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Glad to see the Toffees climbing out of the reach of the relegation zone. It was equally satisfying to see us knockout Tottenham early today.
As for our pick, I am thinking a 9 seed and our next opponent being UK.
Abu missed the callout, but setting a screen that far up at that point of the game was completely unnecessary.
I am also looking forward to the day Krzyzewski retires, because the new coach won’t have the same intimidation factor with the refs. Duke will suffer a couple of extra losses a year based on that alone.
My preference was for Notre Dame based simply on how they handled their academic scandal.
Otherwise it is the devil or the deep blue sea.
I have to wonder if playing four games in consecutive days will have some effect on UNC this coming week. While I realize that 20 year old kids bounce back quickly physically, I think the mental aspect may take its toll.
4 bubble teams with another bubble team coming in year 5. Hail to Gottfried.
To me a bubble team is one that is nervous on Selection Sunday. Since we earned our way in before the conference tournament, I don’t see us as anything but a lesser accomplished at large team.
I figure we could all use some shaudenfraude today:
‘m not attempting to impugn Sendek’s drive or passion. He’s a good coach — his 412 wins over a 22-year career prove he is.
All I’m saying is nine years is an adequate sample size. Using Graham as an example, mediocrity shouldn’t be enough for a university that strives to be the biggest and best in the country.
The men’s basketball team remains mediocre.
You do the math.
The reason I point this out is 1) to laugh and 2) because we could be in a lot, lot worse place than we are, even after Duke kicked our asses last night.
Does anyone know what’s going on with Washington?
Aside from the fact that he’s never learned how to play defense at the college level, I am not sure either.
Maybe he’s already told the coaches he’s leaving. I expect him to go after the season.
The refs should ALWAYS stop play IMMEDIATELY for a head injury.
Yes, exactly like they do in soccer.
If there is a severe enough injury, mere seconds can matter when it comes to getting medical attention.
This is a good sign:
Mark Armstrong
?@ArmstrongABC11 1m1 minute ago
Cat was asked if he’s ever been in a ‘zone’ like this before. ‘In HS and AAU I was ALWAYS in the zone, I’m getting back into it.’wufpup76 wrote:
Really liked Lacey’s postgame interview on RaycomI also liked the politeness that Cat showed in his.
Debbie Antonell: “Cat Barber, thank you.”
Cat Barber: “You’re welcome.”No “uh huh” or “sure” or “no problem.” It’s a sign I’m getting old, but “you’re welcome” is always the right thing to say.
That moved my estimation of Cat’s manners up quite a bit.
Sitton said to my face that he was going to “GET Valvano.” Heard it with my own ears, and was shocked. I was naive and thought that journalists were supposed to impartial.
What galls me the most is the News and Observer saying that he would never allow anything he knew to be untrue to be printed. What BS. Anyone from that time can remember the N&O’s long articles of innuendo on the front page followed be retractions literally in the obituaries a couple of days later. Sitton engineered that and if he believed ALL of the stuff he printed was fact, then he was an absolute idiot. And he was no idiot.
Supposedly, Anderson had a full practice at UVA.
In other news, Claude Sitton died today…on Jim Valvano’s birthday.
But, since a 6-0 start to the season, N.C. State hasn’t won four straight games.
No time like the present to change that.
Anyone who supports Gott certainly has similar aspirations to you and BJD.
Note that there is a significant difference between aspirations and realistic projections.
Indeed. Gottfried has the program improving, and in better shape than it has been since the Valvano Scandal in the 1980s. As far as I am concerned, the last HWSNBN years were fool’s gold and under Gottfried, there is a solid core of players that can play on both ends of the court, and Gottfried has been a relatively successful recruiter.
Are we there yet? Don’t fool yourself, we’re not. The team is not a consistent top 20 member that can vye for the ACC regular season crown. Are we headed in the right direction? Yes. But we’re not there yet and it may be another 2-3 years before we are.
The media picks of a Cheats-Duke tourney final are already rolling in. Could happen, but seems more like wishful ‘BLUES!’ thinking to me.
I’d say Notre Dame has the easier path to the Finals, and the oddsmakers agree.
