Monday Musings

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January 23, 2012

NC STATE BASKETBALL
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GoPack.com
NC State Tops Miami, 78-73

Scott Wood scored 21 points to lead North Carolina State to a 78-73 victory over Miami on Sunday.

The Wolfpack led 55-41 midway through the second half and withstood a late Miami rally. Kenny Kadji’s dunk with 1:44 remaining got the Hurricanes to within 72-68.

N.C. State (15-5, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) responded with five unanswered points, capped by Wood’s two free throws with 18 seconds left.

“I thought it was a gutsy win for us; I’m proud of our team,” head coach Mark Gottfried said. “They made a charge, we were able to withstand it and still found a way to win. I like that about our team.”

Earlier in the game, Wood’s second of three free throws set the ACC all-time consecutive free-throw record of 55 after he was fouled on an attempted 3-pointer with 5:21 remaining. He increased the mark to 58 by game’s end. Duke’s J.J. Redick set the previous record of 54 in 2003-04.

“It’s big, any time you can be mentioned with J.J. Redick and that you beat one of his records is a great accomplishment,” Wood said. “It’s nice to finally get it over with, I guess.”

DeShawn Painter finished with 18 points for the Wolfpack.

J.P. GIGLIO (N&O)
Wood’s streak continues as Wolfpack downs Canes

J.P. GIGLIO (N&O)
Pack’s Williams played through the pain

Associated Press
Wood Leads N.C. State Past Miami 78-73

The Wolfpack led 55-41 midway through the second half and withstood a late Miami rally. Kenny Kadji’s dunk with 1:44 remaining got the Hurricanes to within 72-68.

N.C. State (15-5) responded with five unanswered points, capped by Wood’s two late free throws.

“I thought it was a gutsy win for us; I’m proud of our team,” Gottfried said. “They made a charge, we were able to withstand it and still found a way to win. I like that about our team.”

The win places the Wolfpack in a three-way tie for first in the conference with Duke and Florida State.

“We’re playing well at the right time,” Wood said. “We just need to continue to get in the gym and work hard and continue to build on this momentum that we have.”

TheWolfpacker.com
NC State locker room report

Malcolm Grant and Durand Scott both struggled for Miami, and the Hurricanes shot 2 of 20 from three-point land. How was the Wolfpack perimeter defense?

“We’ve done a nice job of getting our hands up, active, and I think what is happening with out team too, there seems to be a maturity with the way we study the scouting report, who we are guarding, the personnel, how we need to guard them, where we need to guard them. We are improving there. Our bigs have helped us some, especially with our perimeter defense. It’s an area that has gotten better, but we realize though that it still has to improve a lot more to be a great team.”

How was it to game-plan against both Johnson and Kadji inside?

“It was hard. I thought Calvin [Leslie] did a great job prior to his foul trouble. He really did a terrific job of covering like a help-side defender. He came from the weakside two, three times and intercepted passes, but he got into foul trouble. What happens is that you get that third and fourth foul, you tend to get real tentative. Players want to stay in the game. They don’t want to foul out.

“We used our zone probably more tonight more than we had in some other games. It was kind of one of those things, possession by possession, and lets try to get out of this thing with the foul trouble we were in. We were able to do it.”

ACC BASKETBALL

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Andrew Skwara (accsports.com)
ACC Hoops Power Rankings, Jan. 23

3. North Carolina (15-3, 3-1 ACC)
The Tar Heels trailed by five points at the half in Blacksburg before reeling off a 19-0 run on their way to a 14-point win over struggling Virginia Tech. A home game with a hot N.C. State team (the Wolfpack has won nine of its last 10) next will be a better test to see if Roy Williams’ team really has recovered from that ugly loss in Tallahassee.
Games This Week: Thursday vs N.C. State, Sunday vs Georgia Tech
Previous Rank: No. 3

4. Virginia (15-3, 2-2)
The Cavaliers made Georgia Tech look like an intramural team, rolling to a 32-point win in Atlanta and holding the Yellow Jackets to a mere 38 points. But that was followed by a 47-45 loss to Virginia Tech at home. Finding more help for Mike Scott (who was double-teamed virtually every time he touched the ball against the Hokies) is a must for the Cavs to avoid such inconsistency.
Games This Week: Thursday vs Boston College, Saturday at N.C. State
Previous Rank: No. 2

