Ben McCauley Does Not Make Trip To Canada, NC State Wins By 21

08-09 Basketball NCS Basketball55

TORONTO, CANADA – Brandon Costner led four N.C. State players in double figures with a game-high 31 points, as the Pack came away with an 81-60 win at York University in the first of two exhibition games in Toronto this weekend.

Holding a 51-48 lead late in the third quarter, the State went on a 7-1 run to end the quarter thanks to six points from sophomore Tracy Smith. The Pack would then limit York to just two field goals in the final 10 minutes of play for the win.

Senior Ben McCauley did not make the trip to Toronto for conduct detrimental to the team according to Lowe.

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08-09 Basketball NCS Basketball

55 Responses to Ben McCauley Does Not Make Trip To Canada, NC State Wins By 21

  1. Afterglow 08/31/2008 at 10:28 PM #

    You know this now I’m sure; Horner Leads Pack Past Guelph, 87-47. Pretty sound game all around. Again, it’s a pre-season pre-season game but still nice to have them play against someone other than themselves in a good packed house environment even if Guelph got beat pretty bad by East Tennessee State the night before. I think Guelph managed thirty points against ETS prior. May did well putting in 10 points, 5 assist and 1 turnover. The pack shot 55.2%. In any event, I’m reserving judgement/excitment either way but I do believe this early play will help in the long run.

    sf59-Why are you so cryptic about this whole Ben McCauley thing? I respect your reasoning either way but I’m just wondering. If you know something, why not just come out and say it or for that matter, why say anything at all? Teasing people with a minute snapshot of what really happened just leads to a firestorm of speculation which seems unnecessary.

  2. sf59 08/31/2008 at 10:32 PM #

    rf-i did not know earlier… all the run ins i had were post season/ early summer. we thought all was better with the upper classmen after jj left… so not much was posted. (no need to beat a dead horse) but given the most recent incident… it just makes sense to let fans know where the root of many of the problems lie. (ie not with the coaches or lottery pick but with a certain 2 upper clasmen and one departed sr…. and now 1 upper classman in particular.)

  3. Daily Update 09/01/2008 at 12:41 AM #

    sf59: What most recent incident?

  4. robopack 09/01/2008 at 8:14 AM #

    This crap actually makes sense to me. Big Ben’s interview with go pack did not give me a good vibe at all. You guys read it. He says he really wants to play well for Fells and the seniors…or players that might be on their last year or whatever… Sounded to me like its ME, Court, and Brandon against the world! I am so sick of it!!! Coach Lowe is to and Ben better get on board. I bet coach would rather not win a F’in game this year, than have this years team fall victim to this CRAP!!!

  5. Wulfpack 09/01/2008 at 8:59 AM #

    sf – Specifics please, or else you can’t really expect us to believe you. If you know something, tell us. If you are afraid to b/c you think it might blow your cover, then stop posting.

  6. phillypacker 09/01/2008 at 10:06 AM #

    I also don’t see how any of this is constructive. Let Coach Lowe do his work and don’t feed the media. Don’t make things bigger than they have been. Sharing this kind of stuff can only be more divisive. I’m also very wary of cryptic posting which usually is agenda driven (i.e., somebody’s girlfriend wants to get something out there because she’s mad at how things are being portrayed) and it just builds and builds.

  7. redfred2 09/01/2008 at 10:07 AM #

    So, what we have are a few players who feel entitled, and who would rather bitch and moan rather than work harder to earn their playing time? This is NC State afterall, but how in the HELL do similar situations take place at different programs all over the country, yet in Raleigh, a few bad apples basically shut down the entire program?

    Fells’ numbers, while playing against the likes of York and Guelph Universitys of Canada, aren’t good and they are not impressive at all. That guy, even with his freakish athleticism, just doesn’t have the head, or especially the heart, to play major college basketball. Courtney, if you’re looking in, keep and use your scholarship to get an education, if that’s what you want. But otherwise, give up, move over and get out of the way. With your lack of desire to make a difference, you were lucky to end up at NC State. A player with your inconsistency you wouldn’t have even sniffed the court half as much at any other major college BB program.

