N&O Michigan State Article

“They did exactly what we thought they would do,” NCSU coach Sidney Lowe said. “They were very active and aggressive and they ran the floor well on us.

“We ran into a team that was clicking. I don’t think we had the energy to match it. They won the hustle war. They won the physical war.”

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07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball

56 Responses to N&O Michigan State Article

  1. zahadum 11/29/2007 at 4:20 PM #

    You could be right, Mike. Especially since, by all accounts, he cracked the whip on them after the NO game and it doesn’t seem to have stuck. Perhaps he felt that if yelling at them and running them didn’t work, maybe discracing themselves on national TV would.

    I hope you’re right, because my take last night was a little grimmer. Sid’s no dummie, he knows the team has problems right now. But last night I was getting a feeling that he’s not sure the problems are ones he can really do anything about.

    You can coach how to run your half court sets better, or attack a press or defend the pick and roll, etc. But you can’t (I don’t think) coach heart, that has to come from the guys themselves. And right now, this team just doesn’t seem to have any heart. In particular, both Costner and McCauley are just not bringing it effort wise. And it hasn’t been just a game or two like that but the whole season so far. I truly suspected after 5 minutes last night that I’d slipped into an alternate universe. The MSU big guy is pretty good, but for him to out hustle Ben running the court 3 different times in under 5 minutes is something I would never remotely have thought to see. I’d have said the chances of Elvis returning were just as high.

    Second, in order to game plan for an opponent, you’ve got to have some notion of what you can expect from your guys. He knew pg would be a work in progress all year, and he knew that Fells and Grant were going to be rolls of the dice as far what you get from them. But now you add Costner and McCauley to that and suddenly the only guy on the whole team about whom you can say ‘I know pretty much what to expect from him game in game out’ is JJ. And I don’t know how as a coach you can plan for opponents in that situation. I don’t envy Sid the problem.

  2. PackerInRussia 11/29/2007 at 4:36 PM #

    I thought the NO loss was supposed to be the “wake-up call”. I guess they hit snooze. Unfortunately I actually got to watch this game on TV over here (a day after). We were all sitting around in our red and white excited to be watching the Pack on TV. With my luck they won’t show another Pack game all year and I’ll be stuck with that taste in my mouth for a while.

  3. BJD95 11/29/2007 at 5:15 PM #

    I do think it’s NBAish, in a way. I think Sid sees off nights as just an inevitable part of the grind of the regular season. He SEEMED to take it that way, more than a sign of a larger problem. As long as he gets us where we need to be in March, I can live with it. I’m sure Sid understands there is less room for error in college than with an 81-game NBA slate – especially when conference play starts.

    But I’m still a tad more concerned.

  4. packbackr04 11/29/2007 at 5:20 PM #

    i dont think Sid would be teaching lessons on thier first chance on National Primetime TV, the first night of Jimmy V week, right after they showed the whole ESPY speech… no i dont think so… i think we just got our a$$es kicked and there wasnt a thing he or the players could do about it.

    does anyone know why sid isnt calling halfcourt set plays like he did last yr? i just dont get it. last yr it was: as soon as you get across half court. LOOK AT SID. get the play and execute. this yr its, get across half court, pass around the perimeter until you can hit JJ in the post. feed him the pill and clear out.

  5. highstick 11/29/2007 at 5:57 PM #

    I think last night can be kept in perspective by quoting Lazlo’s Chinese Relativity Axiom:

    No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats —
    approximately one billion Chinese couldn’t care less!

    I would have though over the years that we might have one Pack alumnus in China… maybe they are in Taiwan???

  6. txpack 11/29/2007 at 7:14 PM #

    highstick, I usually do not post (only few times). After reading your comments on China alumnus, jus want to let you know we do have few fans in China and Taiwan. I have friends who went to State in early 90s and now live both in the mainland and Taiwan.We talk about pack sports quite often (email, IM, phone, etc). I came from China, got my Ph.D from State, and now live in Texas.