5. N.C. State (15-5, 4-1)
You think the Wolfpack wish they had made a coaching switch sooner? Mark Gottfried already has four ACC wins, which is just one short of the entire total Sidney Lowe had all of last season. Beating Miami on the road is a confidence booster heading into a short road trip to Chapel Hill on Thursday. Scott Wood now owns the ACC record for most free throws made in a row with 58.
Games This Week: Thursday at North Carolina, Saturday vs Virginia
Previous Rank: No. 6

ACC FOOTBALL

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Mandy Mitchell (WRALSportsfan.com)
A model for keeping in-state talent in state

I worked in South Carolina for eight years before coming here. I spent four years in Myrtle Beach and another four in Columbia. When I first moved to Myrtle Beach, I would cover signing days including kids going to Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida State, but never South Carolina and Clemson.

It was pretty much a given that if you had talent, you were not sticking around to play for the Gamecocks.

AJ Green went to Georgia. Carlos Dunlap went to Florida. Junior Hemingway, who you may remember as this year’s Sugar Bowl MVP, went to Michigan. That is just naming a few off the top of my head.

Over the last five years that has changed. It changed quickly and drastically. The last four Mr. Football winners of the state of South Carolina have all signed, or committed to play for Steve Spurrier. All of those guys were nationally recruited.

UNC FALLOUT

unc fallout

Jeff Gravley (WRALSportsfan.com)
Waiting on the NCAA

It was 12 weeks ago today (January 20) that UNC officials faced the NCAA Committee on Infractions to debate or dispute the nine major violations spelled out in the Notice of Allegations. At the end of the meeting in Indianapolis, NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said it could be eight to twelve weeks before the NCAA would announce additional sanctions.

We are at the end of that window.

But it’s a window that can be extended beyond the phantom deadline. Ohio State went 18 weeks before hearing its fate from the NCAA.

On the NCAA web-site they spell out what they call a very specific process for notification about the penalties.

“The morning of the release, NCAA public and media relations staff alert the media of the upcoming release. The chair of the Committee on Infractions hosts a telephone press conference to announce the results of the committee decision. A public infractions report is released but specific names are not included. The COI makes no statement about the case until the report is released. ” Source: NCAA.org

About 1.21 Jigawatts

Class of '98, Mechanical Engineer, State fan since arriving on campus and it's been a painful ride ever since. I live by the Law of NC State Fandom, "For every Elation there is an equal and opposite Frustration."

11-12 Basketball ACC Teams College Basketball College Football Football Recruiting UNC Scandal

33 Responses to Monday Musings

  1. tuckerdorm1983 01/23/2012 at 8:11 AM #

    Thursday night should be a good barometer to determine exactly where the program is. We are better than the bottom six teams in the league. That is not to say they could not beat us. Still, if we lose by 20 plus points this Thursday, then back to the drawing board. If we play them close then I will be impressed. We just don’t have the big men to compete with theirs. Bottom line. If Barnes is knocking down threes and high fiving everybody, then it will be a long night. I still see this game as a chance to improve against a very good opponent. If Howell and Leslie pick up a bunch of cheap fouls early, then we better keep the buses running.

  2. theTHRILL 01/23/2012 at 8:26 AM #

    Richard Howell was just whistled for his first foul for Thursday night’s game while getting out of bed this morning.

  3. moose8865 01/23/2012 at 9:17 AM #

    I would bet money that both Ayers and Jamie Luckie will call the UNC game.

  4. ncsu1987 01/23/2012 at 9:35 AM #

    ^theTHRILL: thx dude, you made my morning.

  5. Six Pack 01/23/2012 at 9:39 AM #

    I heard they’re bringing Lennie Wertz and Dick Papparo out of retirement to guarantee the Holes win.

  6. wolfie91 01/23/2012 at 9:41 AM #

    I think we’ll play a competitive game against UNC on Thursday. We may not win, but I don’t think we’ll get embarrassed like last year. We’re much improved and I just don’t see UNC as being a dominant team like they’ve been in the past. Plus they are playing without Strickland. That has to impact them to some degree.

  7. Texpack 01/23/2012 at 10:10 AM #

    “Still, if we lose by 20 plus points this Thursday, then back to the drawing board. If we play them close then I will be impressed. We just don’t have the big men to compete with theirs.”