    McCauley Sulkin, if all this stuff is true, transfer on out of here, or just go on HOME ALONE.

  8. sf59 09/01/2008 at 10:27 AM #

    i won’t post specifics, i gave my word i would not. the only reaseon i post is to confirm the past culprits wtih chemistry porblems and to also confirm that this is not strike 1 with BM. The coaches are doing the right thing here.

    thx to people like wulfpack anybody that has any info gets rail roaded because they won’t divulge their life story for the board to read. so instead what you get is a lot of crickets chirping…and peicing togehter quotes from month old player inerviews. have fun with that. sorry to have disturbed your board

  9. tractor57 09/01/2008 at 10:41 AM #

    True or not (and I think more true than not).
    Given the time to have his recruits playing significant roles then we can judge Lowe fairly in my opinion.

  10. redfred2 09/01/2008 at 10:42 AM #

    I am forgetting, there is one thing still out there that ONE, well connected person volunteered to me many months ago. I only heard it once, from that ONE source. I haven’t heard anyone even hinting at it since, and I haven’t asked. Some things are just better left alone.

    It may be…um…very interesting, to see what all shakes out of this before it is over.

  11. thebigwood 09/01/2008 at 11:25 AM #

    sf59, I appreciate the stuff you are letting us in on. Don’t let one poster bother you about it.

  12. redfred2 09/01/2008 at 12:02 PM #

    I understand where wulfpack is coming from, it’s definitely frustrating to get bombarded with of this stuff all at once. But I also agree with bigwood, stick around sf59, your posts are finally making some sense of this childish mess.

    I had just about decided that I wasn’t even going to make the trip to Raleigh this upcoming BB season, but if there is any truth to this, and it’s childish players versus coaching issues, then I feel I might want to be there in support of the younger kids who will have to struggle through some very tough times, while trying to make up for their more experienced/selfish/ASSHOLE teammates.

  13. Wulfpack 09/01/2008 at 12:55 PM #

    You gave your word that you wouldn’t state any specifics yet you come on here and post some blurbs that entice “Statefans Nation” to create its own judgments, rightly or wrongly, but really that’s all we can do. I can appreciate the fact that you don’t want to blow your cover but my hunch is if the folks you promised were readers of this blog then you would have already been identified. It’s just a little frustrating for someone to come on here and behave as if they know it all, but then won’t give up much information, other than that you’ve played a whole lot of golf with someone. Talk about crickets chirping. I’m not asking you to divulge any life stories like who you are playing golf with and whatever else. I’d just like to know what incidents you speak of. Again, I can appreciate your position but can’t accept it for much other than hear-say at this point.

  14. RabidWolf 09/01/2008 at 1:44 PM #

    As I have been scrolling down, reading the entries here, I’m kinda amazed at how quickly sf59’s comments were taken to heart and everyone started downing Ben….WTF? ALL basketball players have an ego (some more than others), no matter if they are NBA, D1, D2, high school, or playground. It goes with the territory. I can list a few…..Corchiani, Grant, Hodge, Sherrill…and the list goes on.
    Whatever Ben did to warrant this, he WANTS TO PLAY BALL, and not making this trip will truly send him the message. Let it go.

    Until the season starts in earnest, I am not going to throw negative comments out concerning this team. Let’s see the kids play first, then judge away. Go Wolfpack!

  15. Afterglow 09/01/2008 at 1:56 PM #

    This is why I visit this blog: to attain information on NC State Sports, to read interesting viewpoints from varying perspectives, to discover interesting (factual) information on recruits-the drama of where they may go and whether they may be coming here and to read and partake in debates on interesting topics.

    Perspectives are interesting and often times deceptive half truths. If you ask six blind men to describe an elephant your answers are going to be all over the map however, not necessarily totally wrong. I struggle with the scant divulgence of information because the potential manifestations are often negative and not factual.

