Wolfpack Collapse In Final Two Minutes- Clemson 71, NC State 64

07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball127

NIT ticket camp out starts on Monday. more to come


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07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball

127 Responses to Wolfpack Collapse In Final Two Minutes- Clemson 71, NC State 64

  1. vtpackfan 02/16/2008 at 8:58 PM #

    “We have to have that game,” Grant said. “It will look real good to get a win over a top-5 team like Carolina.”

    Look good to whom Gavin? Win the f-ing game against our hated rival and shut your mouth for once. When is Sid going to have GG start dressing in his own room away from the media.

    SG is usually spot on, and interesting. I find the WT-we get a PG theory spot on in the category of “captain obvious”. No $h^t sherlock, now it’s time for a little observation. For your info if JG doesn’t make steals and drain three’s at the beggining of the second half then the entire matter of who pulls the stops and who has the best pg doesn’t matter because it’s a 10 point lead throughout the game for Clemp.

    Also, is Stith that amazing of PG? Clemp wins with Hammonds fouling out with about 4 minutes to go. Don’t get me wrong, he’s good, but he probably would be behind Graves at UNX.

  2. b 02/16/2008 at 8:58 PM #

    Ponderous improvement, and Javi played well until it really mattered. Ferg was serviceable. but he also turned the ball over for a three on 1 break once as well. They showed some toughness and battled back. They have been folding all year, early in the conference schedule it was mid-1St half, now its with 2:00 to go.

    They should still have an improved record over LY and may be able to repeat last years ACCT run. They probably won’t win it, but it will be an improvement. Don’t miss that point while our over-inflated expectations have fizzled. There are some enraging deficieincies, but there are more and more stretchs of solid basketball. And they they are no more heartbreaking than the previous regime’s teams either, and more fun to watch.

    Let’s see how they finish up the season before declaring anything other than our disappointment compared to what we (and many “experts”) expected. Sid is not an instant success but he hasn’t had a fair amount of time to be judged.

  3. werncstate 02/16/2008 at 9:04 PM #

    COWDOG wins first prize for finding the answer that will make this boo-boo season all better.

    T-Rev is ready now. Lowe saw it just a little too early and gave up on the young man too early.

    Set the red head loose coach! He and Javi are your point guards.

  4. cowdog 02/16/2008 at 9:06 PM #

    RegExpress…most astute, but that’s where all Varsity Club Wolfpack members as myself sit. How classy that those honorees get those choice seats as well. You all have no idea how much bullshit is involved on the insiders inside.

  5. cowdog 02/16/2008 at 9:28 PM #

    WERNCSTATE,
    It’s a damn shame that this kid gets less time than Johnson and for the life of me I don’t know why. Red plays hands up D moves his feet and since we have been surprised by his unexpecteted cameos dishes a damn nice pass that does’nt put the reciever in the most awkward of positions! Had to chuckle at a poster that called him out for ONE single bad pass…in a year of how freaking many from our 1st 7.

  6. turnoffthetv 02/16/2008 at 9:37 PM #

    hay having trouble commenting.

    “The posts indicating that we should feel OK about this game because Clemson’s a good team thoroughly disgust me.”

    make no mistake I don’t feel OK. But facts are facts. And clemson is a heck of a lot better than we are.

    clemson scoring margin-(+7.3)
    ncsu scoring margin-(-8.4)

    stats tell a big story sometimes about a team.

    hevk I’m as frustrated as the next fan.

  7. wolfonthehill 02/16/2008 at 9:37 PM #

    I don’t recall anyone in the top 7 throwing a lazy pass this season.

    Sincerely,
    Courtney Fells
    Brandon Costner

  8. cowdog 02/16/2008 at 10:02 PM #

    Fells is a complete enigma…we need him..but at the same time, he kills us twice over. Hard on coaching staff here. Costner much easier to figure.

  9. SMD 02/16/2008 at 10:04 PM #

    Agreed with the various posts about the effort. But sometimes we just don’t play smart basketball. And I put that on the coaching. I mean, why do we struggle so much in-bounding the ball against the press? Everyone does it to us, you’d think we’d have that down pat by now.

    There is plenty of blame to go around here.

  10. cowdog 02/16/2008 at 10:14 PM #

    SMD, you are absolutley right, that’s why I’ve gotten on the Ferg thing. Conversely why don’t we trap more often as witnessed by posts from the BC game. Don’t get it.

  11. WestCoast 02/16/2008 at 10:27 PM #

    Effort is one thing, but our guys are completely out of shape. Not even six minutes into the first half when Clemson was at the line, our guys were bending over with their hands on their knees. What the hell! Six min. into the game and they’re tired? Look at the other ACC squads, we’re out of shape and soft.

  12. b 02/16/2008 at 11:03 PM #

    Didn’t mean to come off as anti-Ferg. And shouldn’t the full court pass to JJ have been an assist? Box score has Ferg with ) and I though he had at least 1.

  13. doug74 02/16/2008 at 11:21 PM #

    I liked the comeback. Granted, we were overrated early but losing DeGand was crippling. We are a big slow team but we do have some of the biggest games of the year left and we have been competitive at times so I’m gonna keep pulling for our guys. I still think Sid is going to be remembered as a great coach one day. This year is an aberration.

