). But, other than this link to a preview of the game we are not going to spend very much time on ECU today.
Some relevant bytes today:
* The N&O composed a very great blog entry on the status of local teams one month into the season. They said the following about NC State:
For all of N.C. State’s personnel adjustments this season — the loss of Engin Atsur, the addition of J.J. Hickson — the biggest concern has to be its rebounding and team defense.
State has been out-rebounded in four of six games, holding the edge over Rider and William & Mary. New Orleans, and to a lesser extent, William & Mary, both had their way with N.C. State’s defense, especially to the baseline.
And then there was the clinic Michigan State put on during an 81-58 win in East Lansing.
Suffice it to say, whatever ground N.C. State made up on UNC and Duke last March, has been lost.
* Despite some of the frustrations being felt in the NC State community, the Wolfpack heads into tonight’s game with ECU with a solid RPI of #36 and the 19th toughest strength of schedule in the country.
* We had some great bytes yesterday that you shouldn’t miss. 850TheBuzz followed through on some of the Herb Sendek comments with this blog entry that we enjoyed.
* For the record, Sendek did NOT give an interview to ‘Trey’ Robinson of the N&O. To this day, Sendek as still not granted a one on one conversation with any of our local media that painted him in such a favorable light for a decade. (Don’t forget that the primary reason old Herb is in the business is because of the importance of ‘relationships’) Old Trey just pieced together his article on generic press conference quotes…which were probably pretty damn easy to gather at an ASU Basketball press conference.
* We are excited to see Trey’s article on Matt Doherty that surely is coming soon. We expect the Doherty piece to be a lot more juicy since Doherty – and Bill Guthridge before him – were both more formerly pushed out of their jobs compared to Sendek who had the full support of his Athletics Director and chose to leave for another job that he had secured.
* 50 years ago TODAY ACC Basketball changed forever when “a network of 12 television stations scattered through the South and along the East Coast showed the black-and-white images of North Carolina’s 79-55 basketball victory against the Clemson Tigers at Woollen Gym in Chapel Hill.” (Link)
* Boston College and Maryland kick off conference play this weekend.
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December 8th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
This comment on N&O sums up what I think:
“The Pack may have lost ground from where they were last March, but they have picked up ground from where they were last December. Let’s wait until March to make that comparison.”
December 8th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
As far as the ECU game tonight, what i’m looking at the most is rebounding margin. ECU has some big guys on their team, and they’re slightly better at offensive boards than we are currently according to SectionSix (Although, still ranked 228 to our 303). A blowout would be nice, but I think if we can get a decisive edge on the boards I would consider it a good win, since that would show that we ARE improving on the issues that hurt us the most.
Improvement in all of these catagorys would be outstanding, but really Rebounding is the main one.
Limiting turnovers – Currently our turnover king is JJ, with Costner being a close 2nd and Grant trying his best to win his spot back. Which leads to my next…
JJ passing it out of the double/triple team – This would kill most of his turnovers, as I believe everyone of his turnovers have been when 3 people collapse on him and he still trys to go for the basket.
Grabbing more 2nd shots and denying their 2nd chances.
3 pt shooting.
Dear Fells,
I love it when you dominate, please knock down some 3’s so that ECU doesn’t just pack it in and force Hickson to take on 4 people at once.
Love,
Trip
December 8th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
http://www.newsobserver.com/734/story/818325.html
“Wolfpack’s Costner in supporting role”
“RALEIGH – N.C. State’s Brandon Costner wants people to know he’s not lazy.
He’s not jealous of freshman J.J. Hickson.
He’s not thinking of the NBA.
And, yes, the sophomore forward said, he realizes he must be a more aggressive rebounder and more effective defender.”
Good article I suppose… He reiterates that there are no chemistry issues between him/ben/JJ.
December 8th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Trip,
You’re on fire! Thanks for the great links and comments. We’d love to see more of you!! Thanks!!
December 8th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Davidson 32, UCLA 22 on HDNET if anyone needs something to watch in commercial breaks of the game.
December 8th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
is there any way to watch the game on the internets tonight??
December 8th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
is there anyway to hear the game without enrolling in gopack’s listening service?
December 8th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Audio:
http://mmslb.eonstreams.com/Playlist.wsx?PPID=1328
December 8th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
seems that state is rebounding well tonight. Its opening up the fast break
December 8th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Why can’t we just beat the piss out of anyone? Our opponent is awful, but we can’t put them away.
December 8th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Thanks a lot, tooyoung!
December 8th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
sounds like we need to throw some water on their shooters.
December 8th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Why can’t we just beat the piss out of anyone? Our opponent is awful, but we can’t put them away.
Why did some Robinson-era teams beat Carolina teams, at Reynolds, who were better than we are now?
This is the biggest game the Pirates have on their schedule – an ACC Big Four school paying a historic visit to Greeneville – they will play their best basketbal.
Seems like some ECU players are putting up some Lakista McCuller-esque performances.
December 8th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
thanks so much too young
December 8th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
No problem tx and PA. It’s my pleasure to help out my fellow out-of-state alums. TWW isn’t good for much, but they usually have a couple of people who host radio or audio feeds for most of the games (or who post links to other people hosting them like I did).
December 8th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
GOOD FRIGGIN GREIF!!!!!! HOW MANY THREES ARE WE GONNA GIVE UP WITH LESS THAN 5 SECONDS ON THE CLOCK THIS SEASON?????? UGH.
December 8th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
The 4AA Title game is on News14…New Bern just scored at the end of the 1st quarter. Independence 14 New Bern 7.
December 8th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
^Not sure we “gave” that one up; he just “took” it. They can’t keep this up (can they??)….. Sloppy again on our part. Thought we started reasonably well, and just slopped ourselves into a dogfight. ECU is now confident as hell and it’ll probably be another nail biter. Fells is killing us; he’s the missing link and he’s just “refusing to cooperate” at the moment (long moment).
December 8th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Semantics. I don’t care if it’s poor defense, good defense, a circus shot, or an open catch and shoot. It’s gotta stop. This is the third or fourth time in seven regular season games.
December 8th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
***NEWSFLASH***
ncsu plays the exact same way they have all year.
no defense, no offense, no effort, no intensity.
after a week of practice this is how we show up. shoot me in the head.
and its time to evaluate our genius coaching staff
December 8th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
I have to agree with lush…I’ve been watching Wolfpack b-ball for about 34 years now and I’m scratching my head on this… I think Lee Fowler must go, he has single handedly killed our b-ball program!!! I know I’m frustrated at this point in hte game and we are “losing to ECU”, but we have played this same way since the first game 6 games ago… Something has to change… These guys have not gotten any better as a team! This maybe a LOOOONNNNGGGGG year!
December 8th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
i would say this is the seventh time in 7 games. what have we improved on in any game?
HOW THE FUCK DO YOU PLAY THE SAME BULLSHIT OVER AND OVER AGAIN?
This team looks worse way worse than last year, and i beleive noahs prediction from last year has a very good chance of happening now.
how in the hell will we win an acc game?
gavin at the point, fells, horner, hickson, and mccauley is our only chance, let them play 38 minutes a game.
costner can transfer, he is as usefull as cornelius williams. oh wait cornelius didnt chuck 3’s
December 8th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
This is a mediocre basketball team that is painful to watch.
I hate to say this, but Sidney has until the late signing day of ‘09 to show me something.
December 8th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
When we lose this game to ECU, I have absolutely no problem with serious heat being applied to Sidney, whatever that looks like.
The effort is inexcusable and a total embarrassment to the university and conference.
December 8th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
That was goaltending by the way