NC State beats the Cal Bears 58-52 and gets revenge for its 2003 first round overtime loss in Oklahoma City to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and battle Texas on Sunday afternoon at 4:45pm ET.
If you want to review many of the news reports, you can click here for a host of choices. Additionally, our own BJD did another fun “Live Blog” during the game. My most recent “Bytes” column can be found by clicking here.
NC State Irony
NC State wins an NCAA Tournament game in Texas by holding the opponent to 52 points. I seem to remember an NCAA Tournament game against a team from Texas that the Pack won by holding them to 52 points.
The Game
Here is the short version of what I saw last night:
(1) State FINALLY re-instituted Cedric Simmons into the offense. Golly-gee. Look at the results. I know. I know. It must be a real progressinve thought that a future NBA player who shoots 2 feet from the basket would be a high priority on offense…but, somehow last night it suddenly clicked. After Cedric got 18 field goal attempts at Duke in January, he averaged less than six attempts a game for the rest of the season. This is/was absurd. Cedric got 11 attempts in Friday night’s win. Surprise.
(2) State’s defense, particularly on the perimeter, was as good as it has been in a long time. Defense is about motivation…which is something that we haven’t seen much of this year. But, last night the team was a little more focused. To be fair, Cal’s offense sucked as they struggled with horrible spacing and very little motion. I don’t know if our perimeter defense was just that good, or if we benefited from them being so bad on offense. Either way, I don’t care.
(3) What was the deal with Herb Sendek FINALLY playing more people more often? Jeez. Why can Courtney Fells get key playing time in the NCAA Tournament first round but not smell the court during the entire regular season? Congratulations to Fells for being a key catlyst for the Pack in the first half when he nailed a three pointer in his first minute of playing time.
(4) I can’t make comments about the game without highlighting the play of Cameron Bennerman, who seems to always step-up and play well in Tournaments.
Importance of Ced
I thought that this entry at CBS Sportsline made some important points. Leon Powe means everything to Cal, and Cedric Simmons’ defensive presence meant the difference between a win and a loss last night. I just wish Sendek & State had been more successful in finding and utilizing true post presences in the past. I have no clue what the future holds for the Pack’s ability to attract good big men in light of Josh Powell’s situation and Simmons’ under-utlization the last two years.
Personal Irony
When State lost to Cal in 2003, I watched the game from a Dave & Busters in Austin, Texas (I was living in Houston at the time and often had business in Austin.) This year, State beats Cal in Dallas, TX by holding the Bears to the same amount points as the 1983 team defeated a team from Houston, TX, and will move on to match-up with the Longhorns from Austin Texas in the second round. I just thought that it was neat.
CBS
I thought that the CBS broadcasters really stuggled early. I gues that they did ok after they got settled in. Of course, the mistakenly introduced Herb Sendek as having been NC State’s coach for “thirteen seasons”. God save us. Do they know something that we don’t?
Additionally, CBS listed Sendek’s NCAA Tournament record as 5-5. This is correct when you include Sendek’s 1-1 record at Miami (OH). The CBS graphic probably should have been a little more specific.
Historical Note
Thanks to “scott” who shared this with us in the comments section below: The Texas game will be Herb Sendek’s 323rd at NC State, the exact number of games that Jim Valvano coached at State.
Apathy Update
FIVE years ago, I had the “pleasure” to sit down and talk about NC State’s Basketball program with Lee Fowler for over an hour. At one point in the meeting I made a self-depracating comment about Wolfpackers (and my) obviously high level of passion.
Fowler’s response was one of the only things he said that made sense and was to the tune of: “Oh..that’s a great thing. Nothing wrong with passion. It is when nobody cares; it is when we have the opposite that we have that we have a problem.”
Now, take a look at the comments from a person that attended the game:
Wolfpack Fans: With the exception of Melanie Sendek and crew, generally a bit lethargic. I think everyone was a bit reserved due to recent circumstances. Didn’t really get up much until Cam stuck the dagger in. But also difficult to get up too much given that there were only a few hundred people in the WPC section. Typically the nature at 1st round venues unless you get a top-seed location.
In the five years since Fowler shared his thoughts on apathy with me, he has so blindly, aggressively, and ridiculously supported Herb Sendek and criticized others that he can’t connect today’s reality with his supposed beliefs. But, I bet they sounded good to him when they were coming out of his mouth.
