Tracy Smith Suspended for Arizona Game (Updated at 2:15pm)

Jesus. Right before one of our ‘defining’ games for the season.

Obviously, Smith should have just called the refs a bunch of GD MutherF’ers right on the court during the game so that he could be afforded the same flexibility that Coach K and Gary Williams receive on a nightly basis.

Link to Wolfpacker

RALEIGH, N.C. – NC State men’s basketball coach Sidney Lowe has announced that junior Tracy Smith has been suspended for the Wolfpack’s game at Arizona for violating the ACC policy regarding commenting on officials.

Smith, who made the comments last night following the loss at Wake Forest, will continue to practice and travel with the team to Arizona, but will not compete.

“I was caught up in the heat of the moment, but should not of made the comments I did,” said Smith. “I want to apologize to my coaches, my teammates, and last night’s officials for this situation.”

To listen to Smith’s post game comments, click on the link.

NC State was called for 25 fouls last night compared to 17 for Wake Forest.

Link to the N&O, which clarifies that this decision was made by Coach Lowe, not the ACC.

The ACC confirmed Monday that it was N.C. State’s decision to suspend Smith, not a league-imposed penalty. Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe declined to comment on Monday.

Folks, that is all semantics. The ACC should have also taken the time to confirm that they would have imposed the penalty if NC State had not imposed it. The N&O has also linked the audio of Smith’s comment in their entry.

Foul trouble limited Smith, State’s leading scorer and rebounder, to 9 minutes in the first half. He picked up his second foul with 8:27 left and sat the remainder of the half. He then fouled out with 5:28 left in the game, which State lost 67-59. Smith finished with 11 points and a team-best 10 rebounds but wasn’t happy with the way the game was called.”

You will note that many of the educated members of our community made comments about those ‘bad feelings’ that happened upon noticing Karl Hess’ presence at the beginning the game. They weren’t alone as things weren’t so rosy in my living room either when I saw Hess.

FWIW, you will find this recent entry at Rush the Court fantastically timely and details Sean McDonough (and Jay Bilas’) recent ripping of Hess.

Karl Hess, he was involved in the 54-foul game the other night, and he’s one of these officials, unfortunately, who always finds a way, it seems, to be at the center of the action. You don’t come here to watch him officiate, but more often than not, he finds himself at the center of attention.

There is A LOT more there that you should check out. What McDonough fails to recognize is that he just described almost every ‘lead’ official in the Atlantic Coast Conference while also crystallizing why our league’s institutions have fared so (relatively) poorly in the NCAA Tournament over the last few years.

This is also being discussed on the SFN forums by clicking here.

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

45 Responses to Tracy Smith Suspended for Arizona Game (Updated at 2:15pm)

  1. PoppaJohn 12/21/2009 at 6:26 PM #

    I can’t believe it
    I can’t believe it
    I can’t believe it

    We used up 100 years of good luck in the ’83 post season run. Why didn’t I go to Carolina? I was accepted there. I could be dressing in baby blue and be rooting for that jackass Roy.

    AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

  2. packalum44 12/21/2009 at 6:37 PM #

    Why didn’t Paul Johnson get a one game suspension when he called out the refs on national television during halftime against Clemson?

    We’re going to hold our 20 year old student athletes to a higher standard than our 50 year old millionaire coaches? Yeah, sounds about right.

    Screw the refs – society in general is grossly incompetent and unfair.

  3. Dogbreath 12/21/2009 at 7:20 PM #

    Kenny Inge just stepped out of bed and was immediately T’d up.

  4. wolfmanmat 12/21/2009 at 8:29 PM #

    ^ that’s cause Kenny always led with his bows. Dude was an elbow machine. … On Tracy, this is a tough loss. I hate to see the kid susended for a mistake. If it happens with frequency, then you suspend, but not just once. How many times did Sheed talk to the refs and get T’d up in the Hill? Don’t remember any suspensions…..now if it’s Lowe suspending, then I am okay with it. He needs to show his team that he is the boss. We all know this team is really young and he needs to install some discipline.

  5. ADVENTUROO 12/21/2009 at 9:23 PM #

    I watched the game…with a UNX fan. He agreed that the Zebra’s seemed to loose their whistles on the WF side. Tracy spoke the truth. Sid had to do what he did. I was also at the game where Josh was sucker (low…really low) punched and could NOT believe the Ref’s did NOT throw Chris out…

    Having said that, we need to get over it. We have a great deal of talent and we need to expect them to step up and not blame the outcome, whatever it is, on Tracy’s absence.

    GO PACK

  6. wolfpackdawg 12/21/2009 at 9:39 PM #

    The team is going to rally around this. Just like in the Outsider’s..

    Let’s do it for Tracy!!!

  7. turfpack 12/21/2009 at 11:18 PM #

    Geee.. Thanks Dogbreath
    I just blew water all over my computer-that was some funny s&$%
    Brought back memories – Kenny had a cold was T-d up coming out of the locker room. I tried …not as funny….

  8. gcpack 12/21/2009 at 11:24 PM #

    I need some help with the site. With the laptop that I use the most everytime I log in the poll answers disappear before I can even read them. I don’t have this problem on the other computer that I use.

    Anybody know what setting I can change to keep the poll answers from just vanishing?

    Much appreciated if anyone has any helpful suggestions to correct this problem.

  9. turfpack 12/21/2009 at 11:26 PM #

    Ref’s are like indigestion after a big meal- You have to put up with to get what you want.(or earn it,-it’s always been that way in the ACC)

  10. wolfonthehill 12/22/2009 at 6:56 AM #

    The one place where Wake got the benefit of LOTS of calls was under the hoop. We repeatedly got mugged with no-call, while on the other end stiff defense drew a whistle.

