Lots of great basketball all over the country yesterday. I thought that we would just highlight some random thoughts as the sports world turns its focus on NFL Football later today.
===> Pack Pulls Away
BJD did a super job on the live blog yesterday during the Wake game. It was so good that the N&O’s Blog linked it up real time. Thanks a lot!! It is much appreciated. (Man, that’s got to be a thorn in the side of the jack-ass loser posters at other websites who are “StatefansNation Haters”.)
It was very nice to get a win against a Big Four opponent while also scoring in the 90s. Macro-level, I happily agree with the Durham Herald-Sun‘s comments:
What Sendek’s team did on this day was impressive. It played with poise and composure without the lead and when it was all over, people were saying the obvious — this is a pretty good Wolfpack team.
Pack Pride’s Daily Webrun will direct you to anything that you want to read on the game.
===> The National Position of the Pack
The season is shaping up to be as fun as the 2003- 2004 season…and it is so much more fun following standings, rankings, and ratings when the focus is on projected NCAAT seeding and national attention than when we are sitting on the bubble.
Cedric Simmons recent success has served to place the Pack on many national radars, like Mike DeCourcy’s. Hopefully this attention will start to boost the perspective of the Pack in the general fans’ minds – FoxSports.com’s fan poll currently has the 14th ranked Wolfpack ranked as #20 in the country.
A variety of media sources currently project NC State as a #4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But, because of the program’s struggles against highly rated competition (State is 0-2 vs teams in the RPI’s Top 20), few outlets have the guts to project a tournament run far past the Sweet 16.
Herb Sendek’s Wolfpack look fully capable of another run to the Sweet 16. And you might be able to tack on another round to that projection if sophomore post Cedric Simmons (28 points, nine rebounds, seven blocked shots and three steals against the Blue Devils) continues his rapid rate of improvement.
===> The ACC Position of the Pack
NC State currently has an extra ACC game under our belt than most of the conference. After Carolina travels to Florida State tonight, and then State plays Seton Hall next week when most of the conference is going head to head, all teams will generally be on the same “total games” schedule. Seton Hall is currently ranked #85 in the RPI.
===> Congratulations, Georgetown
Just last week I watched a biography on John Thompson, III on HBO’s Real Sports. It was the most intimate look that I had ever seen at JTIII; and, unlike his father, this guy is almost impossible not to like. What a (seemingly) great guy
From the ACC’s perspective, it was a tough pill to swallow to Duke lose to Georgetown. But, watching the HBO piece and feeling closer to JTIII helped cushion the blow a little bit. This was an interesting article today.
This game obviously leaves the sad population of excuse-mongering NC State fans perplexed with how a 2nd year head coach (at Georgetown) beat Coach Coach K…with a PRINCETON OFFENSE?! Wow. He hasn’t even had a decade to ‘develop” and recruit “his players”. It must be G’Town’s great fans who had succeeded in selling out the 20,000 seat MCI Center ONE TIME in history prior to yesterday’s game. Yeah. That must be it.
===> Congratulations, Tennessee
You really gotta give Seth Davis credit for staking the prediction before the game. Are you paying attention to what is happening in Knoxville?
How in the WORLD has Bruce Pearl put Tennessee in the Top 10 of every computer model in the country in his FIRST YEAR of taking over a program that was so bad that they chose to fire their old coach? How is this possible?
Surely the UT fans are regretting the decision to fire such a “good guy” like Buzz right now? (Man, I really wish that I had the time to chronicle of the idiotic comments that folks make over on Pack Pride in past conversations about Bruce Pearl).
Congrats to Tennessee for making such a significant national impact so early in Pearl’s tenure.
