Castrated Turkeys Game Thread

06-07 Basketball General98

I will admit to having a special bit of hate in my heart for the Hokies, ever since that damned Peach Bowl in the late 80s (1987?), when VT faked injuries and took a dive (drawing a phantom pass interference call) to set up the game-winning FG. Followed nicely by their kicker giving our fans the finger. Plus, the neverending saga of the fun-loving Mexico brothers. You stay classy, Blacksburg.

Anyway, remeber last year – when the all-ACC first team was comprised of one guard and 4 PF/C types? The 2006-07 Wolfpack might have won 5 or 6 in that league. Unfortunately, the ACC guard renaissance is in full flourish, and tonight’s opponent is led by…you guessed it, another outstanding guard tandem – Zabian Dowdell and Jamon Gordon. Both of these guys merit at least 2nd team all-ACC status, and should lead an end-to-end ass kicking tonight. If you want hope, then pray that VT overlooks us much the way UNC overlooked them, in a nice bit of cross-state non-rivalry reverse karma.

Anyway, I’ve taken my Xanax for the evening, and I’m ready to take what’s coming to my beloved Wolfpack. Who’s with me?

9:27 – No sucking so far. Atsur playing well, and if McCauley had hit the wall, he’s blasted through it tonight.

9:31 – I don’t like this Vasallo guy. He’s going to kill us, I fear. I’ve had hemmorhoids (sp?) more insightful than Cliff Ellis. Can’t say enough about Atsur and Big Ben so far.

9:36 – 2 fouls on Vasallo. Sweet. VT playing 11, but not trapping us. Weird.

9:39 – Costner seems mad tonight. He plays better that way.

9:41 – I noted this hypothesis awhile back, but we really have played much better on the road in our ACC games. In every home
contest, we’ve sucked.

9:47 – What a stupid-assed play. Grant doesn’t hold for last shot, VT gets 4 point play. Instead of 6+ point lead, it’s 2. Stupid freaking Grant.

10:15 – We are showing character by the ass-load. If we played like this at home, we could be a .500 ACC team.

10:30 – OK, I guess Grant is making up for his lobotomy moment. Need to finish this one off. No matter the stat line, Atsur is the player of the game, IMHO.

10:35 – Grant got mugged there. Could be a big turning point.

10:39 – We are going to blow it.

10:48 – Being wrong (hopefully) never felt so right.

11:12 – Sorry for the late/sporadic posting – too damned giddy! Wife also wouldn’t let me jinx with a happy post down the stretch. Final score: NC State 70, VT 59. Every player in the top 7 had a vital play in securing this win. Whatever Sid said to Gavin at the half…I hope he remembers to say it again. Pack does what Duke and UNC failed to do (hell, Duke couldn’t even do it at HOME), and we are now tied for 8th.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

06-07 Basketball General

98 Responses to Castrated Turkeys Game Thread

  1. class of 74 02/01/2007 at 5:01 AM #

    Congratulations to Coach Lowe and team.

  2. RickJ 02/01/2007 at 7:15 AM #

    We have no chance to win this game without Astur. I don’t know how many more we would have won if he had been healthy all year but we would have had zero % chance of winning last night if he had not played. I guess he is playing at about 80% now.

  3. legacyman 02/01/2007 at 7:32 AM #

    Atsur played his role almost to perfection…calming the team down. He is not 100% as evidenced by how easily the VT guards got around him and inside for almost layups but he offset that with his leadership and direction.

    We probably could have won another game or two with him healthy but we didn’t get that option. Keep playing hard and well and get prepared for next year.

  4. kool k 02/01/2007 at 7:35 AM #

    Speaking of that Peach Bowl…Sheridan’s first team….Bill Dooley was the Hokies coach, he had a player fake an injury in the final minute because they didn’t have any timeouts. They then kicked the winning field goal. I was 8 years old. My hatred for the Hokies still burns! However, Blacksburg is definately the best roadie in the conference.

  5. vtpackfan 02/01/2007 at 7:47 AM #

    We still hav yet to lose three games in a row. After UNX, it’s GT and UM on the road. McCauley is amazing. Atsur played lights out. Credit the defense with playing a bend/don’t break style that often baffled the Hokies in the lane. I agree that if the refs wanted to they could hae sent VaTech to the line often, but credit our guys to playing to how the game was called.

