Lavin: Personality of Team

General NCS Basketball Quotes of Note20

“They’re (NC State’s team & players) temperment really is an extension of Coach Sendek’s temperment”

Steve Lavin, ABC Television
February 18, 2006

General NCS Basketball Quotes of Note

20 Responses to Lavin: Personality of Team

  1. JimM 02/18/2006 at 7:26 PM #

    Steve Lavin “Master of the Obvious”

  2. Sammy Kent 02/18/2006 at 9:50 PM #

    I guess that means Herb often comes apart at the seams whenever he’s under pressure and a tight deadline. His teams sure do.

  3. packbackers 02/18/2006 at 11:35 PM #

    They certainly haven’t “come apart” at the seams (look at their record). Yes, they have lulls, but they WIN, just like today. What Lavin meant is they remain cool under pressure, as Sendek has had to do his entire tenure here, and as his team successfully did in the last two minutes today. Congrats to the Pack on a phenomenal season so far!

  4. WhitCanCoach 02/19/2006 at 10:57 AM #

    ^ That has got to be one of the funniest things that I have ever read.

    Herb Sendek is responsible for the largest collapse in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament History. Two weeks later, we lost a double figure lead in less than two minutes against an inferior Vandy team that could have sent us to the Sweet 16. The next year, we lost a double figure lead in the second half to an offensively horrible Wisconsin team in the NCAA.

    So cool under pressure.

  5. Jeff 02/19/2006 at 11:05 AM #

    ^ To Whit’s point, the Vandy loss was recently listed as the #9 best comeback (inverse says worse collapses) in the history of the NCAA Tournament. Link

    I wish I would have seen some of this coolness in then half dozen or so collapses that I have paid money to see in the Dean Dome over the last decade. Any one of them are embarassing…all of them combined are absurd.

    I went to the Duke game this year in Cameron. You know the one…where we were so cool that we scored like one field goal in the last 5 minutes of the game and were outscored by 13 points down the stretch?

    As we were walking to the car, these two old Duke fans were stepping out of Cameron and talking about the game. One guy (in a very nice, normal voice) was explaining to his friends, “That is Sendek’s hallmark. He always finds a way to give it away down the stretch.”

    My buddies and I just looked at each other and couldn’t say a word in light of his 20-32 overall record in one possession games after losing 17 of the last 23 one possession games in these “great” four and half years.

  6. packbackers 02/19/2006 at 11:39 PM #

    In those “one possession games”, you fail to include overtime games, and games that actually come down to “one possession”, but have a greater margin than three points because of last second fouls. And to the other comments by “Jeff” and “whitcancoach”, I guess some people continue to live in the past, while some of us prefer to enjoy this great season!

  7. JeremyHyatt 02/20/2006 at 12:35 AM #

    sounds like the case of rose-coloured glasses vs. black-coloured glasses, the truth is somewhere in the middle. I’m going to guess that someone will respond next with the “day-light compartment explanation” and someone will mention HSSS. I’m just enjoying and anicipating the rest of this season. Herb Sendek deserves his current success and so do the WolfPack Alums/fans –for putting in a lot of hard time over the years.

  8. class of '74 02/20/2006 at 6:48 AM #

    Hard to believe but Lavin is worse as tv guy than he was as a coach. When will the media learn guys like Lavin, Cremins, C. Ellis etc. make TV mute buttons light up light a crack dealers phone on payday!

  9. choppack 02/20/2006 at 8:59 AM #

    “That is Sendek’s hallmark. He always finds a way to give it away down the stretch.â€?

    That’s also one of Coach K’s trademarks. His team blew an 8 point lead w/ 3 minutes left vs. UMd in the ACC finals 2 years ago. The same year they also blew an 8 point lead in the last 5 minutes vs. UConn in the semi-finals. A couple years ago, they blew a 15 point lead to the Kentucky Wildcats. In his first championship game in 86, they led almost all of the second half, then wilted down the stretch. Heck, this year, against BC they pretty much blew a 18 point second half lead too.

    Don’t get me wrong – Sendek can’t hold a candle to Coach K. The point is that every coach has a weakness – but these weaknesses can be overcome or minimized under the right circumstances.

  10. FrankDaTank 02/20/2006 at 9:32 AM #

    ^ Was that just one year or two years after Sendek blew a double digit lead in the last 8 minutes of the ACC Tournament Final against K?

    If K collapses so much, why haven’t we be able to take advantage of the trend to improve our 3-21 record vs him?

  11. class of '74 02/20/2006 at 9:47 AM #

    K’s tradmark would be winning I believe.

