State 3-0, atop ACC

The media acts surprised by this.

Never mind it was that same media — not State fans — that over-hyped this State team in the preseason and then just as quickly soured on us after we were blown out by Oklahoma State in Puerto Rico in mid-November and then over-matched on the road against the nation’s second-ranked team nine days later, as if those two games were somehow indicative of this team’s potential.

But us seasoned State fans, usually cautiously-optimistic on our best days, always knew better.

See, we knew this team had to greatly improve to compete for an ACC title. We knew we had the talent — all the pieces — to be a great team. But those of us paying close attention in December also recognized all that talent was disguising two fatal flaws that would keep us from hanging a banner in March an/or making a run into April: poor defense and poor free throw shooting.

But now, three games into a long, grueling ACC schedule, we’ve shown drastic improvement in both areas, and because of it, we’re atop the ACC standings at 3-0 after beating the nation’s top-ranked team.

In that short span, we’ve outscored Boston College, Georgia Tech and Duke 65-to-46 on the free throw line while shooting 74.7%, including 20-for-23 (87.0%) against Duke. We’ve also forced 30 turnovers and held all three opponents to a combined 70-for-191 (36.6%) from the field, including 17-for-60 (28.3%) from behind the arc.

When you consider that we’re shooting 82-for-164 (50.0%) in ACC play, you can see why this team is winning.

We won a close game at Boston College (a game we likely would’ve lost last year) and then got past Georgia Tech in a textbook trap game while saving our best performance of the season for #1 Duke, which the media is calling a statement game.

And I guess they’re right, because we won today despite previously-unbeaten Duke playing a very good game. And that’s what’s most impressive to me about today’s win: both teams played well but we proved the better team.

Perhaps that’s a tad arrogant this early, but a certain amount of arrogance can be healthy. Of course, we have to keep improving — we’re still missing easy layups and allowing too many second chance points. But we’ve won our trap game and our statement game, so now we have to get past Maryland on the road in a textbook letdown game.

Sure, we didn’t win anything but short-term bragging rights today. But if that same team that won today continues to show up, then State will be a tough out in March.

And that’s all that matters, because that’s what we really wanted from this team.

About LRM

Charter member of the Lunatic Fringe and a fan, loyal to a fault.

12-13 Basketball Big Four Rivals NCS Basketball

43 Responses to State 3-0, atop ACC

  1. motorhead 01/13/2013 at 11:42 AM #

    I think I’ve watched the Purvis dunk about 30 times. What a great moment.

  2. packalum44 01/13/2013 at 12:06 PM #

    Richard Howell is proving people like me wrong. Last year I would have told you he’s Europe bound. The dude might be undersized but his hard work this season will earn him a NBA paycheck next year. So happy for him.

  3. ncst8zr1 01/13/2013 at 12:09 PM #

    I have had season BB tickets since 1972. Yesterday MAY have been the loudest crowd ever at a WP BB game at the PNC/RBC–if not, it was one of the loudest, including before tipoff. The venue, while not having the compactness and other beneficial acoustical features of old Reynolds, can be loud and intimidating, but it requires a near capacity, excited, noisy crowd. We certainly had those attributes yesterday. That really pleased some lifelong fans like me and others in my family. THE PACK IS BACK, BACK THE PACK, GO PACK!

  4. MrPlywood 01/13/2013 at 12:26 PM #

    re: “Plumlee’s block of Leslie’s dunk attempt…”

    If anything that seemed to motivate Calvin even further. I enjoyed watching what transpired after that moment.

  5. state73 01/13/2013 at 2:02 PM #

    Truly a team effort. Players were great. Coaching staff made great moves, and a special shout-out to the students who were truly the SIXTH MAN yesterday! GO PACK and go to hell tarholes.

  6. inhoc... 01/13/2013 at 3:37 PM #

    I just saw that Michigan also lost to Ohio State. There are no unbeaten teams left now. I also noticed that a whole other slew of teams lost this week, however state has not lost at all, notching victories over #1 and 2 other ACC teams.

    Where does this put state in the rankings tomorrow?

  7. JeremyH 01/13/2013 at 5:33 PM #

    Somewhere bw 8 and 16.

  8. ancsu87 01/13/2013 at 9:32 PM #

    Closer to 16 than 8. Curious to see where John Finestien puts up or if he still thinks we are good enough to be in the Top 25 at all.

    Lastly look at Kenpom.com. I still have not figured out his rankings but since we are #29 (after beating Duke) I did not waste my time trying to figure out a system that is totally FUBAR. According to him our SOS ranking is 50 or 51???