    I don’t think that is necessarily true. Your comment about their bigs is the key. We thrive on offensive rebounds and getting out on the break after defensive rebounds. This may just be a bad match up for us because we can’t take the air out of the ball. UVa is a more important gauge for me for THIS year. We probably need a little more depth to run with the Holes. I don’t think Gott will play scared though. He’ll go for it

  8. WolfBlood 01/23/2012 at 10:16 AM #

    I about as happy as a pig in mud for the way this season is going and the way it appears our program is headed. That said, has Gott ever considered starting to kill the clock when we are up by 15 – 18 points and there is 8 minutes left? I know thats a long time but even taking 20 second posessions rather than inbounding the ball and shooting in less than 5 seconds (which happened several times yesterday) seems like a better approach than rushing when all you have to do is protect the lead. And I understand we are running a fast pace offense, but damn.

    But I’m thrilled for the win.

  9. Wulfpack 01/23/2012 at 10:16 AM #

    Agree with Texpack. We will compete with UNC far better than year’s past, however, I think they are much deeper (even w/out Strickland) than us and any sort of foul trouble on the interior will hinder us. I think we can keep it close. UVA is the better barometer. I watched some their game last night against Va Tech, which Va Tech won. It was an ugly, very low scoring rivalry game. I think we are right there with UVA, and perhaps even better. I’d put as at 4th or 5th, with the tie-breaker decided by the UVA game coming up. Even though FSU has a terrible loss to Clemson, they waxed UNC and beat Duke in Cameron. That’s damn impressive.

  10. DC_wolf 01/23/2012 at 10:20 AM #

    Thanks Jigs. How about Andrew Skwara all over the coaching change? 😉 Looking @ the past 2 games as a composite, nothing really stands out (apart from necessary wins over teams from the bottom half of the league) other than 3-point shooting: a combined 11-47 from both B.C. & the ‘Canes. Even my lazy maph tells me that’s well below 25% but also that my hunch was correct that teams would try the recipe of exploiting State’s supposed weak perimeter defense. And if Gott has been preaching stronger long-range defense, the congregation has certainly been listening.

    Having said that, I don’t have a good read on the upcoming game against Carolina. Surprisingly, I feel like we may have an advantage in the backcourt, especially since UNC just lost Dexter Strickland for the season, but I may have to give the nod to their bigs of Barnes & Henson. I still wouldn’t be surprised to see them try and launch 2 dozen or more 3s & severely test our perimeter guys. To be honest, I haven’t seen the smurfs play much this year so maybe someone else has a better feel for how this game might play out, but I remain as I have all year: cautiously optimistic. Ugh, just heard another whistle on Howell.

  11. Wulfpack 01/23/2012 at 10:21 AM #

    WolfBlood, I thought the exact same thing yesterday. We had Miami beat, and sort of played into the pressure. Take the air out of the ball and take good shots. Perhaps the model to follow is Duke. They are great at taking time off the clock with a lead (of course, they have excellent guard play). I’m not saying we took bad shots at the end of the game yesterday, in fact some were very good. However, you have to know if you miss, your opponent is racing back the other way and can actually catch up trading baskets with the three. Wood is the exception – if he’s open, he shoots. He showed that yesterday. I’m not poo-pooing the win in any way. I’ll take a road ACC win any day of the week and twice on Sunday — it was a great win. It’s just that if we want to be great, these are the little things our team has to learn how to do against stiffer competition. I surely hope we have the opportunity to practice this point in upcoming games against Duke, UNC, FSU and UVA.

  12. eas 01/23/2012 at 10:38 AM #

    UNC has a lot of time to prepare and are hungry after a horrible loss to FSU. I think we will be OK but I feel like their going to be hard to handle Thursday.

  13. DC_wolf 01/23/2012 at 10:52 AM #

    eas, good point. ^

  14. blpack 01/23/2012 at 11:11 AM #

    Just looking to compete on Thursday and have a shot at the end. They may get this one, but they have to come to Raleigh in Feb.

  15. haze 01/23/2012 at 11:40 AM #

    Agree on taking a little air out of the ball.

