Monday Morning Breather

09-10 Basketball39

Quite a weekend in Wolfpack land with the football team’s big finish to the season and the Basketball team’s surprising 5-0 start! We Twittered and posted and conversed on the message boards until we were (happily) exhausted.

The Big Ten Challenge starts tonight with Virginia and Penn State. For the first time in the history of the event I am predicting a Big Ten win over the ACC. The match-ups appear skewed in the Big Ten’s direction this season. Heck, the ACC has a pre-season Top 25 team (Georgia Tech) not even playing in the event. Has that ever happened?

If you are looking for some news and perspective this morning, then PLEASE shoot over to this link and you can take your pick of a bunch of informative and interesting topics. Your SFN login works just as it does on the blog.

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

09-10 Basketball

39 Responses to Monday Morning Breather

  1. MP 11/30/2009 at 2:01 PM #

    I think that it’s comical that people are commenting about our postseason possibilities at this point. I would advise everyone to enjoy one game at a time and not get too high or too low with any game or stretch of games. If ever there is a time to “chop wood”, it’s with this team.

    We need Javy to stay steady and just keep getting more & more confident as the year goes on. He is ultimately the key to the season, like it or not. Personally, I think he’s got it in him if he just lets the game and season come to him.

  2. sksr97 11/30/2009 at 2:06 PM #

    I know scoring 70 Pts or more would seemed to be a great positive to some but the name of the game is to outscore the opponent. We don’t have to score 70 to win if we play good defense. Carolina avg about 90 and their defense was not that good, they just outscored the opponents. Wisconsin has won 20+ for awhile and they didn’t light up the score board.

  3. VaWolf82 11/30/2009 at 2:57 PM #

    Auburn has beaten IUPUI, Niagra, and High Point so far…while losing to Mo St (typically good mid-major), State, and UCF. Color me “less than impressed”.

  4. theghost 11/30/2009 at 3:22 PM #

    “It never fails to amaze me how little it takes to give some State fans soaring expectations or how little it takes for some to start jumping off cliffs.”

    VA, the clear point of my post was that the NIT is a reasonable goal, but NCAA talk is way premature with the gaps we’ve got, and that we should be prepared for a loss or two without jumping off a bridge. I don’t know how that’s “soaring expectations,” but it seems you’re always critical of any opinion I offer, and I’ve been less than impressed with most of your offerings. There hasn’t been any benefit come from any exchange we’ve had, so how about if you and I just ignore each other from here on out – I think that’s best for everybody.

  5. BJD95 11/30/2009 at 3:58 PM #

    Auburn was picked to finish last in the (very weak) SEC West, and their results to date are consistent with that. I’m pretty sure they suck. Remember that all data aggregators for RPI, Sagarin, etc. caution that their numbers are essentially meaningless until mid-to-late January.

    That said, the energy level and defensive effort HAVE been there to date. I’m much more impressed by that than I am the 5-0 record. We just have to see if it can hold up against higher caliber opponents (even if we lose).

  6. choppack1 11/30/2009 at 4:06 PM #

    Let’s face it – if we were asked about how happy we’d be w/ a 5-0 start, we’d say that was a great step for this young team.

    We haven’t beaten anyone special yet, but we haven’t lost either.

    I’ll be interested to see how this team responds to increased expectations and legit opponent. And I’m hoping we don’t have to find it out after this game, but I’m also interested in seeing how we do after we’ve been punched in the mouth.

    This is a very young team – and they are playing for a coaching staff that has struggled w/ adversity when it’s been encountered. I’m looking forward to seeing how well this team does down the stretch as much as anything else.

  7. bradleyb123 11/30/2009 at 5:11 PM #

    Someone wrote: “I still like the direction we’re headed with better cohesion, better defense, more consistent overall play, and improving talent.”

    VaWolf82 replied with: “It’s easy to look good against poor competition. It never fails to amaze me how little it takes to give some State fans soaring expectations or how little it takes for some to start jumping off cliffs.”

    First of all, we haven’t looked all that good against poor competition in recent years (New Orleans, ECU, etc.) That we’re looking good against these teams now is certainly a step in the right direction.

    Someone simply says they like the direction we’re headed, and you equate that to “soaring expectations”??? Every word they wrote is true. This team appears to be better than the last 2-3 teams we’ve fielded (which is not necessarily saying much), and this is after losing our so-called “best players” from last year that did most of our scoring.

    I’d say that qualifies as being headed in the right direction. No one said we’ve arrived at the right destination, but that we’re headed in that direction. And I also think we are.

    What never fails to amaze me is how you never have one good word to say about anything related to Sidney Lowe.

  8. VaWolf82 11/30/2009 at 6:57 PM #

    Someone simply says they like the direction we’re headed, and you equate that to “soaring expectations”??? ….that we’re looking good against these teams now is certainly a step in the right direction….What never fails to amaze me is how you never have one good word to say about anything related to Sidney Lowe.

