Well. All good things have to end. So do bad things. This season, for example.
ACC Tournament games on Thursday are like … eh. I can’t even care enough to think up a good analogy.
We are all hoping, of course, for a repeat and follow-through of what the Wolfpack did last year. And Washington is hoping the ’stimulus package’ will save the economy. Don’t hold your breath for either.
SFN will have a lot of analysis regarding the 2007-2008 NC State Basketball season and the future of the Wolfpack Basketball Program when this season mercifully comes to a conclusion.
Today, the News & Observer’s Chip Alexander chimed in with a very good look back at 15 reasons why the Wolfpack stunk it up this year. The article is a quick read despite its thoroughness.
The 15 individual points can be grouped under three primary categories that we discuss below:
While we wait for Miami to put us out of our collective misery, I present you with my picks for ACC hoops honors, 2008 edition. You may recall that I did this last year. Generally speaking, the ACC was not as interesting this year. But some folks deserve recognition anyway.
Lets compare and contrast the last 12 months for Wake and NC State:
Wake Forest
NC State
Yep, I woke up this morning determined to use a big word in the title. Cool, huh?
Wake Forest and NC State come into today’s contest with a combined 11-game losing streak. Wake is playing for NIT seeding (shout out to NIT king Dave Odom), while the Pack seeks to achieve its Quest. It’s taken alot of hard work to claw down from the preseason #3 projection, and the 4-4 start made the Quest seem out of reach. But it will likely be complete in 3 short hours. There will be live blogging. Aren’t you in for a treat.
With Virginia’s 76-74 win over Georgia Tech last night, NC State is just one small step away from claiming the cellar in the ACC, along with the #12 seed in the ACCT. As long as the Wolfpack loses as expected at Wake Forest on Saturday (or Virginia and Boston College each wins 1 of its last 2 games), the quest will be complete. The Pack loses all tiebreakers, having won no games against Virginia, Georgia Tech, or Boston College.
I didn’t expect to get even madder when I read the sports page this morning. But then I read these quotes from Ben McCauley:
“It may seem like it but we’re still trying to [win],” junior forward Ben McCauley said. “We’re definitely trying to.
“I don’t think we’ve forgotten how to win [but] I think we’re kind of one step behind. We’re almost there.”
Almost there? Are you fucking kidding me? The last place team, the team who was winless against non-Boston College ACC foes, was beating you by 27 early in the second half. Maybe there’s a new meaning for “almost” that I just haven’t heard of yet.
I hate to say it, and it makes me mad as hell to do so. But 2007-08 must be written off as a “learning year” for Sidney Lowe. Despite being an ACC school with all the institutional infrastructure needed to win, NC State is employing yet another head coach who has to learn on the job. After last night, there’s really no room for debate.
Go back to our post from a few weeks back, where we made clear that the offseason was handled very poorly:
Boston College breaks six game losing streak on the back of the Pack.
More later
Some quick basketball comments of interest:
* Due to the performance of some of our opponents, NC State has crept to #37 in the RPI having played the 27th toughest schedule in America. You can expect that SOS to only get more difficult at State still has four (of eight) games against teams that look NCAA Tournament bound - @ Maryland, vs UNC-CH, vs Duke, vs Clemson.
Let the people rejoice - State beat the castrated turkeys once again, to get back to .500 in the ACC. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the second half of the conference schedule is even more difficult. NC State will likely only be favored in one game (home vs. FSU). But all is not lost - State may not be the favorite, but can legitimately expect to compete well in 5 other matchups. We break the games down into categories below, with percentage likelihood of victory in parentheses.
Home games against inferior opponents (1)
Sidney Lowe continued his mastery of “Basketball Grobe” tonight as the NC State Wolfpack won for the third time in the last four games. The Wolfpack is now 15-7 with an ACC record that now stands at .500 at 4-4.
NC State never trailed in route to our second consecutive win over a team ahead of us in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. The Wolfpack hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to seal the ten point win JJ Hickson delivering as needed, finishing 13-of-17 from the free-throw line. The Associated Press has their story about tonight’s game posted. ACCNow has these comments.
There’s an early (7:00) tip tonight, as the Pack takes on the Castrated Turkeys on ESPNU. Before the season started, you wouldn’t have been surprised that one team enters the contest in sole possession of third place. But nobody would have predicted Virginia Tech to be that team. After losing their best big man and 2 all-conference caliber guards, the Hokies entered 2007-08 as arguably the least talented and least experienced squad in the ACC. Yet there they sit at 5-3. Seth Greenberg is bringing a knife to a gun fight, but he’s still standing. Like Jim Grobe in football, he is finding success at a job that would be a wasteland for most coaches - and challenging for league supremacy when the right mix of senior leadership and opportunity collide (see Wake football, 2006 and VT basketball, 2006-07).
We already have post-game entry open open for comments about the game.
The excellent video in this entry is from the N&O’s great coverage of the Wake-State game. Additionally, we’d like to offer a special thanks to the N&O for covering the end of the game so well as you will see in the video below. They also have video and notes from the game in this entry. We have more comments below the video.
When you watch the Wolfpack walking off the floor at the end of the video, try to imagine the entire RBC cheering a simple and loud “N-C-State”. Wouldn’t that have been powerful?
Video Highlights | Box Score | Recap| Photos|
Take THAT ghost of Chris Paul and the decade where NC State couldn’t win a close game if our life depended on it!
BEFORE the last play of the game, I had already written the following for the postgame entry -
Player of the game - Ben McCauley. He did a lot of things in the second half that were obviously huge…but he also made a ton of decisions that don’t show up in the box score. The little things like not rushing in-bounds passes that result in turnovers. Like not only coming up with loose balls, but immediately making the right play with the loose balls that he recovers.
Halftime Update: Wake 31 State 24
* Simple reason why NC State is not winning this game - SHOOTING. It’s not just that State only hit 2 of 11 three pointers (both by Courtney Fells. It is that State missed/bricked multiple WIDE OPEN threes - at least three of which were from the top of the key where it doesn’t get any easier. If the offense creates wide open threes then the guys have GOT to hit them.
This was just too awesome not to memorialize here.
And naturally, we end the game down twenty and in complete surrender mode on defense. Have some pride to wear the uniform, and at least hit somebody if you don’t want to get into defensive or rebounding position. But don’t stand there holding your junk while a guy drives for an uncontested layup.
Not that I’m surprised, mind you. But that doesn’t stop me from being pissed.
It’s a game no one expects the Pack to win, at Cameron Indoor Stadium against the No. 3 team in the nation, the Duke Green1 Devils.
The facts of the matter are, however, that it’s a rivalry game and it’s the ACC, so all bets are off. To win, the Pack will need superb PG play, toughness in the paint, a scrappy defense, few mistakes and many good plays. Plus a little luck can’t hurt.
Fellow SFN authors: Feel free to add to this as necessary. I couldn’t wait any longer to begin the discussion of tonight’s game, but I’m more of a big-picture analyst than a nitty-gritty, X’s and O’s type.
