Open Game Entry – Pack goes for three in a row

NC State travels to College Park this evening seeking to extend a two game ACC win streak.

Link

NC State (14-11, 4-7 ACC) hits the road Sunday, traveling to Maryland (16-10, 5-6 ACC) for a nationally televised game against the Terps. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on Fox Sports Net.

The Terrapins (16-10, 5-6 ACC) have dropped two straight, at Boston College and at Virginia Tech, but sit at 12-3 at home on the season.

This game will be televised on Fox Sports Net with Ron Thulin (play-by-play), Dan Bonner (analyist) and Debbie Antonelli (sideline).

From the ever growing file titled, “What a difference two decades makes”

Sunday’s meeting will mark the 147th in a series that dates back to the 1924-25 season. Maryland has a slight lead in the series, 74-72. NC State has won just five of the last 22 meetings, and eight of the last 40 dating back to the 1991-92 campaign. Prior to that streak, the Pack had won nine of the previous 12 matchups.

Maryland has won seven straight in the series and NC State will be looking to defeat the Terrapins for the first time under Sidney Lowe. Maryland won both regular season matchups last season.

In 2009, Maryland won in Raleigh, 71-60, and again at the ACC Tournament in Atlanta, 74-69. In 2008, Maryland won in College Park by 14 points. The Terps won both contests in 2007 as well, winning by 15 in Raleigh then by 20 in College Park.

Prior to 2007, the Wolfpack was on a three-game winning streak against the Terrapins, winning the only contest in 2006 (62-58 in Raleigh) and sweeping Maryland during the 2004- 05 regular season for the first time since 1988-89.

Maryland posts a 37-21 mark against the Pack in College Park, and 4-2 in games played at the Comcast Center. NC State lost its first trip to the Comcast Center in 2003, but then won two straight in 2004 and 2005. Maryland has won the last three (2007, 2008 and 2010).

Thanks Larry Monteith, Jim Oblinger, Todd Turner, Les Robinson & Lee Fowler.

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

10-11 Basketball

73 Responses to Open Game Entry – Pack goes for three in a row

  1. swamppack 02/20/2011 at 9:32 PM #

    ^Wolfy_79:

    Very good point. How do some say it? “Excuses, Excuses”

  2. packof81 02/20/2011 at 9:34 PM #

    “The fat lady has already sung. She sang loud and long 3 years ago following the ACC Tourney first round loss to Miami.”

    And now she has broken wind.

    If Sid is retained as coach, do any of you really believe the performance of the team will improve?

    The team played hard tonight at times but the collapse came and they quit. That’s a coaching failure and this is year 5.

  3. Wolfy__79 02/20/2011 at 9:36 PM #

    i can agree with that… i don’t know why i continue to try to come up with positive notes about the season just to make it through.. it’s getting hard.

    wednesday would be the ultimate parting gift… i’m pretty confident there will be a plenty of the walmart caliber unx fans just waiting to repeat the “not our rival” smear with the unfavorable result.. a win would potentially knock the wheels off of their season but only be a remedy for us..i’ll take it..

  4. Wulfpack 02/20/2011 at 9:40 PM #

    Folks, we aren’t beating UNC. Get over it.

    As for tonight, not that it matters, but the team did not “quit”. We were beaten by a better team on their home floor. That game meant a hell lot more to UMD than us. The best we can do is the NIT. UMD still has at least a chance of an at large bid.

    Wolfy’s point is a good one. Why don’t we ever get the guys that dominate? Why don’t our players develop?

    Watch out for Stoglin.

  5. Wolfy__79 02/20/2011 at 9:42 PM #

    no packof81!!! and yes, they will improve.. but only b/c they will be getting their tales handed to them on another consistent basis. look at tracy, javi, horner, costner and my favorite courtney fells..etc?? yes they “improved” but they looked like chumps in their last seasons compared to other kids on their way out!!

    it’s so disheartening to see these kids careers end in college.. i believe we’ve had a handful of nba caliber players that never got any better…

  6. swamppack 02/20/2011 at 9:42 PM #

    ^^And now she has broken wind.

    Yes, call me juvenile and simple, but that is funny. And fitting.

  7. Wolfy__79 02/20/2011 at 9:47 PM #

    for the record, i don’t think javi is nba caliber.. but he should have been acc caliber last year…IMO

    i don’t want yawl to think i’m out to badger or put down the players. you’re right.. they didn’t quit.. but that’s b/c the didn’t know they weren’t trying..

    i played soccer at the college level.. i am very competitive. i’m no expert on bball as a player, but on effort i can say i am.. they give effort, but it is severely misguided..

  8. swamppack 02/20/2011 at 10:02 PM #

    Wolfy, I don’t see you as a negative poster, I see you as a realistic poster who obviously watches more than the occasional game.

    You said,”they give effort, but it is severely misguided”.

    Such has been the case for the past 5 yrs. and as far as that goes, for the last 20 yrs.

