Tarheels Tear up Zona - StateFans Nation StateFans Nation

It was ALL Carolina today as the Heels did the ACC proud and domintated an Arizona team that came into the day rated #15 in the RPI and #35 in the Sagarin Computer. Although Arizona is not a Top 10 team this season, the Wildcats easily carry big time cache as one of the Top 10 programs of the last decade.

Wow. You have to give Carolina credit for scheduling Arizona in the same year that they scheduled a road trip to Southern Cal and Kentucky along with a home game against Illinois. We all know a few coaches and administrators that would never put together such a schedule, especially with a team that was projected as an NCAA bubble team at the beginning of the season.

Additionally, you have to give the Carolina crowd a lot of credit — in stark contrast to the RBC Center on Wednesday night, the Dean Dome was very loud and active today.

In hindsight, when you compare Carolina’s out-of-conferce sabbatical vs Arizona with State’s flop vs Seton Hall this week, the results are pretty embarassing for Wolfpacknation. But…of course….we all know that NC State fans shouldn’t compare ourselves to Carolina

â€œOur fans are comparing ourselves to Duke and North Carolina. Every program in the country doesnâ€™t do well when youâ€™re compared with those two on a day-to-day basis. I understand that our fans want to be able to compete with them; we all do. But you can be real good on a daily basis and not be better than those two programs.ï¿½? -(Lee Fowler, NC State Athletics Director, March, 2005)

Don’t you understand the thinking — if avoid looking in the mirror, you can avoid seeing how bad you look. This philosphy actually some merit. Think about it. Almost NOBODY DID see how bad we were on Sunday since we were televised on piddly ESPNClassic while Duke and Carolina’s OOC games this week were carried nationally by CBS.

Today’s win gives Carolina out of conference victories over both Kentucky and Arizona in the same season. In the last 60 days, this “going to be weaker than the past Tarheel team” has defeated two out of conference programs with more prominent national names than Herb Sendek has defeated in the last 3,650 days at NC State (10 seasons).

8 Responses to Tarheels Tear up Zona

HeelsFan 01/28/2006 at 4:53 PM #

Today’s game was VERY BIG for the Tar Heels. “Back against the wall situation” A loss today would have put them in a big “slide” and it would have been very difficult to recover IMHO.

I know you on SFN are NOT looking for excuses but given the fact State is in the drivers seat for a high seed in the NCAAT and ACCT, the Seton Hall game was not a “must” game.

I’ll bet you’ll see the State team against Clemson that dismantled BC a few weeks ago.
Jeff 01/28/2006 at 5:06 PM #

You are right. It certainly not a “must” win. And since most State fans could care less about putting together any kind of great season as long as we can just get into the NCAA Tournament, then the game was basically worthless to most.

We’ve got a little cushion built up for NCAA Tournament admittance. Additionally, I think the win AT BC will look like a real nice one by the end of the year.
lumberpack 01/28/2006 at 5:44 PM #

I suspect that UNC will also win at least two games in the ACC tourney
packbackers 01/28/2006 at 10:53 PM #

Let’s not forget that while State was getting embarassed at home by Seton Hall, UNC was getting beat at home by BC. If I were a UNC fan, I would much rather win a conference game at home than a non conference one. As a State fan, I’m glad they had an off night in a non conference game. I tend to be a little more positive than some, though.
Astral Rain 01/29/2006 at 9:11 AM #

I do think the Seton Hall bungle will cost NCSU a seed line. I’d rather see State as a 4 then a 5, just to avoid the 5 seed curse. I remember when NCSU got that 3 seed 2-3 years ago that I thought they’d be a 5 (they were overseeded that year by a seedline- a 4 would have been more appropiate)
That being said, You’re right- Seton Hall was the best team to lay an egg on. Not so bad as to be a “bad loss”, and also OOC. You have to remember- last year UNC has a bad loss with Santa Clara (who weren’t much better then Seton Hall, and they ended up doing alright last year). Also Seton Hall isn’t as bad as NDSU, Wisconsin should get about the same seed we do in the end.

State can’t afford more then 1 or 2 more bungles if they want a high seed though. Any loss right now would be a bungle- given that the hard part of the schedule is done.
HeelsFan 01/29/2006 at 12:40 PM #

^^

You are RIGHT packbacker. If I had to chose between BC and Arizona, certainly a conference win would have been preferred. But, BC beat the Tar Heels and the ‘Zona game became a “must win”.

State’s wins over BC, GW AND the “way” they played at DOOK will help solidify a very high seed for the Pack. I would say a 3 or 4 at worst.
Jeff 01/29/2006 at 3:47 PM #

The whole country got to see Carolina beat Lute Olson and national name, Arizona on a Saturday afternoon. There is a lot of value in that.
smile 01/31/2006 at 8:01 AM #

“Stateâ€™s wins over BC, GW AND the â€œwayâ€? they played at DOOK will help solidify a very high seed for the Pack. I would say a 3 or 4 at worst.”
So much cetainty and the season only half over…..”Ced is an NBA early pick this year”….”Brown will win the Hiesman’. So much USA Today mentality here- perspective is 24 hours.