In the air tonight @ Miami #NCAAT

State has a big one tonight at Miami (8pm on WRAL in Raleigh)!

A win tonight would propel the Pack to 5-2 in the ACC and re-set the team with the opportunity to play for seeding in the NCAA tournament (and ACC tournament). I loss obviously wouldn’t be crushing…but, it would serve to slide State much closer to having to endure more ‘bubble talk’ as we start to turn the page to February.

Miami started the season 8-0 and climbed as high as #15 in the polls before hitting some very inconsistent play that included a blowout loss to Eastern Kentucky and Green Bay. The Hurricanes seem to have found themselves and are playing great defense. Heck, they forced UVA into two overtimes after trailing by 18 points in the game. Obviously, they put the wood to Duke in Cameron…so, we know they can play lights out — especially with their strong guard play which State is going to need to neutralize by getting more out of Cat Barber than we have consistently gotten to this point in the season.

Gottfried’s Wolfpack is 4.5 point underdog tonight, which seems just a little high. In fact, the ACC Sports Journal just released some commentary about their ACC Power Rankings that support how close State and Miami are projected:

—-NC State, Miami, Clemson, and Syracuse are generally ranked between No. 6 and No. 9 in our listings, though Moore moved Pitt up to No. 9, with Clemson falling to No. 11. Miami comes in No. 6 on two lists (Powell, Moore), while NC State finds the No. 6 spot on the other two (Carroll, Krest). Two reporters list Syracuse No. 8 (Krest and Moore), while Powell moved Clemson to the No. 8 spot and placed Syracuse at No. 9 following the Tigers’ double-digit home victory over the Orange.

If State and Miami aren’t currently close enough for you, then the Pack’s opponent on Sunday (Notre Dame) can’t get much closer in the RPI:

[11:30am Update] The N&O shares more about this key stretch in the schedule for NC State basketball.

N.C. State (13-6, 4-2 ACC) figures to be jockeying for ACC and NCAA position with Miami (12-5, 2-2), No. 55 in the RPI (ratings percentage index), and Notre Dame, No. 39 in the RPI. Those are the next two teams on the Wolfpack’s schedule. The Fighting Irish (17-2, 5-1 ACC) come to Raleigh on Sunday.

The Wolfpack had to scramble last season to get into the NCAA tournament. Gottfried’s fourth team is ahead of schedule this season but it still has plenty of work to do.

N.C. State visits Miami ranked No. 37 in the RPI. The Wolfpack is 2-5 vs. the top 50 of the RPI and 6-5 against the top 100.

Those top 50 and top 100 wins are better at this point in the season than Gottfried’s first team in 2011-12, which was a No. 11 seed, and last year’s team, which was a No. 12 seed and had to play in the First Four.

Miami and Notre Dame don’t have the tradition of Duke or UNC, or same history with N.C. State, Gottfried has stressed their value to his players. Coming off the Virginia-Duke-UNC stretch, that won’t be easy.

“We’ve had a tough emotional couple of weeks but everybody does,” Gottfried said. “We don’t need to be whining about it or make excuses about it.”

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14-15 Basketball

Home Forums In the air tonight @ Miami

Viewing 23 posts - 426 through 448 (of 448 total)
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  • #70966
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Did ya’ll hear about the CAT ATTACK…
    I missed that at the end of the game…

    If any idiot starts chortling about Barber turning around to say something, can we please come together and rip said idiot to shreds? I’m beyond f’ing sick of the “you can’t/shouldn’t defend yourself!!” mentality that’s shoved down everyone’s throats starting in grade school.

    Depending upon my mood, it’s just as likely that I turn around and break that fucker’s GD hand as it is that I’d just walk away.

    Yeah, I know – there’s merit to just walking away, especially when you’re publicly representing a team, university, job, etc … But these kids already take tons of verbal abuse on the road and some jackass is going to pull that? Here’s a f’ing shocker, people tend to behave better when they know there are consequences to their actions.

    You’re welcome for your idiotic talking points today, local sports talk radio.

    #70967
    Rick
    Keymaster

    Spintk if it makes you feel any better no one really likes me either most of my opinions shared are contrarian or else why share them if they aren’t interesting? You can’t change deeply engrained minds – just share your thoughts and move on. Its nothing if not cathartic. I feel like I just rubbed one out with my post I can sleep now. Goodnight all.

    I actually like most of your posts for what it is worth. I am not a huge Gott fan but I also do not think he is awful. I think he is an upgraded Herb with a ceiling (albeit higher than the one Herb had).
    I am really confused by the disapearance of the high post, at least the way we ran it his first two years. It was very effective.