    Thanks to Sid for caling on GG number and unleashing him in the second half. We don’t have waves of players, our a speed burner play making point guard. We have to use transition when its available and play match ups on offense one step ahead. I thought that giving GG the opportunity to take control after a half of two man basketball (Atsur/McCauley) took guts and alot of faith. Gavin wasn’t playing so well in the first half (as many here were quicl to point out) but without his play in the second half this is a missed opportunity.

    Great job to all the Pack, the week off really seemed to bring this team together. I’m nervous about the game with the Holes still. If we can limit them to one shot down the court 75% of the time and keep our To’s under 15 then I’ll take whatever I can get. The defense seems to getting stronger, and on any given night (more given on the road) we can shoot the basketball pretty darn well. We’ve got to get to the foul line and make em’ if we have any chance of slowing Roy’s Toy’s down. Congrats Sidney, this was a huge step forward in your first year, and way to go boys!

  6. BJD95 02/01/2007 at 8:03 AM #

    ^^ I was either 13 or 14 for that Peach Bowl, and I remember futilely just screaming from my seat – sad and royally pissed at the same time.

  7. NCSUownzJoo 02/01/2007 at 8:13 AM #

    I do believe some people on here owe Gavin Grant and Courtney Fells some apologies.

  8. PurplePeopleEaters 02/01/2007 at 8:17 AM #

    Well, who would have thought they would explode like that in the 2nd half. Beating the press with their athleticism leading to easy two’s.. Grant not forcing things. If this team can get into the NIT they might reak some havoc.

    Atsur is making a huge difference on this team right now. He stepped up and was a leader hitting clutch three’s and playing solid perimeter defense. Exactly what we needed.

    Anyone else notice Horner’s new tat? Too funny..

    But let’s not get our hopes up too much. We’re likely going to get smacked by UNC by double digits on Saturday and all of the haters will be back on board.

  9. jamieinkorea 02/01/2007 at 8:20 AM #

    PurplePeopleEaters Says:

    “But let’s not get our hopes up too much. We’re likely going to get smacked by UNC by double digits on Saturday and all of the haters will be back on board.”

    Yep, and I wonder how long it will be before people are calling Sidney a bad hire.

  10. NCSUownzJoo 02/01/2007 at 8:20 AM #

    and also Atsur

  11. Rochester 02/01/2007 at 8:21 AM #

    Grant played much, much better in the second half, which makes up for his bonehead play at the end of the first, but he still needs to eliminate the stupid play from his arsenal. It shouldn’t take a senior point guard to figure out that you have to take advantage of holding for the last shot of the half.

    Agreed that Grant’s stepped up second-half play was crucial in this victory.

  12. NCSUownzJoo 02/01/2007 at 8:23 AM #

    Purple: well perhaps people shouldn’t badmouth our players, much less say they should have been deported… at LEAST until the end of the game. I don’t think they should do it at all but definately not until the game is over.

  13. vtpackfan 02/01/2007 at 8:27 AM #

    One comment abut Cliff Ellis(on?). Could have been the worst job of plowing through a night of stammering cliches had not the “Thats reDunkulous” reared it’s unusual head. How many times did he prematrely predict States demise last night? At one point the main commentator asked, “Can you beleive how well Nc State is playing tonight?”, to absolute silence. A quiet shrug of disapproval later he was back touting something about Washington being a “rubber band” man, like he has from some Marvel comic strip. I could be way off on this one, but he stunk. Maybe he had a lap top with SFN opened up for the live thread, and followed suit by popping a Xanax.

    One other thing I noticed was that VPI’s retired jersey’s hanging in Cassel are real classy. They look like the beach towels you can win at the fair for making a basket on a 12′ rim the is 25% smaller then regulation.

  14. burnbarn 02/01/2007 at 8:48 AM #

    ^ Ellis was terrible although the redunkulous comment while unintentional may go down as the beginning of a new cliche.

