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You know, four years ago, I would not have imagined that we would ever get to this point. And if not for the dogged efforts of Dan Kane and a few Wolfpackers, we wouldn’t have. But I now can legitimately see an outcome that topples that worthless university to the ground. With the ramifications for the O’Bannon lawsuit, APR, and the like, the NCAA has no choice but to act or implode. And even if they choose to implode, I still don’t see this ending for *NC. There is too much blood in the water. I think that a class action suit by former players is becoming a distinct possibility. An intrepid reporter can also still blow open the connection between the corrupt university and the corrupt state government, which has heretofore not been touched.
My mind goes back to the time when I was a freshman at State, and was visiting a friend at a Chapel Hill frat party. I watched Julius Peppers and some buddies roll up to the party in a new Dodge Durango, tinted windows, rims, speakers blasting. That’s when I knew that it was true, that those things I had heard people say about “benefits” to Heel players were real. There was no attempt to hide it, it was out in the open, because they knew they were above reproach. That was sixteen years ago, we’ve come a long long way.
Transfer season is where we learn that some grown men fans are just as immature as the teenagers they root for. I say best wishes to those that leave, and welcome aboard to those that come in to the program. Only choice we have is to play with the players that we have, and hope to maximize their abilities and minimize their deficiencies. None of the teams still alive in the tourney right now are perfect. They don’t have 5 skill guys on the court and 5 perfect subs. But they play as a team, and to me, that is the most important factor. There is no questioning that this year’s squad was more of a team than last year’s, hopefully we can continue building that.
Transfer season is where we learn that some grown men fans are just as immature as the teenagers they root for. I say best wishes to those that leave, and welcome aboard to those that come in to the program. Only choice we have is to play with the players that we have, and hope to maximize their abilities and minimize their deficiencies. None of the teams still alive in the tourney right now are perfect. They don’t have 5 skill guys on the court and 5 perfect subs. But they play as a team, and to me, that is the most important factor. There is no questioning that this year’s squad was more of a team than last year’s, hopefully we can continue building that.
In any given year there are what, maybe 15-20 “high caliber” teams that would satisfy fan’s desire for a “big-time” OOC opponent? I’m sure someone out there can come up with an exact number. And there are how many teams out there competing to try and line up a game with one of those teams? That means that more often and not, we are not going to get a game with one of those “big time” teams on the schedule, and certainly not a home game if we do. It takes two teams to schedule a game, and I don’t care how good a negotiator you are, there is no incentive for a team like LSU to come to Raleigh.
Every time this discussion happens, someone brings up the OSU series, and how competitive it was. Well, those Rivers led teams where arguably some of the best that have ever worn the State uniform. Last year, we almost lost to Richmond. So yeah, until we start fielding better teams, I have no interest in paying to watch us be embarrassed by a “big time” team.
I have zero problem with the home schedule for this year. I enjoy tailgating, cooking good food, seeing friends, and watching NC State win. The thing that I have a problem with is that the ticket prices don’t reflect the quality of competition. There should be some deep discounts for the cupcake games. And they should always be night games. Asking people to pay 40-50 bucks to watch us play a scrub team at noon in August is the problem. Improve the fan experience, and it doesn’t matter who we play, people will show up.
No matter if you don’t want to hear it or not, we are rebuilding. We went 3-9 last year. I want to watch some wins, I don’t care if it is against Sisters of the Poor. If you don’t like it, drop your LTRs, let people like me move up. I’ve never understood the people, and there are a lot of you, that will show up to the game and spend the whole time bitching and complaining about it.
I don’t have anything to say to either of the people whose names appear in the title of this thread that doesn’t start with “F” and end with “you”.
^ If anyone with any kind of subpoena power did some digging into “C for K”, they would find some very high profile people with some very dirty laundry.
Our fanbase (maybe others do it too, I’m only a member of one fanbase) has a frustrating habit of harping on these kinds of things: players that transferred, coaches that left, coaches that were fired, players that were recruited, players that were not recruited, coaches that were never hired, etc…. To me, it’s not worth my mental health to worry about these things that I have no control over. If you run with the Pack, then I’m with you all the way. If you don’t, well, bye.
