Pack Back on Track in Mass

General NCS Basketball43

Despite what I am sure were their best efforts, the Boston College facilities crew responsible for watering the artificial turf to slow down NC State’s football team was not successful in turning the lights off in the gym for last night’s basketball game. 🙂

In a no pressure atmosphere (somebody needs to teach those fans in that high school gym the importance of ACC Basketball) and a no intensity game (does BC care about their season?), the Pack finally rolled to a victory over a Boston College program who had beaten State in two straight non-conference affairs in 2003 and 2004

The Eagles outlasted State 66-65 in overtime in the January 2004 game at Conte Forum behind Smith’s 20 points and 10 rebounds. The year before, the Eagles came to the RBC Center and beat the Pack 93-81 — a rare nonconference loss at home for Sendek.

If only the football team could have looked so good in their first visit to Chestnut Hill.

Tuesday night’s game was decided by the exact same two keys that almost every NC State game will rely upon this season: (1) 3-point proficiency and (2) Cedric Simmons’ presence on the court.

As much as the Wolfpack’s exceptional 10-for-17 three-point shooting was responsible for the victory, the fact that State took 17 good three point shots may have been more responsible. In Chapel Hill on Saturday, State jacked up 20 threes (making only eight) and experienced long episodes of very poor shot selection that, first led to the Tarheel comeback from a 0-11 deficit, and later led to a Tarheel victory. Poor shot selection by the vetern Wolfpack did not persist on Tuesday night.

Additionally, if you had any doubt regarding the importance of Cedric Simmons’ presence to NC State’s basketball fortunes this season (originally highlighted in a December entry and then again before the Carolina game this weekend), then your doubt should be absolved now. From the News & Observer:

Sophomore center Cedric Simmons was at his best against the Eagles, competing hard against Smith, a 6-foot-7, 250-pound senior power forward with a linebacker’s build and a preseason All-America. Simmons had a game-high 17 points — 16 in the second half — to go with seven rebounds and two blocked shots, but Sendek said to forget the statistical sheet.

It was very nice to earn a victory for the “old ACC” in BC’s first home ACC game, especially after falling flat in a similar attempt last year at Miami.

Section Six has more numbers on the game if you are interested.

“The Position of the Pack”
After playing over half of the season’s schedule, the Wolfpack logged their first win against a team currently ranked better than #72 in the current Ratings Percentage Index — Boston College has fallen to bubble territory at #49 in the RPI and 0-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Eagles are #44 in the Sagarin Ratings, where the Wolfpack currently sits at a strong #14 (compared to #30 in the RPI).

State will host Georgia Tech on Saturday at noon before traveling to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the Pack’s only game of the year versus #1 Duke on Wednesday night.

(Sidenote: As much as some Wolfpackers complain about the new ACC, had the Pack had to play Duke twice last season, the resulting 6-10 ACC record would have been too big of a hole from which to climb to achieve an NCAA Tournament bid with wins over Florida State and Chris Paul-less Wake Forest in the ACC Tourney. So, you won’t hear me complaining too much about not getting to play the Blue Devils more when our current coach is only 3-20 in the last decade against Coach K and has never won a game in Cameron.)

Forgive me if I am not overly concerned about playing struggling Georgia Tech in Raleigh. The Yellow Jackets are one of the four ACC programs against which Herb Sendek actually has a winning record (Numbers as of March 2005). In fact, no Georgia Tech squad has mustered a win in Raleigh since Sendek’s arrival, making them one of the only four programs that Sendek has a winning record against in Raleigh. (Sorry…since I bought season tickets and contributed to the Wolfpack Club every year….those first five seasons really did exist no matter how much you may wish that they didn’t).

The BC win definitely puts the Pack back on track in the ACC. The good news is that program is in the mix for a strong finish in a weak(er than average) ACC. The bad news is the only way State can legitmately claim to be competing for a regular season ACC Title is with a win at Duke. Anything else is second place….which, in our fanbase….is really something to crow about.

General NCS Basketball

43 Responses to Pack Back on Track in Mass

  1. Class of '74 01/11/2006 at 8:58 AM #

    Honestly I felt we played about the same as we did saturday in Chapel Hill but BC did not or could not guard my mother much less any of our players. That was as bad of a performance by an “allegedly” good team as I’ve seen on BC’s part. But Herb did a good job of out coaching and out preparing this team against Al Skinner’s squad.

