Jay Bilas Comments During Halftime and Postgame Of The UNC Beatdown

Bilas at halftime: “A little embarrassing? That was the most embarrassing first half I’ve seen all season long. What do you do if you’re Sidney Lowe? Do you draw a play up? You’ve gotta go in (to the locker room) and draw a big heart there and say, ‘Do we have any?'”These guys are not relating to each other. Their body language is horrible. They look like a bunch of zombies whenever they get into a huddle. They didn’t come prepared to fight. When you go on the road, you have to come prepared to fight and fight together. This is a team going in five different directions on the floor. I have not seen a performance as embarrassing as that all year long.”

Bilas after the game: “There’s no way that any team in America is going to hold a good team to 13 points in a half with their defense alone. N.C. State helped them (UNC). N.C. State was a huge problem for themselves.

“There is something going on with that team — and I don’t know what it is, I’m not Dr. Phil here — but they don’t get along with each other. That was not a team that trusted each other, that valued each other. They didn’t come together when things got tough, they went in different directions. That’s the first thing that they’ve got to address, how that team relates to each other.” Jay Bilas, ESPN

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07-08 Basketball Quotes of Note

124 Responses to Jay Bilas Comments During Halftime and Postgame Of The UNC Beatdown

  1. slushy1975 01/13/2008 at 9:39 AM #

    Could our struggles be a symptom of a team full of players (minus our guards, Hickson and Smith) who were recruiting for one offensive system being forced into another system? It sounds very simple and not very gossip-worthy, but it sure resembles what Coach O’Brien experienced this Fall. The only cure is repeated recruiting of players who’ll run the Lowe offense.

    Remember, last year was a “rebuilding year” for State regardless of coach. We had a good weekend and a fun NIT run. It was enjoyable, but we weren’t at the top of the basketball mountain.

  2. Mr O 01/13/2008 at 9:44 AM #

    I went to the game, but left at halftime because I couldn’t take it. I still cannot figure out what happened to Ben McCauley and Brandon Costner in the off-season.

  3. ClassOf95 01/13/2008 at 9:55 AM #

    Ah, how soon we forget. I was a student when we lost to Carolina by 46 in 1993. You wanna talk about bad. In the post-Valvano probation period we had a coach named Les Robinson. Our shoes were LA Gear because nobody would touch us. We lost to Davidson, we lost to Campbell, we lost to Florida International (which at the time had the lowest RPI in Div 1.) We had a player commit suicide in his dormroom during the season. The truth is that we have sucked since Corchiani and Monroe left in 1991. Our last ACC title was 21 YEARS AGO. 1987. We are cursed like the Red Sox were cursed. And like them, hope springs eternal. Now as for 2008 I ,like you, am shocked at what’s going on. Jay Bilas is right on all points. Over the past 20 years we have rarely had a team with more talent and I am shocked at how we are playing. Coach Lowe needs to hire a psychologist or a witch doctor or whatever. We cannot play against the zone defense to save our lives. No one can penetrate and no can hit an outside shot. This is the patented Les Robinson offense. Pass the ball around the perimeter until the shot clock winds down and then somebody throw up a prayer. After last year’s ACC Tournament finals appearance I was feeling really good. And then I remembered that Herb went to the finals in his first year too.

  4. TNCSU 01/13/2008 at 9:58 AM #

    ^^^Give Sid a chance to fill the roster with his own players. AT LEAST give him a chance to fill the starting 5 with his own players.

    I agree with that, but my point is that this team seems to lack motivation and desire. I was not putting all the blame on Sid. The players do the playing. Ultimately, that is leadership from the coach, so he is not in an easy situation. It was just an embarrasing loss. The sky is not falling, and the good thing is that we can only go UP from here…

    RAWFS, I think that would be a great tactic for this team. I would try anything. I heard something about Roy taking the rims off the goals so that his team would concentrate only on defense. I’m all for ANY type of creative way to teach these young guys. We do have to remember that they are 18-22 year olds.

  5. wolfpackbball 01/13/2008 at 9:59 AM #

    I’ve never been upset with Bilas’ comments. He’s usually right on the money, especially with ACC hoops. Digger sat with a straight face and said we should press the holes. Has he watched a game that we have played this year? When all other analysts are looking at stats and trying to come up with something smart to say, Bilas seems to always know something closer to the ‘real info’ on our team. I can’t fault him for saying unpleasant things about us, especially when he’s right.

  6. RAWFS 01/13/2008 at 10:04 AM #

    TNCSU – I’m no basketball coach, but I can say if I were, today at the Dail Center I would be like a scene from “The Shining” —

    “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s Johnny!!!!!!”