    The Candy?? Please. And then he talked about how we wanted a game in the 50s. I guess he hasn’t watched us play this season. He still is better than kinny smiff!

  15. DaPackster 02/01/2007 at 10:58 AM #

    you will get no apologies. That was one game, look at the body of work so far. The difference was a point guard named Astur. He provides leadership and confidence. Without Astur we would have folded against VT’s pressure. Everybody stepped up last night. With Astur back playing everyone else can go back to their regular roles. Most of our mistakes have been because players were trying to hard to make a play.

  16. kool k 02/01/2007 at 11:55 AM #

    Cliff Ellis loves beach music. He always has and he always will.

    Bobby Cremins might have actually been worse then Cliffy boy. Thank goodness he is coaching again. I still throw up in my mouth every time I remember the Clemson game a few years ago when they kept showing Darryl Robinson in the crowd. Dickie V wouldn’t have gushed that hard if Battier, JJ and Tim Duncan were sitting behind the bench with their shirts off.

  17. highstick 02/01/2007 at 12:22 PM #

    All I can say is “great game” and lot’s of teamwork. Hope Atsur stays healthy if he has this much impact on the team.

    Off track a bit, but I saw the “Ultimate Tarhole Fan” yesterday south of Charlotte on I-77. He was driving a Carolina Blue 1977 or so Chevrolet Caprise. Rear end was jacked up and not a tire on the car matched. Both front door panels had huge UNC decals and both rear windows had Tarhole flags flying in the breeze. He had his hat on sideways and was yapping on his cell phone. I really wish I had my camera with me!!

  18. Sw0rdf1sh 02/01/2007 at 12:23 PM #

    At one point I was really worried about Costner. He was getting a good amount of RB’s, but his passing and shooting was off and he seemed sluggish. Good to see him hit that dagger from beyond the arc to seal it.

  19. bTHEredterror 02/01/2007 at 9:42 PM #

    Looking at the schedule, we have UNX and Maryland twice, FSU, GT, VT, Miami, and Wake. Honestly, if they can play a VT style game all 9 games (asking alot) then we can go 5-4 out of that schedule, and maybe the guys are playing free and easy in the tournament with an NIT bid wrapped up at 17-12. It could even start a bubble run if they can win a couple games.

    Ever the optimist, I know. But the team we saw Wednesday is the team I expected all year.

  20. DaPackster 02/01/2007 at 10:12 PM #

    Redterror, what are you smoking or drinking. Put it down, wake up your dreaming. Enjoyed the VT win because saturday is going to be worst than last year. We are doing alright this year for the cards we have been dealt. Herb’s team has not won since beating NC A&T on 12/21. They have lost 11 in a row counting their game tonight. They are 0-10 in league play.

  21. Jeremy Hyatt 02/02/2007 at 1:08 AM #

    DaPackster – what are you sniffing. I personally can’t wait to watch us make our deepest run in the ACC tournment since Justin Gainey was at the helm.

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Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. StateFans Nation » Blog Archive » Everyone Contributes - 02/01/2007

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  2. StateFans Nation » Blog Archive » N&O: ‘Pure & Simple, They Tried’ - 02/01/2007

    […] After our game-comments last night and post-game comments here, we thought that the N&O’s blog deserved a tip-of-the-hat (TOTH) for astute comments made in this entry. More importantly, the effort, which was lacking against Duke and Virginia, was there. Few people expected a banner season out of N.C. State this season, but their fans rightfully expected a better fight than they provided in certain losses. “We were outcoached, we were outplayed, we were out-competed, we were out-focused, we were out-toughed,” VT coach Seth Greenberg said. “I can’t really say one thing where, ‘Boy, we did a really good job at that.’ “ That’s the encouraging thing about this game. Not that it’s a win or it’s going to propel State to the NCAA Tournament or a win over Carolina on Saturday. Pure and simple, they tried. And guess what, as has been pointed out by everybody when Atsur’s in there, they’re not the worst team in the ACC. Note when you listen to the audio clip the demeanor of Lowe. He’s not outwardly ecstatic but you get a sense of pride. A sense of, “Hey, maybe I’m getting through to these guys.” Regardless of what happens on Saturday, you can’t take that away from Lowe. […]

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