    #70968
    Fastback68
    Participant

    With all the whiney ass cry babies, You’d think we had a team with enough talent to put MJ and LaBron on the bench.

    This place is becoming a douche magnet.

    Out of line? I don’t think so but I’m ok with a ban.

    Foose, this is what happens when you disappear for two months for what I assume was a Highlander type reflection montage with regards to your role on SFN. Your blade is so sharp the idiot in question walks away in ham like sections without even realizing it, much like the diced cartoon cat. I know it gets tiresome for you but SFN takes a serious drop in overall quality when you don’t post.

    #70969
    Rick
    Keymaster

    With all the whiney ass cry babies, You’d think we had a team with enough talent to put MJ and LaBron on the bench.

    This place is becoming a douche magnet.

    Out of line? I don’t think so but I’m ok with a ban.

    Foose, this is what happens when you disappear for two months for what I assume was a Highlander type reflection montage with regards to your role on SFN. Your blade is so sharp the idiot in question walks away in ham like sections without even realizing it, much like the diced cartoon cat. I know it gets tiresome for you but SFN takes a serious drop in overall quality when you don’t post.

    I happen to agree despite the fact I have been on the wrong end of that blade lately.

    #70970
    TheCOWDOG
    Moderator

    Rick. Why dontcha come on over to this end, and let me buy you a beer?

    #70971
    packplantpath
    Participant

    I do not like Gott. At all. Not even a little bit. It didn’t start out that way, it just crept up and I don’t really know why. If he got us to the elite 8 this year, I still would not like him and would be ok with firing him. I know, aren’t you glad I’m not in charge 🙂

    But, having said that, I’m ok with last night. I also didn’t watch the whole game. Some boneheaded plays, bad turnovers, etc. But in general they did most of the things they needed to and sometimes the ball just didn’t go in. It happens.

    The biggest thing I saw is it seems he needs to work on keeping them out of panic mode. With 3 minutes to go and one guy decides he is going to pretend he is still in high school and is 10X better than everybody else and will drive to the basket and score. Down 2 scores with 2-3 minutes it was like they suddenly decided to quit running plays sometimes. That goes on coaching and I felt a time out was needed to rein that in. But I don’t remember what the timeout situation looked like then either.

    #70973
    redcanine
    Participant

    Larranega has taken Shane Larkin and Angel Rodriguez and turned them into excellent point guards. Or maybe he just has a superb eye for talent? Either way, he’s blessed that Miami program.

    My only criticism of last night’s game is that we didn’t go to the rack enough. They gave us plenty of space to drive, IMO, by playing us so close. We only attempted 4 free throws. I’m talking about the whole team, not just one or two guys.

    #70975
    Texpack
    Participant

    I’m back into the stupid proxy server crap that won’t let me get to the forums. This happened once before and the prescribed fixes didn’t work. It just healed itself somehow. The problem is only on the laptop. Doesn’t matter what network it is connected to. iPad can access the forums just fine from the same networks.

    Any suggestions?

    #70976
    redisgood
    Participant

    ^ I’m having the same issue as well. It started yesterday. I cannot access forums from my desktop. iPhone and iPad seem to be okay though. I can only get to the SFN Home Page on my desktop. “HTTP Error 400” whatever that means.

    #70977
    Texpack
    Participant

    As for the game last night, it’s another example of how dependent we are on Lacey and Turner. Even with the offensive showing from Abu and KW in double figures, we didn’t have enough offense. We never made them collapse and double anybody and they were determined to keep BSW from getting going.

    I thought we got a lot of good looks that rimmed out and could have easily won the game with a tad more shooter’s good fortune. The loose TO’s drive me nuts. Those cost us dearly and so did the lack of three pointers.

    That was the best officiated game I have watched in a long time. Rebounders were rewarded for position and they didn’t allow people to do the “Tyler Two Step” all night. I’ll take that crew for every game the rest of the season.

    The dude that touched/pushed Cat shouldn’t be allowed back in the arena for at least the rest of the season

    #70978
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    Especially with what Cat has been through lately, that’s a remarkably restrained reaction from him. That student should definitely be barred from games the rest of the season. No excuse for that. Where is security in that arena?

    #70979
    tractor57
    Participant

    I was impressed with Cat’s response (or lack thereof) and much less impressed with security at Miami.

    #70981
    fullmoon1
    Participant

    That fan is dang lucky that cat showed some reservation, it looked like the fan uttered a quick apology after cat have him the look. It’s obvious cat would have dismantled this guy in about 3 seconds. The refs should have been all over that, at least given Miami a warning as they do when fans throw things. It seems the university of myhami handled pretty well although after the fact. An apology was issued by the ad and the coach spoke with gott about it in the hallway.

