The Pack heads to Hooville for a 4:30 game on FSN (for those with digital cable, the game is in HD on “Mojo”), in what easily could decide who gets seeds 11 and 12 in the ACCT. Virginia has beaten no ACC foe other than a very similar BC squad (star PG, very little else) – but has lost several OT games. Ten days ago, the Pack showed a baffling unwillingness to use its one plus perimeter defender on Tyrese Rice, who burned the Pack for a career high 32 points, giving BC its only win in its last nine conference games (and an easy one, at that). We’ll soon see if Sidney Lowe learned his lesson, or allows Javi Gonzalez to be abused by Singletary, while Fells stands idly by. I wish I was confident, but I’m not.
Buried deep in this morning’s paper, Chip Alexander notes that “There’s No Quit in the Wolfpack.” Despite the positive headline, nothing in the text is of much solace to State fans, especially the player quotes.
Gavin Grant:
“And if we get into postseason I still think we’re very capable of starting to click on all cylinders and be one of the better teams in the country as far as postseason play. I definitely think we have a good run in us.”
“I’m competitive. I want to win every game I’m playing and excel,” he said. “But we as a team aren’t playing at the level we need to be playing, so I may need to pick it up myself. Maybe what I’m doing is not enough.”
JJ Hickson:
“I’m not a loser, and I don’t think anybody on this team is a loser,” he said. “We’ll get it together. It’s our turn to get hot.”
Feel the tenor of those quotes – extremely passive. No sense of urgency. Just waiting for the good run, or for “our turn to get hot” – no sense of awareness that maybe other teams “get hot” against the Pack because of inconsistent half-court defense, and downright terrible transition defense. Your hated rival works you over in your house, and talks about how you seemed to give up in the second half. And this is the response? Maybe I need to do more. I don’t think we’re losers.
Maybe it’s long past time to make something happen, instead of just wishing for some magical switch to flip. There’s an old saying about shitting in one hand and wishing in the other – which one gets filled first?