  12. choppack 02/20/2006 at 10:10 AM #

    Class of 74 – You are correct. However, his teams – especially in the big games are more likely to blow a lead than they are to just get dominated or trail most of the game.

    I’ve said it before and I think it bears repeating – every coach has weaknesses. At the end of the day, the question is can those weaknesses be overcome or minimized enough through their strengths to get the job done.

    I don’t think anyone (at present) would say that the last 5 minutes of a game are where Sendek excels. However, he does excel at preparation and his teams generally shoot foul shots very well. IMHO, this is why we’re in most games and why we’re able to win more than we lose (at least in the last 5 years.)

  13. class of '74 02/20/2006 at 10:31 AM #

    ^if you play enough gmes you’ll blow some leads. Case did, Bubas did, Smith did, Wooten did. You can’t win as many titles as he’s won and say you’re anything but a big time winner.

  14. Mick 02/20/2006 at 10:53 AM #

    You people who compare Herb to K (or any other top flight coach) crack me up. Is there nothing you will stoop to in order to prop up Herb? Herb is 21-5 (10-3) this year. Even with the inconsistent play and the somehow predictable scoring droughts, the W-L record is the only measurement you need to use to prop up Herb. He finally (after 10 years) has a really good team. But to deny or to deflect the fact that Herb’s teams have a penchant for blowing huge leads is absurd.

  15. choppack 02/20/2006 at 10:57 AM #

    Mick – PLEASE READ THE ACTUAL POST INSTEAD OF JUMPING TO ERRONEOUS CONCLUSIONS….In my post I wrote:

    “Don’t get me wrong – Sendek can’t hold a candle to Coach K. ”

    Class of ’74 – Case was before my time – what happened to him in the NCAAs. I know he didn’t win any titles – how did he lose those games? (This shouldn’t be interpretted as a knock against Case, since some will undoubtedly take it that way, just a simple question.)

  16. Mick 02/20/2006 at 11:21 AM #

    choppack – I read your entries. Your comparison is disingenuous. You try to mitigate Herb’s career pattern of blowing leads by saying that one of the best coaches in college history has blown some leads. It’s a typical deflection tactic used by people who need to prop up Herb in ways that don’t mean anything. As I stated in my reply, if you feel the need to defend Herb, use his W-L record from this year. As for me, I just like it when State wins, regardless of who the coach is.

  17. class of '74 02/20/2006 at 11:21 AM #

    Just my opinion on all records prior to 1975. The ACC toournament was so big and exhausting that it seemed to sap everones energy to the point we never seemed to be able to get to the final four. And we, as a conference, had a bye to the eastern regionals every year!

    If you examine the records we have had more titles and final fours since the ACCT is no longer the sole determinent of our representative than prior to the changes.

  18. choppack 02/20/2006 at 11:46 AM #

    “Your comparison is disingenuous. You try to mitigate Herb’s career pattern of blowing leads by saying that one of the best coaches in college history has blown some leads. It’s a typical deflection tactic used by people who need to prop up Herb in ways that don’t mean anything. As I stated in my reply, if you feel the need to defend Herb, use his W-L record from this year. As for me, I just like it when State wins, regardless of who the coach is.”

    I like it when State wins, too. There is no deflection – it’s all about wins and losses. Please read my stuff – when I say – “the last 5 minutes is clearly not an area where Sendek excels” what am I saying? Or are you saying that Coach K hasn’t blown big leads in big games?

    I stand by remark that Coach K is an average coach in the last 5 minutes of the game. I don’t konw how many times I have to repeat this fact:

    No coach is perfect and a coaches success depends on whether or not his strengths can overcome his weaknesses. Coach V was a fantastic game-time coach. He sometimes struggled in preparation and in having his team play consistently night in and night-out.

    Was V a better coach than Sendek? Yes.

    Was V a perfect coach? No.

  19. Mick 02/20/2006 at 12:19 PM #

    Now V is brought up? Where did that come from?

    If you want to discuss K’s coaching temperment and blow leads, I’m sure there is a forum for that somewhere.

    Enjoy!

  20. choppack 02/20/2006 at 1:22 PM #

    When discussing coaches – I like to compare them to others.

    I think it’s a valid criticism of him and I’ve said so in the past. However, I am saying that it can be overcome. We’ve managed to get W’s in more of the close games than the losses this year – which is why we’ve -to date – had a pretty impressive year.

    Ultimately, whether this year is just looked at as “nice” or whether it’s truly special will be determined by our ability to win these close games that will come up down the stretch.

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