    As the ghost said in his response, he is shooting for the NIT. Which is quite an improvement for a team projected to finish in dead last (again). A post or two below ghost’s, someone was saying that we should expect 8-8 at worst in conference. Both of those projections count as soaring expectations in my book. (Maybe I should have quoted both posts….but I’m sure that you would still be offended.)

    Forgive me for not getting excited about beating bad teams. Herb usually did quite well against his cupcakes and we all saw how far that “success” translated once the ACC season arrived. Using wins against bad teams as proof for a “direction change” for the team is at best premature.

    For your last point….Would you mind quoting where I said anything bad about the team or Sidney Lowe? My comment was directed specifically at the bi-polar nature of State fans. Try reading what I write for a change.

  9. Gene 11/30/2009 at 8:06 PM #

    One surprising thing about this year is Vandenburg’s already in the top 10 in blocked shots in the ACC. Given the limited minutes he plays, that’s impressive.

    I just wish he’d get some confidence on the offensive end and try a few shots. We do need another low post scorer, when Smith’s on the bench.

    As far as being 5-0 goes, we’ve won some games we could’ve lost. We blew out an Akron team, who’s predicted to do well in the MAC again this year. We beat an Austin-Peay team that made the CBT (or CIT) tournament last year.

    We turned it on against UNO, when they made a run and blew them out of the game five minutes later, which I haven’t seen us do ever.

    My biggest concerns are perimeter defense and a second scoring option. I keep seeing opposing guards getting into the lane against us, which bothers me. We need another scoring option to go to other than Smith. When we went into a scoring drought against UNO, we weren’t able to get Smith the ball and no one else could get off a good shot.

    Tomorrow and Saturday should be good reality checks for where we are.

  10. 61Packer 11/30/2009 at 10:06 PM #

    I was one of those who said that I felt that we could go .500 in the ACC this season. After seeing us play last night and seeing some of the other ACC teams, I sure don’t think this team should lay another egg in the ACC like we have for the past 3 seasons. Smith is a good player and gives us an inside presence. Howell and Davis should help us down the road, and Mays, if he’s allowed to play more than last season, can do some good things. Wood is promising, and Painter may later become a work in progress. Horner is another Adam Harrington and let’s just hope they go in more than they don’t.

    My main complaint so far is that Lowe’s teams continue to play their halfcourt setup game, much like Sendek’s did. The main difference to me is that Lowe’s teams look to go inside more, and rely less, thank goodness, on the 3-point bombs. I just wish we’d run more, because I think Gonzalez is a much better playmaker in transition. When we play the halfcourt game, pass it around the circle type of offense, Javi’s skills don’t seem to be utilized much. But running, I’ve seen him make some really good passes, and he does handle the ball pretty well when we’re fast-breaking. Seems to me the more time he has to think about his shot, the more he misses it.

    But again, this team, from what I’ve seen, should be capable of making a run at a .500 ACC season. Even if we lose to Northwestern, Marquette, Arizona and Florida, I don’t think we’ll be any less capable of 8-8 in this league. I’m not expecting to win all 4 of those games, but I am expecting to win at least one of them, and definitely I think we should be competitive when and if we lose.

    We’ve got to raise our expectations sometime, so why not now?

  11. Wulfpack 11/30/2009 at 10:30 PM #

    Due to the fact that I have yet to actually SEE this team play a minute of basketball, it’s really hard for me to offer anything of substance. Good start for sure. Defense seems to be improved. Hope we can keep it up against teams from the power conferences.

  12. VaWolf82 12/01/2009 at 8:38 AM #

    We’ve got to raise our expectations sometime, so why not now?

    For all of the same reasons that State was voted to finish in last place. Until State plays some good teams, there is no reason to think that many (possibly any) of those issues have been fixed.

  13. OAB 12/01/2009 at 9:26 AM #

    I’m extremely happy to be 5-0, but that’s about it. The only reason we’re doing well is Tracy Smith. I’ll get a lot more excited when I see us continue to perform well against an ACC-caliber big man guarding Tracy. Plus, I just don’t think we have the guards to hold up in the ACC. Javi is pretty good and plays hard, but neither he nor Mays can guard or penetrate against a top-level guard, and I’m not counting on a freshman Woods to get his shot off against nor guard a top-level guard.

    Yes, I’m being negative, and I hope I’m pleasantly surprised, but I don’t see it.

  14. wolfpackbball 12/01/2009 at 9:30 AM #

    Raising expectations now is a major mistake. At best, this is a rebuilding year that we can enjoy. Hopefully we’ll be able to watch the foundation of some great things to come as the season develops. I’ll take any wins I can get without getting too high or low on this team. I’m looking to find a team that I can like for many years to come.

1 2

Leave a Reply