Herb’s GOLDEN Opportunity!

General NCS Basketball24

In addition to Coach Herb Sendek’s unacceptable record against half-decent teams in his tenure at NC State, the #1 complaint that most fans have FINALLY been logging against Herb Zendeck is his horrendous record against NC State’s historically chief rivals – UNC-CH, Duke, and Wake Forest. The overall record compared to NC State historical numbers are summarized below:

vs Big4

Well…after Wake Forest’s win over Florida State this afternoon, Herb Sendek has stumbled upon the opportunity of a lifetime!!!

The way that the ACC Tournament brackets line up, Herb Sendek has the very real opportunity to defeat the entire Big Four on his way to his first Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. If things fall as they could, State could match up with Wake Forest on Friday, followed by Duke on Saturday, followed by Carolina on Sunday. Can you imagine the irony in Sendek FINALLY breaking through to a Championship after the longest drought of any coach in NC State Basketball history by sweeping the Big Four against which he has struggled so mightily?

Talk about an opportunity for sweet REDEMPTION!

And, how about this for irony? The last time that NC State won an ACC Championship (in 1987), Jim Valvano’s Wolfpack defeated Duke, Wake Forest, and Carolina for the crown.

Coach Sendek,

I say STICK IT TO US!!! Stick it to us all this weekend!!!!

Make all the naysayers pay by showing us that you are better than you have been given credit for!!! Too many Wolfpack fans have criticized your record for years. You have been castigated as everything from “mediocre” to a manipulative, opportunistic loser who is motivated by a paycheck and is interested in personal relationships only when they serve to better your career.

And now…in your TENTH SEASON of opportunity to break through with what the rest of the world calls success….the stars have lined up for you.

Your supporters have proclaimed all season that this is by far your “best team”. You have had more opportunity to leverage some of the richest basketball resources in the country to build “your program”. You have THREE STARTING SENIORS to lead the squad because you FINALLY have a team that hasn’t been stricken by your history of leading the ACC in transfers & defections (since your arrival a decade ago).

Wake Forest is the worst team in the ACC. Duke is playing like crap right now. And Carolina lost 93% of their team last year and has a roster comprised primarily of 2 former walk-ons and freshmen playing in their first ACC Tournament.

You couldn’t ask for more of an opportunity. NOW IS THE TIME!!! Now is YOUR CHANCE to stick in the craw of all of us red-neck NC State fans whom you loathe so much deep down inside.

Give it to us good!! Give it to us good and laugh at us when you are cutting down the nets on Sunday afternoon. Heck…you can even laugh at us so much that you may decide to teach us all a lesson and use your Championship to bolt of greener pastures. You will have capitalized and cashed in on your golden opportunity. You’ll deserve it!!!

Don’t you think it is about time?

Stats of Note:
Interesting State-Wake stats can be found by clicking here.

* State is 8-3 against Wake Forest in 11 ACC Tournament match-ups

* NC State has won its last five meetings with Wake in the tourney, including a 3-0 mark under Herb Sendek

* Last season, NC State knocked off the second-seeded Deacons in the quarterfinals

* In 2004, State defeated top-seed WFU in the semifinals

* Similar to this season, in 1999 NC State laid an embarassing egg on the last weekend of the regular season at Wake Forest and defeated the Demon Deacons the next week in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

Let no one accuse me of not being a fanatically optimistic Wolfpacker!! Earlier today I went out on a limb and picked NC State to win this year’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. (Please log your thoughts “On the Record” by clicking here)

General NCS Basketball

24 Responses to Herb’s GOLDEN Opportunity!

  1. kevin 03/09/2006 at 6:10 PM #

    you are setting coach up for a fall.

    I like your optimism. I like our experience too. It’s just our most experienced players are coming off injuries.

    Let’s pull one out.

  2. forst8 03/09/2006 at 6:22 PM #

    What a shame, the first response is an excuse but time for excuses has passed. Its time to take advantage of this opportunity. We want this championship.

  3. Sammy Kent 03/09/2006 at 6:42 PM #

    Yeah, well, I liked our chances better against FSU. But, I’ll admit I think we make the finals if we win tomorrow. I really think we’ll beat Dook. And who knows, maybe we can shoot 50% on threes for three games in a row and win the whole shooting match. It’s a pretty stupid, shakey foundation to try and win a championship or build a program on, but it’s the only one Herb seems to want to work with. I really do hope he takes another job somewhere else, even if he goes 3-0 this weekend (unless he does so by bringing the GW/Dook/BC gameplan out of the closet).

  4. Jerry 03/09/2006 at 6:46 PM #

    Wouldn’t get my hopes too high. Ten year history speaks for itself. I was in school and remember the pre-Robinson years. Will never be the same until changes are made at the top, even if he celebrates championship on Sunday

  5. kevin 03/09/2006 at 6:50 PM #

    No excuses for… just facts. The writer mentions our experience as a factor in the coming games. I simply a pointing out that we may not have the full benefit of that experience.

    I hope we pull it out. We are due.

  6. Cardiff Giant 03/09/2006 at 7:06 PM #

    For my part, I hear a chicken clucking as it prepares to lay an enormous egg.

    Herb will trigger a season rally for yet another allegedly inferior ACC team by flailing to defeat against Wake tomorrow.

  7. Andy 03/09/2006 at 7:06 PM #

    LOL. I wouldn’t expect ol’ Herbert to make much of his 24 karat opportunity. I will be happy if we avenge our shameful ass kicking at the hands of cellar dweller Wake.

  8. Kingfish 03/09/2006 at 7:48 PM #

    The only optimism is this:

    State loses 2 more in a row so this miserable season can end finally.