Seed Team Odds* 1 Virginia +190 2 Duke +150 3 Notre Dame +650 4 Louisville +625 5 North Carolina +625 6 Miami +3500 7 NCSU +3000 8 Clemson +20000 9 Florida State +30000 10 Pittsburgh +15000 11 Wake Forest +50000 12 Boston College +100000 13 Georgia Tech +50000 14 Virginia Tech +150000Just avoid Kentucky as long as possible. Everyone else is beatable if State plays 30-35 minutes like they did against in the second half Syracuse, Duke or UNC.
Truthfully, it all comes down to player matchups in the tournaments, and I like our versatility.
I think we will play our best ball of the year. We will be loose.
I hope you’re right.
I also hope that we’re past the “WTF team is this?” exhibitions we’ve seen as recently as a week or so against Boston College. I fear for that against Pitt, but that’s just me being me, the ever pessimistic NC State fan.
Okafor – rotate Anya and Freeman on him. Make him work very hard for everything…he is a freshman and he has been at the freshman wall for a few games. I realize we won’t be able to completely stop him, but slowing him down and not let him be the easy 2 pt outlet is key.
Winslow and T.Jones – Cat Barber should be able to disrupt T. Jones. Winslow is the one I worry about, but if possible, bait him into making the silly fouls that he is so prone to. Lacey will have his hands full.
If you noticed I didn’t mention Abu that’s for a reason. He’s our wildcard as is Martin. If they have really good games then we should be in good shape.
Keep in mind Duke is not that deep and that we are deeper than them. Keep it close, rotate a lot of players and steal minutes for the starters and we should be in the game at the end with a chance to win.
The trick is slowing down Duke’s transition game and to make them work hard in the halfcourt. Giving them easy transition baskets or getting into a track meet game in the 80’s or above is a blueprint for losing to them.
But we have to beat Pitt first and relegate them to the NIT once and for all. Looking past them would be a HUGE mistake and it is one that the coaching staff must hammer home over and over again. A first half like the one against BC or Clemson at home will literally send the Pack home to await the selection show.
Add to the intrigue the belief Pitt must have that they need to play their way in. We represent their first obstacle in getting to that goal.
Thing is, even with a loss, we may be okay, because we might drop to the 10 seed. Steal the higher seed’s side of the bracket, as Jimmy V used to say.
Against a super-motivated team led by our former starting PG? Yeah, that would be an easy one to poop out and go home quietly.
If all of that is true — and it’s logical reasoning — then the Duke game on Thursday is incredibly important. With a win, Duke drops off the #1 seed (probably) and in any case, we probably move up off the seeds of death.
Honestly, I would rather see us a #10 over an 8/9 or even better, a #7. I’ll wait on the indefatigable analysis of VaWolf and Jigawatt, but I would prefer not to see our season end at the hands of an unpaid* NBADL team.
* over the table.
I said late last year that this would be an up and down team, one that would surprise and sorely disappoint…but also one that would be pretty good come February. Looks like I was right.
That wasn’t because I am some kind of soothsayer, but instead because we’d be working in Lacey and would need to see talent from the freshmen, as well as growth from the returning sophomores. That all happened…and we got a pretty damned good defense as the year went on.
Barber’s February should serve as a revelation not only for this team, but also for him. He’s had the D chops since he got here. He’s struggled running the point and scoring, but he’s picked up the distribution and he’s definitely a threat penetrating or going into the paint.
Anya is turning into the player we thought he could be last year when we heard he’d lost a lot of weight. He still needs to pick up some conditioning, but as it is right now, the kid’s pretty damned good.
Abu has easily been the best of the freshmen, which surprises me a little…I thought both Martin twins would be the ones who presented the biggest threat to the opposition. They’ve both got some work to do.
Coaching wise, I think Gottfried has taken it up a notch too.
All in all, our program has exceeded expectations and is going into the post-season going in the right direction. If they ever put a whole game together like the second half against Clemson or against Syracuse, they can beat anyone not named Kentucky.
Let’s go to GSO, get off of the 8/9 seed and take our chances. I think that this is a Sweet 16 quality squad right now, but they cannot afford any let down.