    I’m sick of watching it – and obviously Tracy was, too…

  11. papackman 12/22/2009 at 7:37 AM #

    I had the same observation as wolfonthehill….we took a beating under the basket….they got the calls. Losing Tracy is a big deal because, IMO, he’s the heart of the team. I’m thankful it’s only one game. Lowe was right to step up and set the precedence. If we are going to have any success this season, we need the team that played the second half of the Marquette game!!

  12. Ed89 12/22/2009 at 10:47 AM #

    They had 4 bigs to give fouls, we had Tracy. Dennis and Tracy both had tough games. Especially Dennis, but Tracy missed alot under the basket. Their size hurt us. The block by Smith on Dennis was clean, but not the one on Wood was a foul. We had chances, and I would not blame the loss on the refs. The worst calls (and most questionable) that influenced the “flow” of the game were when we pulled within 4 points and we were immediately called for 2 touch fouls the next possession followed by another touch foul the following possession. Those 3 fouls immediately got WF into 1 and 1’s within a minute of us pulling within 4 points. Again, we had chances. We’re young and should bounce back.

  13. PackerInRussia 12/22/2009 at 11:14 AM #

    Re: Andy Katz twitter (top of the page) (“Good call by Sidney Lowe suspending Tracy Smith for comments, shows he is doing things right, not sacrificing for wins.”)
    Too bad you can’t say the same for the refs. Not saying that the refs caused this loss, but it certainly doesn’t make things any easier. I haven’t seen a ton of basketball this year, but I’ve watched several non-ACC games. That was the first ACC game I’ve seen this year and there was a noticeable difference in the way the game was called. The way the officials call it really harms the flow of the game in my opinion and it makes it less enjoyable to watch. As was just mentioned, just when the Pack was staging a comeback (comebacks are fun to watch!), the officials got involved and the comeback attempt was thwarted. Again, I’m not saying that the officials were purposefully trying to keep them from winning, but they have no sense of when to back off and let the game be played.

  14. Sweet jumper 12/22/2009 at 12:30 PM #

    I hope JV, Painter and Howell realize this great opportunity. This is a televised game against a big-time program. Hopefully, one, two or all three will take advantage of this opportunity and play well and demand more playing time and allow Tracy to stay fresh and out of foul trouble in future games.

  15. fullmoon1 12/22/2009 at 3:31 PM #

    I really dispise the way officials have changed the way the game is played over the last several years. My first gripe is palming or carrying the ball. The second is letting the game become so physical in the name of “letting them play”. It is like watching a different sport from 20 yrs ago.
    It’s very sickening watching other coaches and players berate officials and not get called or even noticed by the ACC. I am sorry I am not ready nor will I ever be ready to overlook it because of a Nat’l championship(unc). I wish more players would speak out against the league exposing the horrid officiating we have all witnessed over the years. There is always going to be a human element to officiating by definition but come on, human element explains away the exceptional missed call, not trends in poor officiating. Good for Tracy for calling it like it is.

  16. MrPlywood 12/22/2009 at 8:47 PM #

    Really? Suspended for that? That seems so innocuous. Fine. No more interviews with the players. Or if there are, maybe they have counsel sitting next to them – “My client won’t answer that… Next question.” Any media member mentioning fouls, foul trouble, officiating, etc., gets the boot from the locker room and suspended.

  17. choppack1 12/23/2009 at 10:17 AM #

    “Those 3 fouls immediately got WF into 1 and 1’s within a minute of us pulling within 4 points. Again, we had chances.”

    Of course we had our chances. You always do. However, ACC basketball officiating is absolutely disgusting and the disparities should offend anyone w/ a sense of decency.

    Basically, as it stands now, State will have to beat a favored team on the road by 6-8 points to get a one point victory.

    I was watching the game Sunday night and my sister remarked at how angry I was. She’s a UNC fan – so she really has no “dog in the fight.” To me, it’s impossible for a coach to gameplan due to the inconsistency on what is called night-in/night-out for all but the best teams.

    Ed89- You’re exactly right – there were those key calls right after we had cut the lead to 4. Do you think that was a coincidence? I really don’t. I’ve seen it happen too many times.

    I thought another key sequence was the Ish block on Wood. The block itself was clean, but there can be no disputing that he absolutely nailed him after the shot w/ his body. Then on the other end, they call a ticky-tack foul on us. To me, in a nutshell that’s why ACC officiaitng drives me so wacky. But hey, they did let Wood shoot 3 foul shots at the end of the game.

    I wish that we’d told the ACC to f*ck themselves. You guys need to do to your job before we suspend a kid for a very understandable reaction…I mean, what are they going to do, really get mad at our team????

  18. choppack1 12/23/2009 at 10:19 AM #

    I listened to the interview, and it’s disgusting that Smith got suspended for that.

  19. StateFans 12/23/2009 at 12:26 PM #

    Since we’ve got Karl Hess talk going here I thought I would add the following so that we’ve

    http://www.theesportsblog.com/2009/12/22/tracy-smiths-disdain-for-karl-hess-is-only-matched-by-acc-fans-everywhere/

    Stop me if you have heard this one. Karl Hess officiates an ACC game, a grotesque number of fouls get called, the game is brought to a crawl and at least one key player is handcuffed changing the outcome of the game. If you have watched any ACC basketball you have seen a Karl Hess officiated game go exactly this way. NC State’s Tracy Smith apparently had enough during the Pack’s loss to Wake Forest and let the media know than in his postgame comments.

  20. happypackdad 12/23/2009 at 1:16 PM #

    “But that might be because I gave up expecting us to win”

    shocker

Leave a Reply