    If that’s all the energy that BC’s crowd can give for a conference game and it was their home christening in this league to boot, jeez.

  2. Trout 01/11/2006 at 9:02 AM #

    I see Skinner chose to wear a tie for BC’s home ACC opener.

  3. BJD95 01/11/2006 at 9:06 AM #

    Our defensive intensity was much higher than it was against UNC. I think that was the difference in the game. As Jeff pointed out, I really liked our shot selection. And like in the GW game, we opened thge 2nd half with a flurry of daggers, the exact opposite of what we saw from past Sendek teams.

  4. VaWolf82 01/11/2006 at 9:12 AM #

    Did anyone else notice how quick Packer was to speculate that Brackman had done something to warrant being tripped? Based on the behavior of BC’s big men the remainder of the game, I conclude that they just don’t like getting their A$$ kicked on the BB court.

  5. Class of '74 01/11/2006 at 9:15 AM #

    ^I’ve seen Skinner coach dozens of times and I’ve never seen him wear a tie therefore I think that was an imposter last night. In fact I think based on the quietness of that building I think they staged that game in the school library and that guy in Skinner’s place was a librarian who works at the help desk.
    The real Al Skinner could not possibly coach as badly as what I saw last night!
    I’ll bet the BC websites are on fire this morning after that fiasco.

  6. Trout 01/11/2006 at 9:16 AM #

    ^ That was bush league by Smith, no doubt. To his credit, Brando (who I dont like) did call Smith out for it. Said it was intentional.

  7. Trout 01/11/2006 at 9:17 AM #

    Latest RPI #s:

    Duke 1
    North Carolina 18
    North Carolina St 29
    Maryland 44
    Boston College 49
    Wake Forest 58
    Clemson 61
    Virginia 69
    Georgia Tech 94
    Florida St 95
    Virginia Tech 126
    Miami-Florida 131

  8. Trout 01/11/2006 at 9:18 AM #

    ^ Miami is the scariest 131 RPI team in America, IMO.

  9. Mr. O 01/11/2006 at 9:29 AM #

    “(Sidenote: As much as some Wolfpackers complain about the new ACC, had the Pack had to play Duke twice last season, the resulting 6-10 ACC record would have been too big of a hole from which to climb to achieve an NCAA Tournament bid with wins over Florida State and Chris Paul-less Wake Forest in the ACC Tourney. So, you won’t hear me complaining too much about not getting to play the Blue Devils more when our current coach is only 3-20 in the last decade against Coach K and has never won a game in Cameron.)”

    Why is this even necessary to bring up in a writeup about our game against BC? Why does it matter if Wake didn’t have Chris Paul when we didn’t have Julius Hodge and other players out in several of our losses last year? Over the course of time, things tend to even out. I can’t figure out what our NCAA tournament bid last year has to do with the BC game.

  10. Mr. O 01/11/2006 at 9:31 AM #

    BJD95: Our D was horrible against UNC in the 2nd half. Cedric going out with his 4th foul was the start of it at the 16 minute mark. Last night, Cedric never got in foul trouble. Having him on the court as an eraser is probably the key to our team defense this year.

  11. Zeke 01/11/2006 at 9:33 AM #

    “Why is this even necessary to bring up in a writeup about our game against BC?”

    I can’t believe you even need to ask this question on this site.

  12. Zeke 01/11/2006 at 9:37 AM #

    “Forget about being ranked No. 14, the Eagles are 11-4 with only one quality win — Oklahoma State in Las Vegas in November.”

    This is a quote from Andy Katz in today’s ESPN article on last night’s game. Does anyone know what Oklahoma State’s RPI and Sagarin ratings are? I’m a little surprised that an “expert’ (see heading over columnists to the right) like Katz would consider OSU an “quality win.”

  13. VaWolf82 01/11/2006 at 9:41 AM #

    A second-place team in the ACC (BC’s projected finish) does not lose to GT anywhere or to State at home. BC looks to be in trouble right now. Skinner has some serious work to do to get his team ready to play ball…they didn’t look ready last night.

    Packer kept commenting on how much faster State was. If he is correct, then that is another to reason for BC fans to be concerned. State is hardly the fastest ACC team that BC will face this season. It will be interesting to see how much zone Skinner plays in the rematch on 2/25.

    I expected to see comments from those fans that have kept saying that Simmons needs one or two more years in college…but they haven’t dropped by yet. The upcoming Duke game (along with the standard ACC officiating) will provide another test very quickly.