  7. TNCSU 01/13/2008 at 10:11 AM #

    ^^^I agree!!! It would be Marine Drill Sergeant time!! First guy to drop out sits the end of the bench, and proceed down the line from there until you end up with your starting five!!

  8. wolfpack n da house 01/13/2008 at 10:16 AM #

    “The only way real change can happen, is if they see an empty arena and empty wallets.”

    My father was a 77 grad he says that in the 70’s you could literally walk into Cameron for a game, and look where Duke is now.

    The only thing i would be worried about is being continually blasted by the media for being weak fans and not showing up and that could hurt recruiting.

  9. choppack1 01/13/2008 at 10:24 AM #

    A couple of points before I start on my concerns:

    1) Cardiac 95 – You’re engaging in revisionist history if you’d call our efforts for most of last year “gritty.” Of our 16 ACC games, I found effort to be a significant problem in 7 or 8 of them. We played well when things went well for us – both VaTech games, both Wake games, the first UNC-Ch game. Against GaTech, at UVa and at UNC-Ch, we played w/ heart. But the other games – we played like crap and in general, IMHO, gave subpar effort.

    2) Chris Wright never signed an LOI. Both he and Jamelle McMillan were verbal committments. There were rumors that before Sendek left Wright was wavering on his committment. Sid almost got him back. Of course, Les Robinson ALMOST got both Stackhouse and Donald Williams.

    Now, to my concerns:

    1) Lack of player development: We had 6 returning players from last year – Grant, Fells, McCauley, Costner, Horner and Ferguson. Aside from Grant, it doesn’t look like anyone else improved between our last NIT game and this year. As a matter of fact, you can argue that everyone but Grant is WORSE than they were last year. Part of the reason that most of assumed that the Wolfpack would take a step forward this year and return to the elite was the usually safe assumption that these guys would improve in the off-season – if just a little. Clearly, that hasn’t happened.

    2) Recruiting decisions: We needed PGs and scoring guards badly. We also needed kids who could create their own shots. I don’t know about Johnny Thomas, but all 3 of the PGs brought in by the new staff, have serious limitations on the offensive end. Not one of them is/was a great ball handler, great passer. Not one of them is a good scorer/ or very good shooter. We essentially recruited 3 guys who are OK ball handlers, OK passers, and apparently, if you watch our line-up play – not one of these guys is capable of playing the 2 spot.

    3) Lack of heart and effort – There were several possessions in yesterday’s game when we gave absolutely no effort trying to keep the Heels off the glass. I swear, I would think it would take effort to rebound as badly as we did in the first half. Don’t forget – I contend that we saw this last year.

    4) Lack of preparation – I didn’t hear it, but supposedly JJ Hickson said that the team was surprised by UNC’s other big men on the boards. If that’s the case, then we were badly prepared. We’ve seen this team come out not ready to play in too many games this year to give the staff a pass.

    5) Insisting we’re playing when we’re not and excuse-making – How many times have we heard the “tired legs” thing this year? At least twice w/ the “tired legs” – Michigan State and then again vs. WCU. Does Sid really believe we played hard in the 1st half??? I hope this is just coach-speak.

    One last thought – during yesterday’s game, I saw a play that I thought crystalized our problems so far this year. It was actually one of the few plays that was positive last night, but what I saw disturbed me:

    In the second half, we were going down the court w/ #s on a 3 on 1. Gavin Grant got the ball and was in position to score, but Marques Johnson stopped running towards the basket – this effectively gave us a 2 on 1 instead. We scored, but it’s little things like this that keep you from maximizing your opportunity to score. It shows a lack of effort AND/OR a lack of awareness.

    There are some huge red flags w/ this team right now – and they ain’t the kind you put on your car windows going to football games.

  10. sf59 01/13/2008 at 10:39 AM #

    good post chop

  11. EdMar 01/13/2008 at 10:54 AM #

    I can handle the truth.
    I have to agree with Bilas. He could have added a few other comments!

    You can see the problem in this quote attributed to McCauley

    “That’s not our pedigree,” “When we slow things down and run our sets, we are a great basketball team. We didn’t do that today.”

    What leads anyone in this team to believe that they are a “great team”? Maybe they have heard Sid say that after close wins against pitiful 1-18 teams and they believe it.

    Wake up.

  12. tooyoungtoremember 01/13/2008 at 11:30 AM #

    Chop, if Chris Wright didn’t sign a LOI then what was all the commotion about on this site blaming LF for giving him special permission to leave? Am I remembering it incorrectly?