  9. mak4dpak 01/13/2013 at 11:36 PM #

    Never ceases to amaze me, that someone has to point out Kelly didn’t play, and Curry had to leave the game. So what if we block out in the first half like we did in the second and get rebounds, instead of Duke offensive rebounds? We won the game, and am proud of the effort of the team, and no guarantees Kelly would have made any difference. His back ups weren’t bad, and even Coach K said his team played a great game. So we win, and they lose. Conclusion. Now we have to prepare for Maryland, and bring the same effort.

  10. JeremyH 01/14/2013 at 1:29 AM #

    Yes it is silly that people get into which players were available for what parts of the game. If it was last year, do we get more credit for minutes of games Howell was disqualified with 5 fouls?
    Edit: Is OK State a “better loss” since we didn’t have Leslie on the floor for the last 17 minutes? Does it really matter the reason?

    “Closer to 16 than 8.”

    also maybe moving up less “is more”, as I’m sure the Terps are licking their chops as it is.

  11. R2004 01/14/2013 at 8:35 AM #

    As a rebuttal to the “Ryan Kelly would’ve made the difference” argument, here is the combined line from his replacements (Jefferson and Hairston–both normally bench players): 37 minutes, 9-14 shooting, 18 points, 9 rebs. Statistically, Kelly probably wouldn’t even have given Duke that, much less a huge upgrade.

  12. JeremyH 01/14/2013 at 12:18 PM #

    R2004 they would “buttal” back that he stretches the floor and opens things up for others, which there is no stat for.

  13. JohnGalt78 01/14/2013 at 12:56 PM #

    14 is closer to 16 than 8, all day long

  14. JohnGalt78 01/14/2013 at 1:09 PM #

    15th in USA Today coaches poll. Cheats got no votes???? Weird….but just.

    Voting coaches are btw:

    Tommy Amaker, Harvard; Tevester Anderson, Jackson State; Randy Bennett, Saint Mary”s; Eddie Biedenbach, North Carolina-Asheville; Jim Boeheim, Syracuse; Rick Byrd, Belmont; Tim Cluess, Iona; Keith Dambrot, Akron; Kermit Davis, Middle Tennessee; Steve Donahue, Boston College; Scott Drew, Baylor; Matt Driscoll, North Florida; Steve Fisher, San Diego State; Bruiser Flint, Drexel; Tim Floyd, Texas-El Paso; Mark Fox, Georgia; Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa; Rob Jeter, Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Mike McConathy, Northwestern State; Bob McKillop, Davidson; Ron Fang Mitchell, Coppin State; Matt Painter, Purdue; Dave Paulsen, Bucknell; Saul Phillips, North Dakota State; Steve Pikiell, Stony Brook; Randy Rahe, Weber State; Herb Sendek, Arizona State; Shaka Smart, Virginia Commonwealth; Andrew Toole, Robert Morris; Don Verlin, Idaho; Bob Williams, UC-Santa Barbara.

  15. gcpack 01/14/2013 at 2:13 PM #

    Choppack1 my thoughts on your comments plus those of Scott Wood after the game about Duke not having all of their players are what Gottfried said when asked about it. Paraphrasing the coach’s response (with a Vitale confirming laugh in the background) is that Duke sent in a Mcdonalds all america so what is so easy about defending that player? This isnt like we lose Howell and have to send in Vandenburg. Duke, as usual, is loaded so the first ones off the bench are exactly chopped liver.

    As for Curry getting hurt,,he played 95% of the game and with him in the lineup Duke never got the lead in the second half. With Warren covering him it was nearly impossible for him to get an open look. Most of his 3’s were not contested that much due to good ball movement on Duke’s part.

    Does anyone think that Duke’s game would have changed dramatically had Curry played the last three minutes compared to the previous 37 without the lead for most of the game?

    I don’t and have no apologies or misgivings about it.

  16. TruthBKnown Returns 01/14/2013 at 5:12 PM #

    we didn’t win anything but short-term bragging rights today

    Great read, but I don’t know if I would go this far. One other thing we won was a “quality win” to help us with our seeding in the dance. Before this, we had a lot of wins against mediocre-to-poor competition. We needed this win for more than just bragging rights.

    But that’s always nice, too!

  17. CannonballJunior 01/14/2013 at 10:53 PM #

    I don’t think the media overhyped this team at all.

    They predicted us #1 in the ACC and Top 6 nationally. There was reason back then and there is reason right now to think they will be proven correct.

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