    Wasn’t it a pleasant surprise for State to start the second half with a 11-0 run to put the game away? State rarely coasts home against teams in the upper half of the ACC. Last night was a pleasant change from many trends we’ve seen in the past.

    Did McCauley play because State had a comfortable lead or because he is beginning to show Herb something in practice? I’m betting on the latter (especially since we didn’t see Fells).

    If you are not familar with GameTracker, do yourself a favor and go to the BB schedule on gopack.com and pull it up. On the left-hand side of the GT window, there is a tab marked “Game Flow”. The scoring by each team is plotted vs time. The two long scoreless stretches in the second-half by BC really stand out…as does the fact that State didn’t have any.

    Great game by the Pack! They need to handle GT in Raleigh as easily..and not get caught looking forward to the Duke game.

  14. Trout 01/11/2006 at 9:44 AM #

    Speaking of OSU, surprised this story didnt get more attention here:

    http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/387073.html

    OSU gets $165 million athletic gift. Wow!

  15. Trout 01/11/2006 at 9:49 AM #

    “Did McCauley play because State had a comfortable lead or because he is beginning to show Herb something in practice? I’m betting on the latter (especially since we didn’t see Fells).”

    No doubt the latter, because he played and scored in the first half, when it was a tight game.

    Ced is the first “sure thing” NBA first round pick Herb has had, IMO. Very real possibility we lose Ced (NBA) and Brackman (baseball, either college of pro) after next year.

  16. Mr. O 01/11/2006 at 10:25 AM #

    Cedric may play himself into a top 10 pick this year if he doesn’t watch out.

  17. Class of '74 01/11/2006 at 10:26 AM #

    I do think in a game as one sided as this was that more than the eight guys that did play could have seen at least mop-up duty at the end. If Bubas, Smith, Drisell and Valvano could find a way then surely Herb can too. Team morale is important as well.

  18. Jeff 01/11/2006 at 10:53 AM #

    Why is this even necessary to bring up in a writeup about our game against BC? Why does it matter if Wake didn’t have Chris Paul when we didn’t have Julius Hodge and other players out in several of our losses last year? Over the course of time, things tend to even out. I can’t figure out what our NCAA tournament bid last year has to do with the BC game”

    There is no reason why. The answer is because I fucking wanted to. It is where my mind went. That is what happens when people randomly start typing.

    Let me help you guys understand what the deal is here —
    This is WEBLOG. Its a random smattering of incongruent thoughts. I go where my mind takes me. There is no rhyme or reason. A dairy. An electronic journal. Nothing more. Nothing less. It just happens to be a helluva lot better than most of your alternatives, which is why you come here. Let’s please keep it that way by avoiding the fray of passing judgement on others intentions, character, and such.

    I will POLITELY respond to Zeke’s barb with a — I’m disappointed

    Seriously…you haven’t shared five comments in the 400+ days of the existence of this blog that adds an ounce of value. You are smart as hell, with tons of Wolfpack knowledge and perspective. Instead of engaging of taking 5 minutes to choose to elevate a single conversation, your one or two posts resemble that of turd.

    How can you claim one ounce of moral ground to judge others when you never spend any time sharing your view? I don’t get it.

    If an author says something that is not true…then correct it.

    If an author says something that is debateable…then have fun with the debate.

    If an author says something that you don’t agree with…then have fun with discussing your points.

    But, anyone who just wants to pop over and criticize any authors intentions, character, can kiss my ass…and can rest assured that they are wasting their time even bothering to type the characters. This isn’t f’ing Pack Pride.

    I implore anyone who ever decides to post here to ignore your urge to worry about the “why” and resist the urge to take personal barbs at the inside of the people willing to put themselves on the record. If you want that, you have Pack Pride and their intelligent conversations.

    Thank You.

  19. Trout 01/11/2006 at 11:00 AM #

    I agree that Fells should have gotten some court time in the last 2 minutes. BC had mailed it in by then.

    Anyone know if Costner is going to redshirt? Does that help us down the road?

  20. Zeke 01/11/2006 at 11:03 AM #

    The two posts I made today were my first ever on this site. On the first one, I guess I was surprised to read what I perceived to be an unwarranted comment on last night’s win. I responded to Mr. O’s comment in a moment of frustration.

    The second comment was an honest and legitimate question. I’m not sure why you took it as a “barb.” Isn’t the questioning of the “lazy” media types fair game?

