Cal
We aren’t going to spend a ton of time previewing Cal or talking about NC State’s “chances” in the Big Dance. I just don’t have the time this week, nor the desire. About all that you need to know is the name – Leon Powe. If you want to surf some Cal stuff, then click here and go to it.
PROGRESS!!!
NC State has earned the following seeds in their “big” run of five straight NCAA Tournaments:
2002 – #7 seed
2003 – #9 seed
2004 – #3 seed
2005 – #10 seed
2006 – #10 seed
Those of you that support Herb Sendek more than you support NC State, please tell us more about the “progress” and “improvement” that our program is achieving in your delusional minds? You’ve told us all year long that this is Herb’s “best team ever”, yet it produced his worst seed ever behind UNC-Wilmington and the other Wolf pack – Nevada. Let me guess…“Just wait until next year!!!”
Of course…most of you grasp that “progress and improvement” shouldn’t be the primary measure for any coach/program after 4 or 5 years…but, let’s not confuse our friends on the other side with too much complexity in the conversation.
Wolfpackers Apathy
Some of you may know that I have lived in Houston, Texas the last 5 years. Last night I connected with multiple Wolfpackers in Houston, Austin, and Dallas and couldn’t find a single friend remotely interested in investing their time and money into traveling to Dallas this weekend. (They were all quite thankful that they didn’t have Lifetime Rights for NCAA Tournament games). Additionally, I can’t tell you the number of phone calls and emails that I got from friends (and LTR holders) who were so disconnected from the program that it is sad. Many of them truly could care less.
I will add here that if Herb Sendek is coaching NC State’s Basketball Team next year that I have four lifetime rights seats that will be for sale next season. Please go ahead and log your interest so that we can connect about payment.
From Fowler’s Mouth – State of Apathy
FIVE years ago, I had the “pleasure” to sit down and talk about NC State’s Basketball program with Lee Fowler for over an hour. At one point in the meeting I made a self-depracating comment about Wolfpackers (and my) obviously high level of passion.
Fowler’s response was one of the only things he said that made sense and was to the tune of: “Oh..that’s a great thing. Nothing wrong with passion. It is when nobody cares; it is when we have the opposite that we have that we have a problem.”
In the five years that Fowler said that he was so blindly, aggressively, and ridiculously supported Herb Sendek and criticized others that he can’t connect today’s reality with his supposed beliefs. Scroll down this entry and take a look at these comments…from LAST YEAR’S ACC Tournament and you tell me what has improved on the apathy front since then?
WFNZ Radio
If you have been perplexed by the insanity of some of ridiculous statements made by Coach Herb Sendek and Lee Fowler over the last few days, don’t feel like you are alone. In addition to your Wolfpack bretheren, even the radio personalities at WFNZ in Charlotte have joked about these delusional comments. Additionally, the personalities that admit that they are Wolfpack fans have whole-heartedly shared comments 100% consistent with the feeling of apathy that we all know permeates the program. You can take a look at the media’s general perspective of the current issues at NC State by clicking here.
Conference Championships
The ACC may be as weak as it has been in most people’s memory (great 4th place finish, Wolfpack!) but there wasn’t a game played on Sunday at the high level of the Duke-Boston College game. What a game!! Additionally, the Texas-Kansas game was played a level clearly above the Big Ten and the SEC Championships.
Dave Glenn logged blog entries all weekend from the Tournament…this link takes you to some insightful comments from Sunday.
The Blue Devils have a chance today to jump above North Carolina in the category of ACC championships for the first time since the 1960s. Here’s the current breakdown: Duke 15, UNC 15, N.C. State 10, Wake Forest 4, Georgia Tech 3, Maryland 3, South Carolina 1, Virginia 1.
The first thing I think about when I look at those numbers is the incredible dominance of Duke and UNC, which have simply wonderful histories and now rank as the top two programs in America. The second thing is that the Wolfpack’s very strong third-place showing (10 ACC titles) goes a long way toward explaining the mindset of many disenchanted State fans, who understandably doubt that coach Herb Sendek can bring the Pack back to that level. The third thing is the amazing dominance of the Big Four schools, with 44 of the 52 conference championships entering today’s game. That deserves a “wow.”…
Taking a Bow
Pardon me for a little self promotion here…but if you care to carve out the bullsh*t portion of my NC State pick to win the ACC Title this weekend, you will see that I nailed the Duke-BC match-up:
Back to the ACC Tournament – outside of my homer prediction, the following is my projected order of likelihood of who will win this weekend’s event in Greensboro: (1) Duke (2) Boston College (3) NC State (4) North Carolina
The Family
Speaking of Coaches…
* Dereck Whittenburg’s Fordham Rams lost in the semi-finals of the Atlantic Ten Tournament to Sean Miller’s Xavier.
* Additionally, Ohio State won the Big Ten’s Regular Season Title and lost in the conference championship to Iowa. Former Wolfpack assistant, John Groce, is currently an assistant at Ohio State and is being rumored to be a candidate for the open Duqesne head coaching job.
* Ironically, former NC State player and current Cincinnati interim Head Coach, Andy Kennedy, is also rumored to be high on the list at Duqesne.
* Current NC State assistant, Larry Harris, has been rumored to be a peripheral candidate for the Duqesne job
As I have shared before, Dereck Whittenburg is one of my five favorite Wolfpack Basketball players of all time. Regardless of my love for him, I think that NC State fans that submit his name as a potential replacement if Herb Sendek were to find another job are making a huge mistake. Whittenburg may one day be the perfect fit for the State job…but he is nowhere close to as accomplished as he needs to be at this point in his career.
Alumnus status is nice, but it also comes with some significant challenges. It is hard enough for the “Job for Life” crew at NC State to fire anyone…can you imagine the challenges trying to get rid of an alum? (See – Les Robinson)
