“Quest for Last” Almost Complete

07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball114

With Virginia’s 76-74 win over Georgia Tech last night, NC State is just one small step away from claiming the cellar in the ACC, along with the #12 seed in the ACCT. As long as the Wolfpack loses as expected at Wake Forest on Saturday (or Virginia and Boston College each wins 1 of its last 2 games), the quest will be complete. The Pack loses all tiebreakers, having won no games against Virginia, Georgia Tech, or Boston College.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball

114 Responses to “Quest for Last” Almost Complete

  1. highstick 03/04/2008 at 10:19 AM #

    Noah, I think Grundy was being factitious about the “play in game” We win it by default. We should be playing the 13th team in the league for a tourney slot.

  2. Ed89 03/04/2008 at 10:24 AM #

    ^^^We should be playing the 13th team in the league for a tourney slot.

    Would that be ECU??? Oh &^%$#!!! 🙂

  3. beowolf 03/04/2008 at 10:33 AM #

    Anyone experiencing a “high” off a good effort in the loss against Duke really needs to try something a little stronger for a more potent high. Like cough medicine, for instance.

  4. boonami 03/04/2008 at 10:46 AM #

    ^ “I picked the wrong season to stop sniffing glue”

    I agree Beowolf. the effort against Duke didn’t give me a high but pissed me off even more but it shows what our team can do if the effort is there. granted I think Duke is overrated this year and if they don’t hit 3’s they’re toast, but still, as Pete Gillen said, Duke is Duke.

  5. 4in12 03/04/2008 at 10:51 AM #

    The 11th seed plays into the 2/3 side of the bracket so it’s much better to be 11th than 12th. To get to 11th we need to beat Wake and have either UVa or BC lose out. I figure we have about a 50/50 chance to make 11th (but I’m not putting any money on it).

  6. Stoner 03/04/2008 at 10:59 AM #

    I’d never pull for the Wolfpack to lose and if we can run the table, in four games, and win the ACC, I don’t care how botched the season has been or win three games and get to the finals, even if we come up short.

    We’ve underachieved badly, but in the end – for fans anyway – is to wait and see who leaves early and how many scholarships open up for 2009.

    Two good recruiting classes for 2009 and 2010 can turn this program around in a heartbeat. We have some talented players, but the longer I look at this team the more I realize the talent is so unevenly distributed – the PF / C spot is deep, though Costner and McCauley underperformed, the ability to be better is there, while SF and SG were just Gavin and Courtney for most of the year, and PG was manned by reaching for transfers and a diamond-in-the-rough in Javi – I guess hoping the talent laden positions could perform to offset the deficincies in other areas, might’ve been hoping for too much.

    Things to be happy about for next year: the improvement of Ferguson, gives us some depth at SG, which we lacked all year. The recruitment of Mays will give us some depth at guard. The return of Farnold Degand, combined with the improvement of Javi this year (even if he has peaked), gives us a competent (not spectacular) set of PG’s, so we don’t have to cringe when one of them has to go out of the game and the back up takes the floor. Basically the backcourt’s looking better, than what we had at the start of this year.

    Hopefully Hickson comes back, Smith improves, and Horner gets his shooting touch back.

    Personnel wise we are better off than we were at the start of this year and hopefully no one gets replaced by their Bizarro-world double next year, like Costner and McCauley seemed to be this year.

    Losing a SF isn’t as tough to overcome as bad guard play, in my opinion and even if our SF isn’t scoring, as long as he’s rebounding and defending, we should be O.K.

    For all the frustration I’ve had this year, that crazy hope-thingy is creeping back in and hopefully next year won’t be so bad.

  7. Ed89 03/04/2008 at 10:59 AM #

    ^^concur, but my point is that I don’t see much difference between the 2/3 side of the bracket and the 1/4 side. I haven’t studied it that close, but it’s still up in the air as to who gets the #1 seed — it will be decided on Saturday night, I guess.

  8. choppack1 03/04/2008 at 11:04 AM #

    Beo – I was using that term somewhat tongue and cheek, but I wasn’t displeased w/ our effort. I was disgusted, but only because it proved just how badly we’d been mailing it in for the majority of our conference games this year. This is opposed to being disgusted w/ our effort in general.

  9. RBCRowdy 03/04/2008 at 11:06 AM #

    Sorry, but I cant allow the effort in the Duke game overcome the disgusting season we have had so far. Wake Forest is a bubble team, we are a CBI classic bubble team. If they show up Saturday I’ll be glad because I want us to do well, but based on this season I cant expect anything like that.

  10. thebigwood 03/04/2008 at 11:13 AM #

    ^^^^will Degand be able to return next season at 100%?

