N.C. State vs. Charleston Southern – 7pm

N.C. State (7-1) vs. Charleston So. (5-2) – 7pm @ William Neal Reynolds Coliseum (how many of you read that in C.A. Dillon’s voice? 🙂 )

Tv: Fox Sports South/Regional (646 on Direct / Channel 40 on Time Warner – thanks ‘Fastback68’! ); Espn3 – subject to blackout

Charleston Southern team page

The Wolfpack come into this game against after some (probably needed) off time and a relatively tough previous week of games. Last week saw multiple ‘firsts’ for this season’s edition of the Pack – their first road contest, their first loss, and their first conference game. While the road loss was far from smooth, the Pack hung around all night in spite of seemingly fighting uphill and had opportunities late. Purdue was certainly a beatable opponent, but the outcome was not disastrous by any stretch (remember, at this time last season we had lost a home game to NCCU).  N.C. State showed similar grit in the conference opener against Wake Forest: starting slow and battling foul trouble but clamping down on D in stretches and pulling away from the Deacons in the 2nd half in an often ugly, whistle-marred game.

Tonight’s opponent – the Buccaneers – will likely not offer any let down in the level of competition. Charleston Southern comes in sporting a season opening win at Ole Miss, and will likely be a contender for the Big South championship. Many college basketball fans are now cognizant that the days of ‘easy’ wins over mid-majors – and often, low-majors – are pretty much a thing of the past. The reasoning for this is multi-layered, and perhaps we can discuss this in a separate entry – but team wins are now often decided due to quality depth – and of course, coaching. That said, there aren’t but so many starting fives in Division 1 college basketball now that are so stunningly talent deficient that basically allow one to rule a game as being over before it even starts (the teams at the very top have superior talent, of course – but that doesn’t mean other teams are devoid of good talent).

This season alone has seen some pretty interesting results across college basketball. Highlighting the Big South alone, the conference boasts victories over Ole Miss (Charleston So.), Virginia Tech (Radford), Auburn (Coastal Carolina – Cliff Ellis!), and poor Clemson twice (Gardner-Webb and Winthrop). Those defeats may be over middle-of-the-pack or lower  finishers in their leagues, but they’re still defeats over power conference teams. The landscape has continued its shift, so to speak.

The bottom line for tonight’s contest between the Pack and the Buccaneers is that it continues N.C. State’s very smart and strategic scheduling under Mark Gottfried. Every contest has a purpose, and the schedule is always constructed with an eye on giving the Pack every opportunity to earn a bid into the NCAA Tournament (for context, cbssports currently has N.C. State at 36 in the RPI). Charleston Southern is a solid mid-major, and a win helps to maintain a solid RPI and a loss doesn’t destroy the RPI.

N.C. State and Charleston So. have faced no common opponents; the Buccaneers did however lose at Florida State earlier.

Charleston Southern has competed in one NCAA Tournament, losing in the first round (proper) in 1997 to UCLA.

Today’s video:

Please leave your thoughts here, enjoy the game, and Go Pack!

About wufpup76

'99 grad. Abundant reservoir of useless knowledge and even more useless skills. Vehement believer in the individual voice and also that it will indeed all be over by Friday.

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Home Forums N.C. State vs. Charleston Southern – 7pm

Viewing 25 posts - 101 through 125 (of 149 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #65153
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    C’mon Bjd … they were equal, but they weren’t equal. Simple!

    #65154
    Fastback68
    Participant

    Yeah, I’d like to place a takeout order. A video of a Hardee girls clambake.

    #65155
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Nice finish by RTO there

    #65156
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    BSW wants to hit 50 tonight. Original SW never did that.

    #65157
    redcanine
    Participant

    Seen Jersey Boys yet? It was good, but now I have “cry-eye-eye” and “bay-aye-bee” stuck in my head.

    #65158
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    Maybe he was going all Animal Farm on us.

    #65159
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Playing hard up 28 – awesome

    Good to see Abu stay with it after missing the alley

    #65160
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    Say what you will about this team, but they’re not selfish, they’re not stupid, and they’re sure as hell not lazy.

    I likes ’em.

    #65161
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Well, I did not expect us to be up 30 tonight – even with Lacey.

    My whole spiel in the OP about tough mid-majors looks a tad silly now … I’ll take it!

    #65162
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    The trivia answer – we lost to freaking Princeton in the 1999 NIT. I was there.

    #65163
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Say what you will about this team, but they’re not selfish, they’re not stupid, and they’re sure as hell not lazy.

    I likes ‘em.

    Completely agree – and they’re pretty smart on D. Stay on assignments and try to force jumpers. Keep workin’ towards March.

    #65164
    Wufpacker
    Participant

    Not silly at all wp76. We’ve taken them out of their game very well tonight, but they’re not a bad team.

    #65165
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Nice shot Abu … tons of potential there

    #65166
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    I was at the original “fuck, we lost the last game at Reynolds” – think it was FSU.

    Then we re-opened the record books and lost to Princeton too. I was mad.

    #65167
    Fastback68
    Participant

    So much fun to watch and no whistles

    #65168
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    Almost the first twin-to-twin assist of the season.

    #65169
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    So much fun to watch and no whistles

    Yes … very clean tonight.

    #65170
    TheCOWDOG
    Moderator

    Jeez, with as many combos put together tonight, does State qualify for Platoon, or Reinforcement?

    #65171
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Haha Abu got that one 🙂

    Hmmm … Reinforcement?

    #65172
    Wufpacker
    Participant

    LMAO…ALMKH critiquing the play.

    #65173
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    Jeez, with as many combos put together tonight, does State qualify for Platoon, or Reinforcement?

    MG does a good job at using minutes to teach and experiment. More thoughtful than he’s given credit for.

    #65174
    BassPacker
    Participant

    We need more of that breed of Cat.

    #65175
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Wow – Des with the assist of the night, catching Barber while falling haha

    #65176
    Fastback68
    Participant

    Dez picking up THE Cat, love it.

    #65177
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    I think when we get up this big, put a sportscoat on ALMKH and let him coach for awhile.

Viewing 25 posts - 101 through 125 (of 149 total)
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