  13. nycfan 01/13/2008 at 11:36 AM #

    I was at the game and in person the lack of effort was stunning, as was the total lack of team chemistry. The worst offenders, IMO, were Costner and Grant. Both pouted and didn’t get up the court at times. Deon Thompson guarded Costner well early and I swear it looked like he decided it was too freaking hard to beat the defense, so why try?

    Hickson was not as big in person as I expected. He has a ton of talent but spaces out from time to time … with him, I couldn’t tell if it was lack of effort or lack of focus. I didn’t see a bad attitude, just a zone out, like, oh yeah, I should be going for the rebound as the play goes on around him.

    I also have to say that Lowe should never have complained about the refs in his post-game press conference. Even if he believes in his heart of heart all State needed were a few calls inside for a different outcome or more competitive game (which from being there I would call a joke given the way his players quit on each other), a coach should NEVER give his team an excuse for that kind of performance. Players internalize any excuse the coach offers really quickly and it blunts any behind-the-scenes criticism, b/c now in the back of their minds they’re thinking, “yeah, but if we had gotten a few calls, it would have all be different.”

    Also, I thought Lowe did an awful coaching job — he did nothing to stop the bleeding in the first half. It was just weird.

    Finally, why doesn’t Tracy Smith play? I know he was playing against scrubs, but he and Horner and maybe Hickson were the only guys who seemed to give effort yesterday. I thought the rest of the second half was all about personal stat-sheet stuffing without any interest in making a run or making UNC work against any kind of defense.

    State had the worst help defense (other than against Hansbrough) I have seen in a long time, which definitely gave me the impression these guys didn’t *want* to help their team-mates.

    Sorry for such a negative post, but I saw zero silver linings for State yesterday. Anyone who tries to make one out of the second half wasn’t paying attention, IMO, b/c I guaranty Carolina works harder in practice than they did in cruise control in the second half.

  14. Stoner 01/13/2008 at 11:43 AM #

    The only thing i would be worried about is being continually blasted by the media for being weak fans and not showing up and that could hurt recruiting.

    What rock are you living under? The media’s been blasting us because we wanted do better than what Herb had accomplished.

    The media is NOT EVER EVER EVER going to see things from our perspective.

    WE ARE WHAT DUKE BECAME IN FOOTBALL!

    In the 1960’s Duke was still a good football program. By the 1980’s no one at Duke care because their football program had fallen apart. There was a brief revival under Spurrier and then back to falling apart.

    NCSU basketball is heading in the same direction. We will soon be an insult to the ACC in basketball, like Duke is in football.

    The media would look at fan apathy as being sane, normal, and reassuring about our priorities in life. The fact that people still care after 20+ years of scandals, awful basketball, and mediocrity, is what will get us bad press. There’s no logical reason NCSU fans should give a damn anymore.

    The team and the Administration have to earn support. We’re in an abusive relationship. The fans are giving all we got to give, only to be bitch-slapped by a botched coaching search, a subpar coaching staff (I’m on the verge of throwing Lowe under the bus, we are a poorly coached team this year), and an Administration who takes our support for granted.

    It is time to end the abuse. No fanbase in their right minds would care about a mediocre program, whose highligh is one Sweet Sixteen appearance in 20 years.

    Stop donating. Get out of your LTR’s. Make them earn our support by putting a quality product on the court.

  15. wolfonthehill 01/13/2008 at 11:55 AM #

    Can I please re-do my prediction for our ACC record? 5-11 suddenly seems awfully optimistic.

    Bilas isn’t going out on a limb here – he’s simply stating on national television what has grown to be quite obvious. Still remarkable for someone in his position to be so blunt.

    And I thank him for being blunt in this case. We need a wake-up call, and none of the embarrassing losses seem to be giving us one.

  16. choppack1 01/13/2008 at 11:58 AM #

    2young – we lost 2 recruits who had signed LOIs. Dan Werner and Larry Davis. There were complaints about LF and others allowing these guys to get out of their LOIs. Werner would actually be a great guy to have. He does all of the little things our guys don’t do – boxes out, defends, passes well and he can shoot.

    I haven’t kept up w/ Larry Davis.

    nyc fan – Great post. I also tire of Sidney’s excuse making. With the sole exception of the UNO game, our guys and coach have had an excuse for every game we lose. We had another coach not too long ago who had an excuse for every loss – I think he’s at FSU right now.