    We are good in transition and we should continue to go hard and take the easy one when it’s there. However, with a lead and a good half-court offense (ours really is… weird though it is to write), you need to raise your standards of what is a good shot in transition. If it’s not perfect (i.e. layup or Wood 3pt’er), you pull back and start your offense. I don’t want to sit back & wait to start the O, just run it. We’ll generally knock off 20 seconds AND get a pretty good shot or a foul. This O is a luxury that we need to learn to use.

  16. Lunatic Fringe 01/23/2012 at 12:09 PM #

    You realize that this coaching staff has taken a major flaw (3pt shooting/perimeter defense) and improved on it to the point announcers are now calling it a team strength. I actually laughed when I saw that comment prior to tip-off on Sunday (not that it has not become true, but just the fact that we were soooo bad to start the year).

    We held a team that has 8 players shooting above 30% (at least one in 40s) to 2/20 from 3 point line. Keep in mind one of those 3s was the last shot of game by Larkin with a soft D since the game was already decided at that point.

    I really hope that we can keep this excellent staff together for many years to come. Coach Lutz is the Jon Tenuta of our basketball team (invaluable resource that just makes us better) and a joy to watch on the bench.

  17. JEOH2 01/23/2012 at 12:16 PM #

    I completely understand where you guys are coming from on taking the air our of the ball…but I respectfully disagree.

    Herb was notorious for taking a solid lead and then trying to slow things down way too early. Our team would often lose their intensity, other teams who get time to adjust, and our opposition would slowly fight their way back in it…

    Yesterday, I completely agreed with continuing to attack, especially when there are more than 3-4 minutes on the clock…if your offense is in a rhythm, let it continue to play. That’s not to say you should rush shots (as we did) or get careless (as we did) but, in basketball the game is never out of reach under 15 points with more than 4 minutes on the clock…keep playing and put your foot on the other team’s throat…

  18. Hungwolf 01/23/2012 at 12:27 PM #

    ACC did us no favors as we played Sunday and Unc got a week to prepare for us and they playing at home.

    Like to see Painter get more time, I think he becoming a better player than Howell. Howell’s body language during games is terrible and during crunch times of games he cannot finish easy shots.

  19. packof81 01/23/2012 at 12:44 PM #

    “But it’s a window that can be extended beyond the phantom deadline. Ohio State went 18 weeks before hearing its fate from the NCAA.”

    Why does it take so long? Why is it such a drawn out process?

  20. DC_wolf 01/23/2012 at 1:13 PM #

    I tend to come down on the same side as you, JEOH2, if your offense is in a rhythm, let it continue to play. I think this has been a hallmark of Gott’s coaching (he stuck with it during the Indiana and Stanford games), the big difference yesterday was – the guys held on & finished.

  21. UpstateSCWolfpack 01/23/2012 at 1:13 PM #

    WE WILL WIN on Thursday.

  22. Lunatic Fringe 01/23/2012 at 1:15 PM #

    Hungwolf, it’s not about one being better than the other, but how they do vs matchups. Howell just had a monster game against BC. Howell is good when you need someone to bang and Painter is great when you need someone to stretch the defense.

    Painter had a good game yesterday since they were trying to guard him with a banger who wants to sit under basket.

    Howell and Painter are two different players who also have very different personalities. Howell is intense, lunch bucket guy (what makes him a good rebounder). It also means he gets fouled more and with Ayers those are fouls that go uncalled. He has to control it his anger/mouth, but you DON’T want him to lose that instensity.

    Painter is pretty easy going guy who works hard. He has the perfect tempermant/game for bench guy who comes in, does his job, and is capable of having big game.

  23. Lunatic Fringe 01/23/2012 at 1:20 PM #

    ^^ One other note…the staff knows how to go with the hot hand so if Painter is hitting his shots he will get more PT.

  24. Rochester 01/23/2012 at 1:26 PM #

    The loss of Vandenberg hurts in a game like yesterday when Howell and Leslie both get in foul trouble. JV is not a great offensive player, but he can hold his own defensively and buy us time until we can bring the others back in. I’m not comfortable with DeThaey out there. Unfortunately, he’s our only option when the big guys are missing.

  25. GAWolf 01/23/2012 at 1:48 PM #

    I read that Mandy Mitchell piece earlier and almost came here to bring up a discussion about how peripheral it is. It’s almost like she’s just stating a problem we’ve all known exists for years and giving us no real solution beyond get the first one stay. It’s a lot more complicated than that, lady.

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