8-38?

Much of the Sendek debate is summed up in a simple statistic: 8-38:

“8” is the number of wins Sendek’s program has against UNC and Duke, collectively, in 46 attempts.

“38” is the number of losses Sendek’s program has against those two schools.

And not to engage in Sendek Supporter Math (kind of like Curry Math, but without the excuse for natural stupidity), but take out a Gaudet win here * and a D’oh win there and it’s even more dismal. So dismal, in fact, that I won’t bother to do it.

Memo to Lee Fowler: Wake up, Jethro. This record SUCKS. It’s not even close to competitive. And for reasons I can’t fathom, you and Wendell Murphy and Smedes York and the rest of the high rollers/yahoos involved can’t seem to recognize that. **

Why? Is your institutional sense of inferiority that entrenched, and that manifest? Or do you somehow – as much as I hate noun verbs, and particularly Sendekian noun verbs – compartmentalize yourselves into believing that we are NOT the prison shower punk of Triangle basketball with a record like this?

Where’s the outrage?

* I was being a little too Curry Math cute here; to make my lamo joke clear, Petey doesn’t count because it was before Sendek’s tenure.
** Well, in Jethro’s case I can. His one signature skill, or so it seems, is running second tier athletic programs where no one goes to jail.

General NCS Basketball

10 Responses to 8-38?

  1. WTNY 03/06/2006 at 6:56 PM #

    An ACC Title or Final Four berth would certainly soften the blow of a 17.4% rate against those two. Even an ACC Regular Season “title”.

    And FYI, Duke’s CoachK-bad-back-Gaudet year was ’95, two years before Sendek.

  2. Andy 03/06/2006 at 6:58 PM #

    If theres a prison shower analogy that doesn’t make me laugh I haven’t read it.

  3. Jeff 03/06/2006 at 7:40 PM #

    Wow!! The new author doesn’t hold back!

  4. Cardiff Giant 03/06/2006 at 7:51 PM #

    I was being a little too cute with Gaudet, the Curry Math issue being that counting the wins was impossible as they occurred prior to Sendek’s tenure. But looking at it again, I need to make that clearer. Thanks WTNY.

  5. Cardiac95 03/06/2006 at 8:40 PM #

    Of course the problem with winning an ACC Title or reaching a Final 4 is that we’d actually have to beat Duke or unc (or both) or someone just as good, to do so.

    Since our record vs unc/duke mirrors our overall record vs. the Top 25….. I’ll not be holding my breath in anticipation.

  6. Tripp 03/06/2006 at 9:46 PM #

    More data to expose this so called “streak”:
    Over this 5 year run (including this year) Herb’s record against +50 RPI teams is 20-36 (35%). It ranks 6th behind Duke, Wake, Maryland, BC and UNC over 2002-2006.
    Even more disturbing is that he’s never gone over 0.500 in that period, peaking at 7-7 in 2004. Our company who also have not gone 0.500 in the last 5 years: UVA, FSU, Clemson and VT. (Yep, Miami even did it in the Big East.) We want to be Duke and UNC, we can’t escape the levels of FSU and VT against top competition.

  7. class of '74 03/07/2006 at 6:21 AM #

    Herb is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to K and Roy.

  8. K-class of 80 03/07/2006 at 10:27 AM #

    Clean program, kids graduate, NCAA tourney appearance. As long as Herb has these things he will be here. We must accept this at
    Mediocre U.

  9. Wolf@TheBeach 03/10/2006 at 8:43 AM #

    For me it’s not really the w/l record against the big 4 though I am not happy about it. For this STATE grad it’s that we have a head coach who just doesn’t have the passion it takes to be a champion. I know Herb’s smart because everyone tells me so. I know he wants to win because HE tells me so. I know he dosen’t like losing to DUK and I8UNC because he tells me so. BUT WHAT I REALLY WANT TO SEE ONCE AGAIN IN STATE BASKETBALL IS PASSION. PASSION FROM THE COACH AND FROM THE PLAYERS. If we lose to DUK or I8UNC but my coach is completely incensed and mad as hell and the players have left absolutely everything on floor and I can see that my team gave it our best then I will accept it. I am after all a true WOLFPACKER. But what I can no longer support is a coach who shows me how smart he is but stands there in game situations and does nothing. Hey Herb why don’t you watch Roy and learn that you win big 4 games with your heart and not with your head. I will continue to check the box scores to see how close Herb was able to keep the games until that last few miniutes before another team who plays with heart and wants it more pulls away and wins. But until we have a new head coach who can bring back the WOLFPACK passion (remember Coach V?) I will not be watching us keep it close. GO PACK! Class of ’83.

  10. DaveClass '94 03/20/2006 at 11:29 AM #

    I agree that Herb does not have the inerds to be a champion. He doesn’t use his players to the best of there ability, he doesn’t run a champion style offense that adapts to game situations. He has no concept of when to call a time out! The player are the tell tale sign of the coaching flaws. When you see Gavin Grant dominating the post and Bennerman with Pippen-like skills both slowed down to run the Princess offence, the finger points to the coach. When you don’t attempt to rebound on the offensive end that points to the coach. Caution should be exercised to make sure that we find a champion caliber coach rather than change out of frustration. Champions have it inside them and they can be found in many different places. Passion in leadership and teaching skills are what matter. As a die hard Wolfpack fan I almost long for Les Robinson days when we lost a bunch of close games and beat the tarheels. But seriously there is no excuse for the great University of North Carolina State not to be a national contender. The best state the best conference and the best facilities.

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