    My house won’t allow any colors in blues (baby or devil). Both my daughter and son are pack fans (not many in Dallas area). I watched the game with my 8 year son last night. He was not happy with players’ efforts on the court at all. He said he could box better than these fat guys (Costner and McCauley) . My son plays for a 3rd grade team, he averages about 15 rebounds a game. Last year, he went to a loose ball and had a cut on his forehead (6 stitches afterwords) in one game, he then played next day and scored 15 points. No wonder he questions the lazy players.

    The problems with pack I can see so far:

    1) Guards: could not penetrate and consistently shoot
    2) Defense: where?????
    3) Efforts: lazy front line

    I believe Coach Lowe knows these problems. For example, he appraised JJ’s work ethic and hard working at the beginning of this season many times, which implies that some of our guys do not work hard and lazy. Otherwise Lowe would single out JJ.

    I agree with previous post, you just can not coach heart. Lack of effort makes me sick to watch any games.

  7. noah 11/29/2007 at 7:17 PM #

    In about four years, we’ll have a point guard and then we’ll be fine.

    Other than shooting, passing, ball-handling, defending adn rebounding, this team is perfect.

  8. RBCRowdy 11/29/2007 at 8:41 PM #

    ^Best 4-2 team in the country!!! Just like the FB team is the best 5-7 team in the nation. I love being a Wolfpack fan, it builds character.

  9. RabidWolf 11/29/2007 at 9:07 PM #

    ANY TEAM—I say again—ANY TEAM who plays 4 games in 5 days WITH travel in between (Orlando to RDU–RDU to East Lansing) AND practices, would have been blown out in Breslin. MSU is shooting lights out at this point in the season, and when Neitzel himself is shooting 50%+ from 3….well it wouldn’t have mattered who the hell was playing the results would have been the same. This will not hurt the ‘Pack, it can only help. This is a team still learning each other, and thing WILL get better as the year goes on.

  10. RabidWolf 11/29/2007 at 9:09 PM #

    oh, another thing I meant to say—-LET THE NEGATIVITY BEGIN!

    THERE’S NOTHING LIKE WOLFPACK FANS SPOUTING B.S. EARLY IN THE YEAR!! IF YOUR CONFIDENCE IS ALREAY GONE, LET ME KNOW WHERE I CAN PICK UP YOUR TICKETS!!

  11. highstick 11/29/2007 at 9:22 PM #

    Rowdy, you scared me! I thought you were gonna call us a “sleeping giant”!

    Txpack, I knew we had some Chinese students when I was there, and actually remember having a project with one fellow from Taiwan. We had some communication problems, but he was our team’s computer whiz! The quote was actually sent to me by a Tar Heel friend this morning and based on last night’s performance, I thought was quite kind.

    Wow, was I pulling for Ohio State last night to soften the impact today! So far, even some of the Tarholes are confused about our performance last night. Looked like they did a few years ago!

    I’m hoping this is temporary, at least the teamwork/chemistry thing. Costner’s got to get out of his funk or whatever it is. The 75 team had a few issues, but this doesn’t appear to be the same.

  12. Primewolf 11/29/2007 at 9:28 PM #

    Our guys clearly didn’t have much hustle. But, I am bothered by the lack of fundamentals:

    1. Terrible defense–I keep looking for a team that plays defense like we do. No switching on screens and anyone anyone needs an open shot, just run a screen. Our guy is always late and they have an open look.

    2. Terrible rebounding–usually bunched up under the basket and out of position or no block out. Often, when we pop a three, everyone immediately heads downcourt with no attempt to rebound, except the center. I didn’t see MSU do that once last night.

    3. No ability to run a fast break or to attack once you get past the first defenders in a press (NOVA game).

    4. No offensive movement with very little penetration.

    5. No concept of how to attack a zone defense. Watch UNC tear up a zone with the overload triangle, they have done it since the 1960s under Dean Smith.

    I hope Sid can pull this year out. But it is hard to be overly optimistic about ACC play. I have lowered my expectations from 10 ACC wins in the preseason to 7-8 tops at this point.