    Finally, the two posts I made will be not only my first, but my last. Have fun with your “blog” in the future.

  21. choppack 01/11/2006 at 11:37 AM #

    “I do think in a game as one sided as this was that more than the eight guys that did play could have seen at least mop-up duty at the end. If Bubas, Smith, Drisell and Valvano could find a way then surely Herb can too. Team morale is important as well.”

    I’m tempted to agree – but I’m wondering Herb was sending a message to his starters and Fells. I guarantee you that he was fuming w/ his team’s offensive and defensive execution Saturday. I was really impressed w/ Fells at the R-W game – but he happens to play a position where we are currently in good shape. He may also be learning the kind of commitment that is expected in practice on a daily basis.

  22. Sammy Kent 01/11/2006 at 11:51 AM #

    Class of 74 is correct. This was the Carolina game better executed against a team that tanked. It was pretty much the Princeton-style side of the coin with the one HUGE difference being that Simmons didn’t stay beyond the arc all night. He was still out there more than I would have liked, but did a much better job this game of posting low and getting the ball. (Still I don’t blame him for his failure to do this last Saturday. It’s the coach’s job to know how to position and instruct his players and Herb didn’t.)

    We didn’t walk the ball up the court, but it still didn’t translate into any transition offense. We had zero fast break points, and again nearly half our FG attempts were threes. Fortunately, we made them, but ….mmmmmm……. Most of them were clean looks, but some were unnecessarily quick that went in anyway, and that last one by Cam with the clock running out was just the final proof that it was our night. Cam, as usual, was doing every little thing to make positive things happen. I love the way that kid plays ball.

    The most positive things on offense were our good shot selection, ball protection, 30 POINTS IN THE PAINT!!!!!, and (BIG thing here) that Ced demonstrated he can find the space, get the ball, and score baskets even against a sagging zone and triple coverage. On several occasions I was expecting him to pass it back out to a shooter when they collapsed on him, but he took it to the hole and scored anyway. I very much liked that!

    I would still like to see us push tempo and run more. I don’t think we can play this halfcourt style exclusively against teams like Dook and Carolina and win. Those teams play as aggresively as we do on D, and that still gets our guys rattled. Only against GW did we not show any fear when pressed. I’m thinking more and more that our fellows (and our coach) are still battling mentally with certain teams’ “mystique”. There’s no need for our guys to be hesitant and indecisive against Carolina and Dook just because they’re Carolina and Dook. We made GW pay for their pressure. Against Carolina we didn’t, and against Dook we never have. New mantra: NO FEAR!!!

  23. Class of '74 01/11/2006 at 11:54 AM #

    ^When I mentioned this I did so trying to put myself in those guys shoes that did not see any time. I remember what Vic Bubas once said about team morale and the importance of allowing everyone the opportunity to contrubute. He had a guy that played only when Duke had the games wrapped up. The guy was Fred Lind and old Fred in his final game as a Dukie at home against Carolina was forced to step up due to Mike Lewis and others fouling out. If not for those guys fouling out Fred wouldn’t have seen any time that particular game. But during that season he had seen some action in a mop-up role. Fred scored 16 points in the final two overtimes to beat UNC. One day we may have a Fred Lind situation and it may be beneficial for those guys to see a little action. Just my opinion.

  24. Mike 01/11/2006 at 12:01 PM #

    Happy to see the Pack play well. BC was awful, hopefully some of that was our play taking them out of their game, but either way they were uninspired. “I hate the ACC even though the ACC gave me my start” Packer said the students were gone on a couple of occasions, but good grief, I thought I was watching the game on mute. Since Packer was there, I probably should have muted.

    Last night was teamwork all around, a sign of excellent coaching. Was eating crow last night watching, but hoping it continues.

    Finally, I know this is unrelated, but what in the heck is happening to our fball team? Was hoping to read something on this but have not yet.

    Mario, can’t blame you. Morris???? No idea what he is thinking. Tulloch? NFL teams dont like undersized guys early. Usually a free agent that shows heart in camp can make a spot, but why leaving early? Cargo, read MAYBE a 3rd round pick. Senior year could get you higher. Am I the only one wondering?

  25. Class of '74 01/11/2006 at 12:05 PM #

    ^For Jeff’s 10:53 am post. I think it’s a diary but in this electronic age maybe we have an electronic dairy. The marriage of ag and the internet.

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