And, while one foul per game may be statistically irrelevant, but what if that one foul was a questionable call that resulted in the fourth or fifth foul on your best player. This scenario played out three times this year with Luckie as the ref making that call. I can’t ignore that pattern.
It is virtually impossible to quantify bad officiating using statistics. I rarely complain about the total number of fouls, but rather: on whom is the foul called, what type of foul is it, and at what point in the game. I’ve seen refs “even up” the total foul count too many times to think that they aren’t fully aware of the foul count. Luckie and Hess are bad officials, I don’t care what their statistics are.
Notice the crew working the AZ-WIS game? Tony Greene, Brian Dorsey, and Mike Eades. This league’s ‘best’ officiating crew had perhaps its most inconsistent game of the year. And folks wonder why our league is so mediocre. Texpack nailed it on Wilbekin (who we should name Vanilla Ice 2). If I could use my off hand to keep a guy from getting to my shot, I’d be able to do wonders on the basketball court. Block/charge is terrible from one crew to the next. I counted four instances throughout the game where the crew for AZ-WIS missed easy out-of-bounds calls which review showed to be incorrect. In three of those cases, the official was either completely blocked or out of position to make the call. Baffling. I wonder sometimes how any coach in our league ever makes it through a game without getting tossed.
This x1000. I had this game on while I was doing some things around the house, was listening more than watching, and I knew that it had to be an “ACC” crew based on how the game was being called. They followed the script to a “T”. I had no rooting interest in the game, my bracket was busted long ago, so I don’t think it was rose colored glasses. I’m pretty consistent in my complaining about officiating, particularly in league play, whether we win or lose. Lack of consistency from end to end, ruining of the flow of the game are hallmarks of “ACC” officiating.
And while I’m complaining, let’s talk about the myth of playing “tough” defense. I roll my eyes every time I hear an announcer talking about a team really “clamping down” on the defensive end. Let’s face it, what that means is that refs are letting them get away with playing more physical. Everything else being equal, the physical attributes of the players and the schemes within which they are playing, the offensive player has the advantage based on how the rules are written. The block/charge call. The mythical “principle of verticality”. They all benefit the player with the ball. So when Duke or some other team starts playing their “scrappy”, “tough” defense, it really means that the officials are changing how they call the game. It happens when teams are coming from behind like in our game with St.Louis, the refs just let them get away with manhandling the offensive players.
To me, if it was a foul on one end, it is a foul on the other. If it was a foul in the first half, then it’s a foul with ten seconds left in the game. I think that’s all anyone is asking for when it comes to officiating, just be consistent.
Transfers happen. It’s a part of the game now. All I can do is wish the ones well that leave, and welcome the ones that come in. Unless you can: A. Offer “incentives” like the Holes seem to be able to do to persuade people to stay or B. Are a perennial nation powerhouse, you are going to lose players. It sucks, but it is just the way it is. It only becomes a problem if you stop being able to bring in new people to replace the ones you lose, which heretofore we have been able to do. When the offseason is all said and done, and we take stock of the team we have, I think we are going to be pleasantly surprised.
If that Coach K was willing to develop post players instead of relying on shooters, he’d be a heck of a coach.
If Tony Bennett was willing to work more on offense and less on defense, he’d be a heck of a coach.
So tired of seeing coach Gottfried being labeled as some sort of stubborn curmudgeon with some sort of fatal hubris that prevents him from changing his coaching style. If you can’t see the changes that have been made in three years, then I can’t do anything to change your mind. He knows the game, both basketball and public perception, he knows you have to keep winning or die. These are the same critiques that people have had since the day he was hired (mostly based on things heard from disgruntled Bama fans), and they won’t stop until he leaves.
You think the media backlash about us “running off” Sendek was bad?? What do you think would happen if we were to let Mark go after the three very successful seasons he has had (let us not forget those accomplishments) to hire young Mr. Miller after only one tourney run? If, and when, Coach Gottfried’s tenure has run its course, I have no doubt that we will be in a much better situation to hire a coach than we were when we lucked into hiring him. If Archie is available at that time and is the right person for the job, I will welcome him with open arms. Pack fans are so friggin frustrating sometimes.