    We feed on cupcakes and mediocrity.

  9. Shereef 03/09/2006 at 7:58 PM #

    Exactly what I was thinking after Wake won against FSU. If Sendek can’t motivate this team, at this moment then he never will. Sendek needs to tell them in this one tournament NC State has the chance to banish it’s three biggest rivals! In front of a national audience and unite the ENTIRE Wolfpack Nation, which hasn’t happened in very long time.

  10. Packmaster 03/09/2006 at 8:58 PM #

    The opportunity is there tommorow as its always been. But just as its always been, Herb will live or die by the “three”..Expect a funeral.
    Until he finally gives up on that laughed at offense, and let our guys run and play the game, we will see the same ol results. We win against the cellar dweller tommorow..Get crushed by Duke..Then taper off in the 2nd round of the dance. Herb will return next year, and continue to schedule cupcakes..Barely squeak in just enough wins against not so impressive teams, then get plastured by Duke and UNC. Think this year’s loss was bad? Have you heard about the class Ol Roy has comming in?
    * #2 and #4 center
    * #1 pf
    * #1 pg
    And a couple more top 20 players as well.

  11. Daniel 03/09/2006 at 9:59 PM #

    We need to just focus all investment and energy on our rifle team, the only bright spot in a grim athletics picture.

  12. Greg 03/09/2006 at 10:22 PM #

    Herb’s record is 5-17 vs UNC. What was Valvano’s? I recall 5-16 or something like that. Does anyone know Stormin’ Norman’s record? I hope your prediction for the tournament comes true!

  13. nebrwolf 03/09/2006 at 10:29 PM #

    And pigs will fly (but I hope the greener pastures prediction comes true anyway). However, with Herb’s ACC tourney history, I wouldn’t be the least surprised to have that carrot dangled for a game or two only to blow it (again) when it counts for something. This year, the moral victory won’t apply.

  14. RedFred 03/09/2006 at 10:34 PM #

    I just received a call from a friend who graduated at Carolina and is pretty well connected with the heavyweights in the Raleigh area. He said that behind the scenes NCSU is ready to or has already offered Sendek five more years as a show of confidence. In what, I do not know. Somebody PLEASE tell me that no such offer is already in the works.

  15. TomA. 03/09/2006 at 11:31 PM #

    Is it just me or am I the only one who keeps thinking of Friday as the first round of the ACCT? Old habits really do die hard! That said I have to admit that if NCSU does crash early in the ACCT and the NCAA that there may finally be a movement in the right (ie monied alumni) places to rectify the coaching situation. It doesn’t look like this is going to be the “dream season” everyone was talking about a few short weeks ago. Well no matter what I will never turn my back on the team I have pulled for my whole life…through good or bad it’s always GO PACK!

  16. classof63 03/09/2006 at 11:35 PM #

    i do hope we do well aginst wf hope herb has a video of the last 5 minutes fsu had the classic hung dog look we got to get it together and play intense on both ends of court

  17. class of '74 03/10/2006 at 6:37 AM #

    Anything is possible, congress could repeal income taxes, Hamas and Israel could kiss and makeup, Roy could resign and Matt D. return and finally K’s back problems flare-up and P. Gaudet returns to the Duke bench. Short of these miracles, I can’t possibly imagine the laconic Sendek led Wolfpack doing more than squeezing by a woeful WF. Then being destroyed by a hungry Duke squad.

  18. BJD95 03/10/2006 at 9:08 AM #

    It is a good setup, although I tend to see it as: (i) playing the ACC’s worst team; then (ii) playing a cold Duke team that we match up with MUCH better than UNC; then (iii) possibly playing the only non-Duke team that could beat UNC for us (BC) in the finals – a team that we took to 2OT despite playing poorly, and took to the woodshed when we did play well.

  19. lumberpack 03/10/2006 at 10:41 AM #

    Greg,

    I thought vavlano was 6-16 against Dean Smith

    I do know that he started 0-6 the first 2 years and was swept by Smith after his first two years only in 87-88 and 83-84. He didn’t earn his wins over the junior chipmunk coach.

  20. Jeff 03/10/2006 at 12:11 PM #

    What was Herb’s winning percentage vs Dean Smith?

    Valvano competed with Smith & Carolina at the height of their peak and still had a better record vs them than Herb has despite the luxury of competing against them at a time of unparalled turnover.

    Isn’t it our loser fans that tell us that continuity is so important? They had 4 coaches in a 7 year time span and Herb still had a worse record than V did vs the great Dean Smith.

  21. Jeff C 03/10/2006 at 3:54 PM #

    That loser has GOT TO GO!!!!

    Getting spanked by the worst team in the ACC 2X in 2 weeks??

    No more excuses… Herb is not an effective coach and that’s about as nice as I can put it.

  22. cfpack06 03/10/2006 at 4:05 PM #

    This is humiliating…
    Here’s to a 9 seed in the NCAAT and a first round loss

  23. Jeff 03/10/2006 at 5:09 PM #

    Oh well…Wait til next year.

    BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!

  24. Lewis SaLEM 03/11/2006 at 12:02 AM #

    Wake is streaking… they have nothing to lose. If you’ve watched them this year you’d see that many of their losses were close games that were lost in the last 10 minutes of the game. How could you call today’s wolfpack loss humiliating? I had to go through the whole “nut-gate” hodge thing last year, losing to WV early in the tourney, then barely beating George Mason? Come on.

    Try losing your four in a row at home. With a team that was ranked #1 last season. Wake has had to overcome much more.

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