  11. 4in12 03/04/2008 at 11:13 AM #

    If we win the play-in from 11th I see us playing Clemson, Duke, UNC-CH. If we win the play-in from 12th I see us playing UMd, UNC-CH, Duke. I like our chances better from 11th.

  12. RedTerror29 03/04/2008 at 11:18 AM #

    I experienced a brief high off the effort from the Duke game, that quickly transitioned into the dual hangover of a loss and another reminder that we should have a MUCH better record than we do.

  13. travelwolf 03/04/2008 at 11:47 AM #

    i watched some of the duke game again – and was impressed with how gonzo threw off his defenders by changing directions and positioning his body. he still had some slip-ups, though. he may not be the faster guard, but he must be a quick learner. Lowe has done an amazing job with him this season. i just hope he’s learning quick enough to be effective in the Acc Tournament.

  14. vtpackfan 03/04/2008 at 12:07 PM #

    To poster who contributed:
    “However, most of all, I want the staff to enter the off-season with a sense of desperation. I want them to be in pain, to the point of fearing for their jobs (as if Lee would fire them, HA!). I want them to completely revisit their ideas on off-season workouts, motivation, defensive schemes, offensive pace and team-first philosophies. I want Sid to consider staff changes, if necessary. This lousy season will have been a total waste if Sid doesn’t take a lot of the trouble to heart. We’re now entering year 3, it’s no longer about what we were in 2006, it’s about what Sid has made and will make us for 2008-2010.”

    BJD: That’s a great paragraph right there. Couldn’t agree more.

    I know that to not mix business with personnel issues was your intent, so this is in no one to point the finger at you for being off base.

    It’s just reading the words “I want them to be in pain, to the point of fearing for their jobs.” and rationalizing that with the serious pain our HC has had to endure the past year makes me a little sick to my stomach.

    Sorry, probably just me..

  15. DRW 03/04/2008 at 12:13 PM #

    Does anybody know who we play in conference next year? I know we always play UNC and Wake home and home every year.

    They set the matchups years in advance, I think. I looked for a link but couldn’t find it.

  16. vtpackfan 03/04/2008 at 12:14 PM #

    “..well, shit, I don’t know what I’m going to do. But it’s going to be a very damning sign for Lowe.”

    Noah, I enjoy reading your comments on most everything on this site. They’re errr… provocative. Seriously, $h!tty or not, we all know the just of what your going (to do) and how you will communicate it.

    Your post about the disdain you feel for HC Lowe are beggining to read like Jack Nicholson’s charater in “The Shinning” book drafts.

  17. packbackr04 03/04/2008 at 12:17 PM #

    im with noah on that, there needs to be a shake up with the asst coaches. With Towe and Strickland at the front of the line. He needs to get a strength and conditioning coach, and some new blood on the bench. or it prob will cost him his job

  18. ShootingGuard 03/04/2008 at 12:21 PM #

    This team should have done better than it did, but this team did NOT have the talent to finish 3rd in the conference this year.

    This was a team composed mostly of players who had one great run at the end of last year led by a 4-year starting point guard LEADER.

    Without that leader, this team pulled a “Wake Forest without Chris Paul” tumble. That Wake Forest team, btw, had a lot of talent, including a dagger shooting guard, and an experienced college coach.

    So, do the math. Subtract your LEADER and POINT GUARD. Subtract OUTSIDE SHOOTING Add in a potential superstar but inexperienced freshman center. Add in cockiness over one short run to end last year culminating in a 4 loss prediction. Add in overhype and overblown expectations from the media keeping the players reading their press clippings all summer rather than working to get better. Add in a couple key injuries. Add in 2 players recruited for their supposed “character quotients” not welcoming a center who could truly help the team win more than 5 ACC games as was done on “character quotient” kids’ watch the year before. Sounds like a train wreck to me…

    (Again, this team should have done WAY better than it did, but let’s don’t fool ourselves AGAIN into thinking that adding a center who can’t pass to himself somehow makes up for the lack of experience and leadership at the point. That’s fuzzy math…)

    The only bright side would be if ALL of the returning players spend the offseason thinking about their last place finish and reading press clippings about how terrible they were and come back with a vengeance next year.

  19. Howler 03/04/2008 at 12:22 PM #

    I agree that Gonzales is starting to develop a signature move with his change of direction and change of speed. Just like in the old days with Corchiani, it shows that the best point guard is not always the fastest guy on the court. I always enjoyed what I considered to be Corchiani’s signature move, getting a defender behind him and then stopping on a dime with the dribble and making the defender crawl all over his back, drawing the foul. Seemed like he did that 2 or 3 times a game. I would like to see Gonzales shaking himself loose for a layup 2 or 3 times a game.