    Every ACC team we face has much better guards than we do and that will do us in.

  13. choppack1 11/29/2007 at 11:04 PM #

    Here’s where I stand on this:

    I saw efforts similar to what we saw vs. UNO and Michigan State several times last year. Part of the reason I was optimistic coming into this year was that I thought that during the critical stretch starting in the ACC tournament and into the NIT that we learned how to play hard every night. I thought that this team learned how to summon the effort needed to be a “tough” team.

    When I see what I’ve seen in basically half of our games – and I see us struggling to score more than 70 points in a game, not forcing TO’s or rebounding well, I’m concerned we aren’t going anywhere but the NIT again.

    Lots of time to get it together. We did go through a tough stretch. However, we clearly need to defend better, rebound better and get some easy baskets. Our offense appears that it’s being called by Marc Trestman.

    I’d like to see a small lineup of Javy, Degand, Fells, Grant and Hickson/Costner/McCauley at least log some minutes.

  14. wolfman 11/30/2007 at 12:12 AM #

    Sometimes getting punched in the mouth is a good thing, if nothing else it will teach you to keep your mouth shut (this means you Gavin Grant). Hopefully now that they have all had a taste of humble pie they will get to work and get better. I think Sid was wise enough to see that last night, that’s why he didn’t get angry about it. I sure hope so anyway.

  15. packpigskinfan23 11/30/2007 at 12:24 AM #

    I have Doctrine student from China living with me… and he dosnt know a damn thing about basketball… but he knows EVERYTHING about Yao Ming.

  16. Mike 11/30/2007 at 1:18 AM #

    RabidWolf, sorry, the fatigue is bogus. Orlando to Raleigh is about 80 minute flight, and same time zone. About 2 hours to East Lansing. Dook was in Hawaii and UNX was in Vegas. Both are much harder trips and the guys should be much more fatigued.

  17. pakfanistan 11/30/2007 at 1:22 AM #

    What doctrine is he studying?

  18. packpigskinfan23 11/30/2007 at 2:11 AM #

    Electrical Engineering. Brilliant guy, just hasnt really adapted to the American lifestyle. Apparently he has lived outside of China for the past 10 years, in Europe and the US.

    I have met so many people from diffrent cultures since moving here last summer. Its crazy… some the coolest people I have met since being in Raleigh have been from Denmark, The Netherlands, Sweden, England, and DownUnder.

  19. JeremyH 11/30/2007 at 5:05 AM #

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/luke_winn/11/29/power.rankings/1.html:

    Michigan State Spartans (5-1)
    It was stunning how little trouble the Spartans had with NC State’s frontcourt Wednesday. Spartans big man Goran Suton, who is occasionally good and occasionally a stiff, combined with Raymar Morgan for 31 points — one more than the Wolfpack’s trio of of J.J. Hickson (21), Brandon Costner (9) and Ben McCauley (0) combined. The gap between the two teams is as wide as MSU’s 23-point margin of victory, though; it’s important to remember that NC State played games on the 22nd, 23rd and 25th in Orlando, while the Spartans played just once during that stretch — against Oakland — and had the Breslin Center advantage. Michigan is still the better State of the two, but not 81-58 better.
    Next three: 12/1 vs. Jacksonville, 12/4 at Bradley, 12/8 vs. BYU (Salt Lake City)

  20. Rick 11/30/2007 at 9:36 AM #

    I have to admit I am very disapointed.
    Not in the loss, as I expected that, but in the lack of effort.
    I am not ready to throw away the season as I still think we can be a good team.

  21. txpack 11/30/2007 at 11:05 AM #

    Speaking of Yao Ming (actually, should be Ming Yao, Yao is the family name), he is huge in China. One time I called my 105 years old grandpa (who lives in a remote mountain area in China), he asked me about Yao Ming. And even suggested I should go and watch Yao play.

    Yao makes tons of money, and he is a very nice guy. May be too nice and often being pushed around in the game. He plays much better now. He is THE sports star in China. Basketball and Ping-Pong were the most popular sports when I grew up. Now with Yao Ming, and every summer you see lots NBA stars go to China for different camps, Basketball will be the big thing.