    I also prescribe to (one the oldest law in the books) the laws of attraction and believe negativity attracts negativity. That is not to say that such information (negative or positive) should not be shared but more so that the negativity it creates (should you allow it to) is contagious and destructive-the opposite applying to its counterpart. But that’s just my personal opinion and I respect any other views regardless.

  16. RabidWolf 09/01/2008 at 1:57 PM #

    BTW…..according to the official Guelph athletics site…..we are the North Carolina Wolfpack. I think I just threw up a little bit…in my mouth…just now.

  17. Dogbreath 09/01/2008 at 2:09 PM #

    I would like to go on record that if we cannot win an ACC Conference Championship in either Men’s basketball, Football, Women’s basketball, or baseball by 2015, that we should formally request that NC State drop athletics, and endeavor to become the NYU of the south.

  18. RabidWolf 09/01/2008 at 2:11 PM #

    blah…and blah.

  19. phillypacker 09/01/2008 at 6:12 PM #

    I stick by original point about sf59 and if he, she it is that prissy about this, get some counseling.

  20. phillypacker 09/01/2008 at 6:13 PM #

    That was nothing but deep throat pot stirring.

  21. RabidWolf 09/01/2008 at 7:20 PM #

    Gotta love a deep throat reference! Kinda funny, though, how a lot of posts following were increasing in negativity…..maybe that has something to do with the poor performances…karma or some such crap biting us in the hindquarters.

  22. Wolf Dog 09/01/2008 at 8:35 PM #

    sf59 makes some good points and coincides with some things I have heard also, but I have not gotten details. The coaches have kept this thing very close to the chest. They made the mistake of letting Jed in on this and he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

    Remember no one was more affected by JJ’s PT than BM last year. We know JJ didn’t bad mouth Lowe and our program, he has praised Lowe and has opened more doors to recruiting down in Ga. Costner has also been very loyal to our program and has kept very quiet about this whole thing. I think Lowe is doing a good thing although the public embarressment for BM is a tough thing for a young man at that age and I hope he responds to this instead of reacting. Williams over at UNC took control of his program after a very rocky first year. Mr. STD and bad team chemistry gave Williams fits his first year. Second year it was “my way or highway and they won it all.”

  23. b 09/02/2008 at 1:08 AM #

    The info sf59 provided is not useless, patience will reveal the truth. Truth tends to be based on perspective, and there are 360 degrees around any situation. The info, while perhaps not specific or cited, will add 1 degree (or more) to that circle and thus we are closer to understanding.

    SOMETHING happened last year with team dynamics, choose to believe what you will, but I think egos got in the way of the big picture. Since only two of those egos left, it stands to reason there are still some wounded egos. Seems Ben picked at the scabs, and Sid wanted the team to focus on letting it heal. If you look in the past too much, you can miss the present and ruin the future. Sid decided to leave Ben alone at home so he couldn’t poison what was a productive trip, adn spend some time priortizing what he wants out of his Senior season. BM can be a leader still, depending on how he chooses to move forward. I like our prospects a lot better with him than without him, I hope he swallows his pride and lifts his teammates rather than focus on his own desires.

  24. PackGirl 09/02/2008 at 7:28 AM #

    I refuse to believe Ben is some terrible egomaniac “poisoning” the team. Listening to his radio interviews over the past 3 years he was always polite, down-to-earth, and modest – always giving his teammates credit. He’s an excellent student and used to put his hand over his heart during the National anthem, BEFORE it was mandated that the whole team should do it. We may never know what he actually did – maybe Lowe had banned the players from speaking to the press about last year’s issues and he let something slip that he shouldn’t have. This is just a guess obviously, as are all the other theories on this thread. He’s shown good character in the past and I am not throwing him under the bus for 1 incident. Nor do I believe he was the main cause for last year’s problems. He may not be perfect but he seems to be a great kid and I think he will be one of the major contributors this year.

  25. rtpack24 09/02/2008 at 9:34 AM #

    Ben was invovled in chemistry issues last year. Know of one incident that happened during a league game last year. I am firm believer in locker room stuff staying in locker room. However, Ben’s suspension did not surprise me. Let us all hope that he gets his head on straight and provides the play leadership we so desperately need.

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