    I look at it this way. In my buisiness if I didn’t give good leadership and enlist good leadership there would be no buisiness regardless of how good everybody else performs.

  9. Wolfy__79 02/21/2011 at 12:11 AM #

    i’ve always watched other teams play… this year i’ve bumped that up a bit to give myself a better idea of what winning programs are doing.. i keep coming back to duke and coach k being at the top.. and there are obviously other teams to look at as well. that paired with nc state games certainly provides many things for comparision..

    the one thing that bothers me is people saying man the acc is down this year? okay, that’s pretty obvious but is it only different this year b/c unx is not as good as it was a few years ago?? duke is just as good as they were the entire past decade if not better. va tech is the same. miami same.. clemson same. bc same. ncsu same. md same. so what is really different??? they are pinning the livelyhood of the acc on unx!

    all of college bball is DOWN imo! the average is better.. but the top tier teams are down and have been down for a long time. or maybe my perception is down? one thing i’ve noticed is there are less complete players of the last ten years in college hoops!! growing up, i recall players being able to play the game and not rely sooo much on the coaching staff.. save the in game moments for a few critical timeouts. nowadays, massive team substitutions apparently are the logical remedy for changing game situations?? i’m a die hard ncsu fan, but there are very few coaches out there that grab my attention with proper in game coaching… my apologies, another rant from the farmer 🙂

  10. mak4dpak 02/21/2011 at 7:27 AM #

    Will all the coaches out there, I assure you that there are coaches who are quite proper in there game coaching. Perhaps we should look at those teams in the big dance, and find our coach there, while of course looking at there history n coaching. Not that he is the only one, but again I have watched Randy Bennett of Saint Marys, and he exhibits proper game coaching skills, and has quite an impressive history in his 10 years there, with lesser talent, and has been in the big dance. I think his team from last year advanced deep into the finals.

  11. rawolf 02/21/2011 at 7:28 AM #

    Everyone on this site that I have talked with I must say I am sorry, I have done my best to belive in Sid and in my mind I thought it was the right thing to do. I have now come to the time that I was wrong Sid must go know more one year or just wait. I dont care if they win the ACC (T). I cannot take another year of Sid coaching and the let down for 5 years is it. I think the whole staff needs to get out of town now and let the boys coach for themselfs. They can do no worse. I really feel for them I belive they are doing what they are taught. Boys on the team I am behind you all the way, I just cannot stand behind your coach anymore. GO PACK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  12. Wulfpack 02/21/2011 at 9:02 AM #

    Wolfy, I believe the ACC is down because we are projected to get, at best, 4 teams in. When only 1/3 of your teams are tournament caliber in a power conference, that’s a problem. Furthermore, WFU is one of the worst basketball teams in the country. Look at it this way: If NCSU wins out, is anyone really going to take notice? We really don’t have a whole lot of time left to pick up any good wins. When you play in the ACC, that’s a problem.

  13. swamppack 02/21/2011 at 10:28 AM #

    Do you remember when an ACC game was nothing but pure excitement? There are still some exciting games during the cnf. reg. season but most of the games are mundane.

    What has happened to the ACC? I considered league expansion as the root of all the problems that have contributed to the demise but how can you point to that when other conferences have handled it very well.

  14. Wolfy__79 02/21/2011 at 10:53 AM #

    of course it was league expansion!! thank heavens they didn’t go for it again… last week they finally stood up against adding more teams.

    i totally agree with the league being down this year.. there’s no question to me!! my point is we’ve been trending down for a few years.. if duke and unc hadn’t won nc’s we would have been having this discussion for a couple of years.. still points to unx not being where they were a few years ago.

    on the other hand.. not only have i suffered the punishment of watching nearly every game this season in person or on tv.. but i’ve also kept up with the sidney lowe show.. in recent weeks there has been a steady decline in game analysis and talk of coming weeks and MORE of remember whens, tracy’s rehab process and last night sid talked about how the fans have made difference which lasted about ten minutes of a thirty minute show.

    for what it’s worth, i believe sid is grasping at his final breaths.. noone is happy with the level of play vs our expectations.. but to counter (assuming i’m right) sidney is holding the team in the road the best he can. they do go out and play each game despite the record and all the distractions f.e. coaching changes etc. i really don’t see the admin nor him moving forward after this season.. although he hasn’t given up… they continue to play. he mentioned last night talking to his players about the 83 run and how the team relied on one another.. it just all reeks of a man knowing deep down it’s not working.. he may need a little help at the end of the season to move on… but it’s only a matter of time at this point. no longer does he exude confidence in what he’s doing or saying.. he’s lost his charisma when it comes to what he’s trying to do… lozo also got a closeup last night.. he kinda held his head down and didn’t even look at the camera. i hope sidney can continue to hold himself together til the end of the season.. that’s all i want at this point!!

