Originally published mid morning of November 19th, 2010
The blog and the SFN Forums are being over-run with fantastic work and conversation, so please make sure to spend some time scrolling down and catching up on everything. We want to surpass 30,000 page views today and the only way we can do it is for everyone to dive deep and drive conversations for people to refresh their browsers a lot. A few recent items include Cowdog’s fantastic personal account of State-Carolina football; State’s very tough OOC schedule, State football by the numbers, and of course Thorp & Co. letting the BOT know all is well over at the Flagship. Feel free to discuss all of this and much more at the SFN Forums.
Tracy Smith out of Charleston Classic by StateFans
Heard some rumors last night from Charleston and got unfortunate corroboration this morning from NC State:
NC State senior forward Tracy Smith will not compete in the remaining games of the Charleston Classic in South Carolina. Smith, who played just six minutes in Thursday’s 85-65 win over East Carolina, has returned to Raleigh to have his knee evaluated by NC State’s orthopedic staff.
Needless to say, this could be an awful development for NC State’s 2010-2011 season; but, let’s
Way-Too-Early Look at the ACC Standings by NCStatePride
Just glancing over the ACC standings, I wanted to have some fun B.S. discussion (i.e., I understand it’s way early to make any solid conclusions, but it’s fun to throw darts in the dark sometimes). This makes for good Friday/Pre-Weekend conversation and may actually shed of early light on some of the programs we will be facing come January 8th.
Currently, this is how the conference looks.
Florida State 4-0
Clemson 2-0
Duke 2-0
North Carolina 2-0
North Carolina State 2-0
Maryland 3-1
Georgia Tech 2-1
Virginia 2-1
Boston College 1-1
Miami (FL) 1-1
Virginia Tech 1-1
Wake Forest 1-2
Maybe it’s just because I’ve been living with Lowe, who despite sub-par performance has managed to lose only 2 games in November over his career, but when I see teams with losses in mid-late fall, I really start thinking that they are in trouble. I mean, most teams start out their season with a couple powder puff teams, mid-majors like Stetson or Middle Tennessee State University, before really diving into their tough contests. I want to see if these losses are signs of implosions to come, of if some of these defeats are maybe not excusable, but understandable in the greater scheme of things.
Here’s a look at the teams that have suffered defeats thus far…
Maryland lost to #4 Pitt. Well, that shut me up. Especially when you consider that Maryland only lost to #4 Pitt by a score of 79-70. In both halves they were outscored by only 2 baskets. Not bad at all. Looks like Maryland’s early loss may not be that disgraceful. Maryland is currently 3-1.
Georgia Tech’s loss comes at the hands of Kennesaw State at a score of 80-63. Not only did Georgia Tech lose to a college that finished last season with a record of 13-20, but they got whipped by a margin of 17pts, not to mention getting out-shot from both field goal and 3-point ranges and committing more fouls. Georgia Tech is currently 2-1.
Virginia just sucks all together, rivaling the slirping that occurs in Chapel Hill a full 365 days a year. To prove that, they laid an egg against Stanford, getting beat by a score of 81-60. Stanford finished last season with a record of 14-18. UVa did manage to beat it’s previous opponents by 20 points and, to UVa’s credit, the Standford game was an away game. Still, losing to this Stanford program is pretty shameful. Go to Hell, UVa. Virginia is currently 2-1.
Boston College, bringing that good ole Big East magic with it from it’s expansion days, has managed to lose to the lawyers over at Yale with a score of 75-67. This is becoming a trend for Boston College. The last two seasons, they also lost to Harvard in pre-conference play so maybe there is something to the “player IQ” argument here. Either way, Boston College still smashed their first opponent, St. Frances (NY), by a score of 79-49. I’m thinking Boston College will be “troublesome”, at least this year. Boston College is currently 1-1.
Miami really confuses me. I’m not sure if I am concerned about them or not. The lost against #19 Memphis by a slim 72-68 margin, but they only beat Jacksonville by 89-77. That’s still a double-digit victory, but I would think someone who hangs with a top 20 team would destroy a school like Jacksonville. Miami was 20-13 last year and started their ACC play with a win over Wake Forest and a record of 15-1. This is probably the most deceiving “one loss” team on this list. Miami is currently 1-1.
Virginia Tech was really predicted to be an up-and-comer in the ACC this season. Their only loss is at the hands of #3 Kansas State with a score of 73-57. What surprises me isn’t who they lost to, but how they are losing. Their top scorers are Delaney and Hudson who are shooting 33% and 40% from inside the arch, respectively. There assists are also extremely low (leader is J. Allen with 1.3 AST/TO). This really makes me wonder if Virginia Tech is going to really rise to the occassion or if they are going to be one of those teams that losses to hard opponents, beats their remaining mid-major teams, and everyone talks about how good they are because “they lost against really good teams and you can’t hold that against them.” Maybe I’m still bitter from football, but I’m just not feeling it for Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech is currently 1-1.
Wake Forest is just flat out fun to pick on this year. They are the only team in the ACC with two losses this early in the season against Stetson (89-79) and VCU (90-69). I’m not sure if this makes any Wake Forest fans mad, but I’m simply not concerned at all about you guys. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think our team can afford to mark off anyone, especially give our 3-3 record against their team under Coach Lowe, but Wake Forest has had issues with NC State the past three years while they’ve been ranked running the table and with how they look this season, I’m simply not concerned. Welcome to the cellar, boys. We kept the seat warm for you. Wake Forest is currently 2-1.
The NC State application here is that the 2010-2011 Wolfpack are currently 2-0 with match-ups against two decent teams coming up in the next two weeks. NC State will face off against George Mason tonight at 6:00PM, then hopefully a #21 Georgetown win to follow. After facing another mid-major after Thanksgiving, the Wolfpack will then square off against #25 Wisconsin. At that point in time, it should start to become evident what kind of Wolfpack we are looking at. It’s already obvious that this is not the team of last year, as proof by NC State’s quick game-pace and their respectable stats in assists and ability to adjust, as shown last night in the 2nd half of the ECU game where NC State was shooting around 80%. If NC State can beat George Mason and play up to ranked opponents Georgetown and Wisconsin or, dare I say it, beat one or both of them, we may be in for a wild, wild ride in March 2011.