    Few days ago, I read an article about a 13 year old Chinese girl. She can make over 300 consecutive free throws. She shoots 3 like somewhat 97 of 100 in practice. Amazing!

    Rick, the attitude and lack of efforts in MSU game made me not only disappointed, but mad. I went all home games while I was in State (these Les years) and saw our team got beaten badly in many games, but not in sprit and attitude.

    Texpack, I apologize for my screen name so close to yours.

  22. PackerInRussia 11/30/2007 at 12:50 PM #

    ^
    It seemed like all they did the other night was shoot the 3 or shoot free throws while not hitting many of either of those (especially in the first half). Maybe we could recruit that girl. Of course the only team that would consistently send a girl to the foul line would probably be Duke.

  23. noah 11/30/2007 at 12:54 PM #

    “Speaking of Yao Ming…he is huge in China.”

    He’s 7-6. He’s huge everywhere this side of Brobdingnag.

  24. redfred2 11/30/2007 at 8:34 PM #

    I could have never seen this coming in a million years. The coaching resume was something that others around here were questioning, I never did. I really thought that first and foremost Sidney Lowe would be able to ignite a fire that would make us feel a lot better about winning basketball games, and even a little better about losing them.

    Thus far, this season has two undeniable trademarks of the NC State basketball of decades past, ones that we Wolfpack fans should all be use to by now. First off, it’s totally unpredictable night in and night out, and secondly, it is totally uninspired. And that second trademark, in a nutshell, is something I cannot tolerate.

    Hope it all takes a turn for the better, but I’m not seeing anything that makes me enjoy watching, reading, or even talking about NC State basketball, so I’m signing off for awhile. Later dudes and dudettes.

  25. PapaJohn 12/01/2007 at 6:39 AM #

    I have to admit to being in the RabidWolf camp, the sky is not falling pack-ers and pack-ettes. We are in the second year of fixing a problem that we’ve spent 20 years creating. For the greater part of 20 years we have been lousy most of the time. You think it might take more than one season and a few games to correct? Maybe (heaven forbid) more than two seasons???
    Over the last few days we ‘experts’ have diagnosed & predicted that Costner (our star last year) is useless, the guards are useless, JJ has serious problems, and even the coaches have may not be up to the task. And oh yes, the crowd is inadequate. Yikes, you guys are a tough crowd!
    I would respectively suggest we give them time. It would be interesting to resurrect some of the posts after last year’s Cincy game to see how similar they sound. We were really awful in that game and had no reason to expect more. But that turned out much better than I expected.
    Things are looking better. We have good reason to believe we can beat anyone if we play our best. We have a strong coaching staff (head coach in only his second year – let’s not forget that) and for the first time, he has some talent to work with. Not Duke or Carolina levels of talent yet, but certainly nothing to be embarrassed about.
    I suspect you experts are right, there are still problems with the team. Our undefeated season is up in smoke, and we probably won’t win it all this year. But keep it in perspective, there is reason for hope. 24 months ago there really was no reason to expect better things, we have that now.
    No one expected TOB to bring his BC success here right away, it will take a few years to get the talent in, to get his system in place, and to establish the standard of play that he expects and we want. The same applies to Sid. There are fewer players involved, and a couple of players can make a remarkable difference in a short time, but a program that was as ‘broken’ as ours doesn’t turn into Duke or Carolina overnight.
    I don’t expect everyone to say, “you’re right, life is good.” We are, after all, pessimistic, “life stinks and then we die” Wolfpackers, used to living in misery. I’m as guilty of that as anyone.
    But let’s be patient. I think many good things will happen this year. I think more will happen next year and the subsequent years.
    I think a reasonable goal this year is a winning record in the league and the first in a long line of NCAA visits. A couple of wins there would not surprise me. We’ve still got a lot of work to do to be ready, but I think we’ll get there.
    GO PACK!!!!!!

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