  15. Wolfy__79 02/21/2011 at 11:07 AM #

    expansion is not the sole root of the problem.. especially ours. nor is it the reason for say.. the big east’s success. on an individual school’s basis, they have hired great coaches. the presence of so many good coaches in that league makes for the other teams improvement in league play. but they are all blue collar teams.. that’s their downfall.

    someone said the other day in the same sentence that the big east would get 10+ teams in.. then maybe 4 would survive through sweet16. if they are that good, more than 4 should make through the s16!

    if it weren’t for coach k, hole roy.. declining gary and consistent product of seth… the acc would be a huge pushover.. seth and gary have become a platform for the leagues top teams to get experience but not much else in recent years.

    for the acc to return to form, more teams is not a valid answer to me.. better coaches. get rid of hewitt, yes sidney too, haith.. each and every coach that has dwelled at the bottom for more than two years straight.. not only by record but by product. there are too many teams that rely on luck or individual performance to get their wins.. screw more teams, that only magnifies the problem.

    the ACC needs to get a higher pedigree of coaches across the board.. the guy at clemson will leave after a few years imo, bc’s guy cannot beat duke now or in five years.. so please don’t use these people as standards for what we’re looking for! including the guy at uva.. he cannot keep up with duke. none of these are offensive minds, they do play great defense. imo, our next coach needs to get 80pts/game! you have to score points and play defense..

  16. swamppack 02/21/2011 at 11:11 AM #

    Speaking of holding together til the end of the season, I am proud of Sid and the whole team not getting into a circus side-show of dissension.

    On another note, but still tying back into the expansion issue, did anybody see the rediculous call against Duke last night for a intentional foul in thier game against GT?

    I think it all ties back into league exp. in this way: A diluted product is diluted from top to bottom.

    In the old days the only GLARING deficiency of the refs was handing the game to unx on a silver platter. That’s one thing that will never change.

  17. PoppaJohn 02/21/2011 at 1:54 PM #

    MARCH 14 – Ms Yow, please mark your calendar and pull the plug that day. Don’t wait for tourney season to end.

    We aren’t interested in the NIT, even if they happen to be interested in us. We want to get about the task of ‘righting the ship.’ Another win or two in the loser’s tournament is of no value.

    On 3/14 we should announce to the world that we are looking for an end to 20 years of mediocrity.

  18. JSRy2k 02/21/2011 at 2:43 PM #

    Wolfy_79, you’re soooo right about the ACC downspiral: It’s absolutely the coaches!

    Take it a step further with us – where are the leaders on the floor? It’s boggled my mind how year after year Lowe has said you can’t teach leaders, some are and some aren’t. I REFUSE to buy that. K’s recruits may arrive on campus better leaders, but you better believe he trains them! It’s not hard to see from these quotes that he invests time in training leaders:

    “Effective teamwork begins and ends with communication.”

    “Communication does not always occur naturally…Communication must be taught and practiced in order to bring everyone together as one.”

    “During critical periods, a leader is not allowed to feel sorry for himself, to be down, to be angry, or to be weak. Leaders must beat back these emotions.”

    “In leadership, there are no words more important than trust. In any organization, trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to be achieved.”

    “When a leader takes responsibility for his own actions and mistakes, he not only sets a good example, he shows a healthy respect for people on his team.”

    “A leader may be the most knowledgeable person in the world, but if the players on his team cannot translate that knowledge into action, it means nothing.”

  19. mak4dpak 02/22/2011 at 7:55 AM #

    Good point about the Big East with so many teams qualifying for the tournament. Expansion is not the problem. Sometimes there are down years in conferences, even in the Big East. But certainly agree the quality of coaching has not helped. We of all teams have seen that for 5 years, and hopefully not 6. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  20. bradleyb123 02/22/2011 at 9:26 AM #

    Well, other than losing, I don’t think we have much to complain about with this one. We showed up. We competed. It was tied with six minutes left and Maryland made the plays. I still feel a little better about things over the last three games.

    I’m not making a case for keeping Sidney. But I still think we have a shot at a decent finish to the season.

  21. kyjelly 02/22/2011 at 1:53 PM #

    ^bradley : “Well, other than losing ,I don’t think we have much to complain about with this one.” Well with this logic I guess one could say that Sid’s teams have been great the past 5 years other than the losing?
    All things being equal Mrs. Lincoln what did you think of the play?

  22. bradleyb123 02/22/2011 at 4:49 PM #

    With what logic? I wasn’t making any kind of argument, nor was I defending Sidney, which you seem to believe.

    You took my post and ran in a strange, unintended direction with it.

    All I was saying was I’m still pleased with the effort, even though we ended up losing. I think the potential is there for a strong finish, if we keep up the effort.

  23. Wolfy__79 02/22/2011 at 7:04 PM #

    what the team has to for a strong finish is play tough team defense. i’m not sure they know how to tighten the nuts and bolts to do that? i’m all for it, i hope nc state wins out.

    tomorrow night unc-ch will play pretty tough defense for forty minutes.. and that may be the difference.

Leave a Reply