  20. Ed89 03/04/2008 at 12:40 PM #

    ^^^^im with noah on that, there needs to be a shake up with the asst coaches. With Towe and Strickland at the front of the line. He needs to get a strength and conditioning coach, and some new blood on the bench. or it prob will cost him his job

    Count me as one that totally DISAGREES. You can’t lay this on the Assistants…Towe and Strickland both have alot of experience. My friend went to a practice and mentioned that Strickland was the most vocal/active coach on the court during practice. Lowe knows what he’s doing, and he should make personnel changes as he sees fit, but how do most people feel about a CEO that fires his managers while he still collects his bonus paycheck at the end – thus putting the blame on those under him. Ultimately, it’s Sid’s team, and unless there are other circumstances, Coach Lowe should evaluate each member of the Staff, and if he deems it necessary, make changes.

    For any of us to try to speculate on who should/shouldn’t be fired is quite over-the-top IMO. Trying to be nice, but it’s a bunch of ^&(%$. Look at the development of Javi — do you think that’s ALL Coach Lowe — the Head Coach. Two other former PG’s are on this Staff, Towe and Strickland, both of which have worked individually with Gonzalez, I’m sure. Until we have concrete evidence that ANY of our coaches isn’t up to par, we should not be calling for any dismissals, etc. That being said, I don’t think there is such a thing as being “too in-shape or too strong.”

  21. haze 03/04/2008 at 12:43 PM #

    VT,

    The personal stuff for Sidney has been wrenching. I feel for him. However, I don’t feel that it’s appropriate to read those issues into the topic of basketball performance b/c there is absolutely no way to know the degree of the impact.

    In commenting on “pain”, I’m being mildly hyperbolic and reactionary. There is a hypothesis in my mind (and others I’m sure) that part of our issue this year stemmed from a staff that was over-confident during the off-season following last year’s red-jacket charge. Signs include the apparent lack of physical prep for the team as well as the rumors that some staff were asking about raises after a single season pass at the NIT. Anyway, that hypothesis may not be valid but, as a bit of a test, I do want this coming off-season to be diametrically opposed. I want to see the product that comes from a staff that is fighting for respectability, if not for their livelihoods. I don’t think that’s particularly cruel on my part (nor important as I clearly have no influence on the situation). Still, I think it might be the only way to find out what we really have working for us on the bench.

  22. Noah 03/04/2008 at 12:48 PM #

    “Your post about the disdain you feel for HC Lowe are beggining to read like Jack Nicholson’s charater in “The Shinning” book drafts.”

    Don’t you mean “The Shining?”

    Shhh! You wanna get sued?

    No beer and no tv make noah go insane!!

    But seriously folks. I’ve said my thing. I think I’ve gotten pretty good saturation with my message. I’ll say no more about what I think ought to be done with Lowe’s body. I mean I mean, what should be done with his employment situation.

  23. triadwolf 03/04/2008 at 12:52 PM #

    ShootingGuard – Right on the money! Everyone watches us play well in a few games last year and thinks we are loaded with talent. We have SOME good athletic talent, but very few have good basketball talent. Look at our overall ball handling and shooting ability. And the shooters we do have completelydisappear for long periods.

    Some of our young guys appear to be better basketball players and have better basketball IQ and that should pay off once they get the needed experience and PT.

    No doubt we should have played much better this year and won more games. But don’t confuse that with having the same or better talent as even the top 6 or 7 teams. And we are probably last in the league in overall guard talent (though Javi may be bringing us up a notch).

  24. haze 03/04/2008 at 12:54 PM #

    On other topics…

    Shooting Guard, I agree that this team was never going to be #3 in the ACC and that Degand’s injury hurt in a meaningful way. Ditto for your character comments and desire for a hungry off-season.

    E89, I don’t necessarily feel that the staff needs a shake-up. I do feel that Sid is responsible and needs to do whatever he deems necessary to get things straight and that right now. If he has any concerns about his staff, he should know their importance to on-court performance and he should be willing to take action. the objective concern over the staff comes from the more objective point that, aside from Harris’ recruiting, this is not a very accomplished group. It doesn’t mean they suck (e.g. Duke’s has a staff of yes men who have no meaningful experience outside of Cameron and is hasn’t killed the goose yet) but it may mean that they aren’t the perfect staff for a college newby like Sid.

  25. WolftownVA81 03/04/2008 at 12:54 PM #

    Much as it might have cost us 11th place, I have to admit I was pulling for UVA last night. Singletary earned that victory through shear guts and determination. A good roll model for our point guards to emulate.

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