    #70983
    fullmoon1
    Participant

    Evidently basketball arenas that seat less than 200 don’t offer much in the way of security.

    #70984
    redisgood
    Participant

    I’m not even sure the kid was a student. I’m hearing he’s the son of a wealthy Miami lawyer. Probably has a block of season tickets in the front row. If so, hopefully the university takes back the tickets.

    #70985
    Rick
    Keymaster

    Rick. Why dontcha come on over to this end, and let me buy you a beer?

    Gentler, kinder Rick is paying divdends already
    Thank you good sir.

    #70986
    WolftownVA81
    Participant

    I’m ok with this loss except that I know we could have won if we had mentally stayed in the game for 40 minutes. Regarding the fan who pushed Cat, where is King Karl when you need him. He could have ejected him retro actively or failing that put him on double secret probation.

    #70987
    packplantpath
    Participant

    I was impressed with Cat’s response (or lack thereof) and much less impressed with security at Miami.

    Yea, in some arenas talking trash about officiating will get you kicked out, in others you can assault players.

    #70988
    ryebread
    Participant

    Pros from last night:
    – Cat’s withstraint. That was a mature response given the moment, adrenaline, etc..
    – Abu’s offensive awakening.
    – Some of the drive and “throw it up” plays for Abu/BJ.
    – Washington stepping up when we definitely needed help.
    – Effectiveness of the press.

    Bad from last night:
    – End of game management
    – Blowing the lead
    – Not pressing early enough
    – Horrific shooting
    – FT disparity and all the factors that lead to it (officiating, offensive and defensive strategy, etc.)

    Overall:
    – To be the type of program we as fans want, that’s a game you have to win.
    – To get to the tournament this year, we have to beat Miami, Syracuse and Pitt. That’s who we’re fighting for a bid. Right now we’re 1-1. We have only 1 good win (Duke).
    – Anti-chicken little talking points: Vegas had Miami as a 5 point favorite and they won by 5. Larranaga is a good coach and they were at home. ACC road wins are tough.
    – I said prior to the Duke win, and after the Duke win, that I think we know what we’ve got in Gott. I didn’t expect to win last night and we didn’t. I didn’t expect us to beat UNC at home coming off of Duke, and we didn’t. That doesn’t mean that I think Gott should be fired. I just think the picture is pretty clear with him this far into year 4. He’s a better version of HWSNBN, but is that what we really want out of our program?
    – Some of this is hard to stomach when I see Wichita State, VCU and Dayton ranked. I also think at least 2 of them would beat us head to head.
    – I’m not convinced that NC State is willing to break the eggs needed to be a winner in basketball. This doesn’t mean cheating, but this means the PR risk that comes with making a bold move.

    #70990
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    I’m ok with this loss except that I know we could have won if we had mentally stayed in the game for 40 minutes. Regarding the fan who pushed Cat, where is King Karl when you need him. He could have ejected him retro actively or failing that put him on double secret probation.

    ^Hess would’ve ejected Barber.

    #71000
    Whiteshoes67
    Participant

    Shot selection, throughout the second half, and especially at the end of the game. And some of these were definitely set plays. The offense was abysmal in the second half, and many of those weren’t good looks that just didn’t fall. Add that to my list of complaints.

    Given Gottfried has teams that generally rank very high in offensive efficiency, and are noted for getting good looks, it’s baffling how frequently his teams (not just this squad) exercise poor judgment and have poor shot selection, something that’s occasionally more glaring in close contests, or in the final minutes of close games.

    Pair that with poor defense, so-so free throw shooting, unforced turnovers, this suggests to me a general lack of discipline. That’s my core complaint. I think excellent coaches demand it and pay attention to the details. But I commend the players for fighting and competing. Hats off.

    #71002
    Tau837
    Participant

    On that note, maybe the staff liked what they saw in the press – I certainly did. It seemed to really energize the guys late. Probably don’t want to try it all the time or against everyone – but I thought it was effective in changing the game flow.

    I realize this isn’t normally part of Gott’s approach, but I have been disappointed in our lack of use of the press this season. We have a team that should be extremely well suited to doing it, even doing it extensively. We could sub in 5 for 5 if needed, and each of those teams would have long, quick, athletic guys up front in the press and solid bigs at the back to protect the rim. For example:

    Cat, Cody, Turner, Abu, Washington
    Lacey, Des, Caleb, Freeman, Anya

    I’m not a big Shaka Smart fan, but can you imagine how effective this team’s press would be under him?

    #71087
    ancsu87
    Participant

    I am sorry there is just no way anyone can explain a team only taking 4 foul shots in a college game unless you look at the name Kersey in the ref box and know that Hess just got banned for life.

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