I would like to announce that I am officially a candidate for the Wake Forest head coaching vacancy. I don’t have any prior experience, but I can’t do any worse than the last guy, right Deacs fans?
I’ll copy and past what I wrote about this earlier:
If I were a current or former student of that school, this would make me consider litigation. Consider that the official stance from the school is that since regular students were enrolled in some of these classes, it is not an athletic issue. So if we are to believe that, then there is a very real possibility that the elementary level paragraph in the above link could have been written by a regular student, admitted through the normal process and meeting the normal requirements. The implication for those with degrees is pretty explosive. I wouldn’t want my future employer thinking that you can get a degree from my university with elementary school level reading and writing skills.
Let me ask you a question, how often have you listened to a post game interview with that star DB and wondered to yourself, how the heck did that guy get in to college, and how is he staying eligible?
IF you haven’t seen it yet, this link shows a screen capture of one of the papers that was turned in for one of these AFAM classes.
If I were a current or former student of that school, this would make me consider litigation. Consider that the official stance from the school is that since regular students were enrolled in some of these classes, it is not an athletic issue. So if we are to believe that, then there is a very real possibility that the elementary level paragraph in the above link could have been written by a regular student, admitted through the normal process and meeting the normal requirements. The implication for those with degrees is pretty explosive. I wouldn’t want my future employer thinking that you can get a degree from my university with elementary school level reading and writing skills.
And to any Heel lurkers, I’ll lay it out for you. This can all be over today.
1. Admit that a system of fake classes and grade changes was set up for the explicit purpose of keeping basketball players, and later football and baseball players eligible.
2. Admit that every athlete that participated in this system should be retroactively declared academically ineligible.
3. Forfeit any and all titles, championships (real and imagined), and revenue associated with these aforementioned athletes.
4. All UNC-CH alumni that currently have any position within the UNC system and ACC conference power structure, up to and including the BOG and commissioner, resign effective immediately.
Do these things, and we will stop looking. You can keep your St. Dean, keep your “Way”, keep your ugly blue, and keep your corrupt political connections. Choose to keep lying, misleading, and denying at your own risk.
The only team to upgrade so far is VT. We don’t know how the other searches will turn out. And comparing the VT job to ours really isn’t fair, because we know the challenges are different coaching in the midst of the blue teams. Some coaches prefer to be big fish in small ponds.
If Steve Friggin Blake can make an NBA team, then Paige should have no problem. Fact is, Chapel Hill pays better than the D-league, so it makes the choice easy for their guys.
Regarding free throws- I make three footers on the practice green with my eyes closed all day long. On the course, not so much. The only sure fire way to practice free throws in game conditions, is to take free throws in game conditions. Muscle memory and technique are important, but mental toughness is more important. Just something the kids have to learn.
What people seem to forget about the Herb debate is that it started after FIVE seasons of mediocrity. The fact that he subsequently went to 5 tourneys is not really relevant. The divided fanbase is a result of those first five years, nothing that happened in the second five could have changed that, short of a title. Gott has started his tenure with three straight tourney appearances, 70 wins, a sweet 16, an ACC POY, etc. That is why reasonable folks like myself have a hard time understanding those that already are looking to move on. I am not convinced that we have reached the ceiling of what he is capable of, and I find the criticisms about defense and coaching styles to be pretty petty. We were an improved defensive team this year, and will be more improved next year now that these freshman bigs have a season under their belts. Last year and the year before, there was criticism about Gott’s short bench. This year we ran nine deep. So who is to say that these things are set in stone? Is there room for improvement, of course, and I’m sure that Gottfried knows that. Does Archie seem to be a promising coach catching fire at a small school? Sure. So did Herb. If Archie is smart, and I think he is, he’ll use his success to get a raise and stay where he is to try and build up a program so that when it comes time for him to move, he’ll have his choice of big time programs, not just jumping at the first big name program that throws money at him. If we have a vacancy at that time, we’ll make a play for him. But we don’t have a vacancy now, and I don’t think we should create one based on one good tournament run by a former player.