    I’m getting a little concerned that Sid may be too much of a “players coach” – we all know that player’s love playing for these guys. The reward we see all too often is inconsistent effort from the team. I can only imagine how Roy, Dean, Coach K, Bobby Knight or John Wooden would have reacted to that thrashing.

  17. haze 01/13/2008 at 12:21 PM #

    NYC, decent summary. However, if you’ll take the time to read the thread, no one is touting the 2nd half. That was a BS 20min req’d to get to the showers… for both teams.

    State Fans aren’t being optimists, we’ve been shocked and amazed by the limitations of this team ever since the preseason. I mean, EVERYBODY had BC as one of the best returning PF’s in the country and the guy comes out looking like a 2-star freshman. Mac was an everyman’s hero last year and here he starts the year off whining over PT. Off-season word was of Fells busting out. Well, he’s actually been fine but he still doesn’t have an assertive bone in his body. Horner hasn’t been consistent and our supposed new found depth (Harris, Smith, Fergie, Javi, MJ) has added up to maybe 5pts/game, when used at all. There’s been no hint of intensity AT ANY TIME this season. UNC was nearly a foregone conclusion, not a surprise.

  18. burnbarn 01/13/2008 at 12:30 PM #

    Ben’s comments post game tell it all.

    “But we had won seven straight games,” McCauley said Saturday. “We were on a roll. We had momentum. We thought we had the energy.”

    “We thought we could come in here and win,” McCauley said.

    I really can’t believe that they could even remotely think that their 7 game win streak had them prepared to play UNC…or further that their performances in those games could have allowed them to have such confidence.

    I think SFN said pre game that maybe a blow out might get their attention…. If this doesn’t then forget the rest of the season. The good news is none of us expected us to win this game (except the players) so in the reality of the regular season this beat down can be overcome. We need Javi to pull a Justin Gainey in the 2nd half of the conference schedule. He didn’t look any better than Javi his first few conference games.

    I also am happy about Roy’s comments about how he would rather beat State than eat. AT least one side is fired up for the game. His players came out and played like their coach wanted. Maybe we can have a turn around.

  19. Trip 01/13/2008 at 12:51 PM #

    Javi busting out? Unlikely. He just needs another year, start MJ and let Javi get 5-10 minutes a game until he can work up some confidence, both him and Ferguson both look like deer in the headlights out there, atleast Johnson wasn’t going to take any shit or dribble off his foot with a defender 2 feet away from him. Confidence is a factor that isn’t in the statistics column.

    From the wral article…

    “Ellington chuckled at how he looked over one time and saw the fear on the face of a State point guard.”

    You’ve got to be fearless out there, doesn’t matter how talented you are, if you have supreme confidence in your ability, you can make things happen… otherwise… you get comments like that.

  20. ncstu 01/13/2008 at 1:06 PM #

    BRING BACK SENDEK!

  21. ncstu 01/13/2008 at 1:12 PM #

    Until yesterday, in all my life, I had never stopped watching a State v UNC game at halftime. I would have preferred to watch Team Tennis than that disaster of basketball. Until McCauley, Hickson, and Costner get on the court at the same time, this team sill continue to stink. Fowler, I want my $ back. Out.

  22. tooyoungtoremember 01/13/2008 at 1:15 PM #

    Thanks for clearing that up Chop.

  23. highstick 01/13/2008 at 1:17 PM #

    If Roy would rather beat State than eat, he’s gonna go hungry at least twice a year!

  24. DFMo 01/13/2008 at 1:32 PM #

    No analysis here – kudos to the previous posters who hit all the things I was thinking esp choppack1 and nycfan to name a few.

    No emotional outburst either (that was yesterday – its been almost 24 hrs now). Don’t mistake that for a lack of frustration, embarrassment and anger.

    BUT … sports really is the ultimate reality TV. I’m on edge now to see what happens next. We think we know where the story line is headed but are poised for twists and turns. How does it play out? Are adjustments made? Does the perceived “effort” change? Does the team get better? Do the boys compete with most of the rest of the ACC as was expected and play better than .500? “Thats’s why they play the games”.

    I don’t have less interest yet. It was AT UNC and game 1 of a 16 game ACC season. Marathon not a sprint comparison.

    Even if they lose to Clemson and are 0-2, I’ll be in my seats for the Miami and FSU games and hoping to cheer them to victory and 2-2. I loved the “what will their record be after 6 games thread?”

    I’m not pumping sunshine, just willing to wait and see how it plays out. I expect additional frustration but also hope for some success.

  25. ncstu 01/13/2008 at 1:36 PM #

    Our offense is to effective as … The Culture Club is to Rocknroll.

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