  14. jbpackfan 02/16/2008 at 11:42 PM #

    State is not going to be the team we all want them to be until we get great guards. To win in college basketball, you need very good guard play. Coming into this season we expected to have that, but we just don’t. Watching IU/Mich St., it is so amazing what good guards can do for a team. You don’t even really need great big men, just guys who can reboound and finish. Perhaps Mays, Williams and Thomas will give us what we need next year. You just can’t win with below average point guard play and erratic play from your shooting guard.

  15. packof81 02/17/2008 at 12:11 AM #

    I’m now in agreement with BJD95. Stick a fork in this season. At this point, we’ll probably have to win the ACC tournament in order to get an NCAA bid which ain’t likely.

    All we can do is hope for the best in the off season. Maybe Sid can recruit some talent. Hopefully, the team will be better prepared next season.

    As for the poster who said we’d have been better off with Sendek, put a cork in it. He was plateaued out and needed to move on. ’nuff said.

  16. CStanley 02/17/2008 at 12:19 AM #

    Where has Brandon Costner gone? He’s not even a shell of what he was last season. He was lazy at times last season, but at least he could turn it on and get some production. He is absolutely no help this year, at all.

    Guard play is what gets you to the top in the ACC. Until we get some great guards (John Wall, please pick State), we will continue to suffer.

    Today was not unexpected, but frustrating and disappointing nontheless.

  17. Sweet jumper 02/17/2008 at 12:33 AM #

    BC, Horner and MJ do not deserve the minutes they are getting. JJ is a man, and he deserves better players around him. I agree with lSutton5144 about the fouls–I was screaming for us to foul quickly with 5 minutes left when we had 5 fouls in order to get to the one and one and put the worst FT shooting team in the ACC on the line. We waited until there was one minute left and then fouled a guy who shoots 80+%. Javi played well until he caved during the last 2 minutes. GG played well until he went out of control during the last 2 minutes. Fells was streaky. Ben was forgettable. I am ready for JJ, Smith, GG, Fells, Ben, Javi and Trev/Harris to play all of the remaining minutes of this season. I am sick of watching BC, Horner and MJ make the same stupid mistakes and act like they don’t care and don’t know what needs to be done to succeed.

  18. Lockes_Dad 02/17/2008 at 1:07 AM #

    I watched Intervention on A&E tonight…every episode is the same: the story of a addict. Someone who is making very poor, self-destructive decisions over and over again.

    For the first time today, it hit me…as a Wolfpack sports fan, I can relate to a heroin addict. Why do I subject myself to this? Why am I going to continue to watch this team as they slowly but surely dwindle into oblivion, maintaining a stellar tradition of mediocrity/letdown?

    BECAUSE I AM A STATE FAN.

    And, unfortunately, their is no 12 step program for me. There is no resort in Arizona where I can go and find help. I see no way out. Next year, I will be overwhelmed with that same anticipation, that same completely illogical belief that THIS IS THE YEAR. Then I will crash, just like junkie…

    At least I don’t have to prostitute myself or live on the streets.

    GO PACK

  19. Wulfpack 02/17/2008 at 7:40 AM #

    “The posts indicating that we should feel OK about this game because Clemson’s a good team thoroughly disgust me.”

    “make no mistake I don’t feel OK. But facts are facts. And clemson is a heck of a lot better than we are.”

    So what you are saying is it is acceptable to lose to a good team on your home floor? I’ve said it many times, with this mentality, we are thoroughly screwed if we anticipate that our ACC membership to continue. We’ve been living by that mantra for years and it hasn’t gotten us very far.

    The “fact” is that we were in this thing late and pissed it away. I am sorry but that doesn’t qualify for any brownie points from me.

  20. wolfonthehill 02/17/2008 at 8:12 AM #

    ^ Thank you, Wulfpack… it makes me physically ill for anyone to say that we should, at any point, find a home loss to Clemson acceptable. If they’re a better program, that’s a major problem. If they’re a worse program but beat us on our home court, that’s a less significant problem.

    But neither scenario is acceptable. Once it is, you’re doomed to mediocrity.

  21. basspacker812 02/17/2008 at 9:18 AM #

    No one is a bigger NCSU fan than me, but I’m at my breaking point with this team and perhaps this coaching staff. Wed nite will be another embarrassing loss with more to come. The only question is by how many. Lazy play and passes. Lapses in defense and intensity. This team and staff is over 20 plus games into the season, and still can’t get it together for more than 2 or 3 minute stretches. This late into a season, there is no freshman. I’m tired of excuses and I’m tired of making consolations that we got beat by a better team. The coaching staff is not getting it done period. How many teams in the ACC, even at the bottom of the standings, continually lose by 15, 17, 23 and even 30?
    The PG issue to me is one of the most telling issues of the current coaching staff. Why can’t this position play get better? We don’t have a coaching staff that is known as big men or defensive minds, we got a staff full of past point guards and shooters: Sid Lowe, Monte Towe, Justin Gainey, Quiten Jackson. We should be excelling at PG. I want Lowe to succeed more than anyone, but if the team can’t succeed in an area the staff exceled in, then how are we to think the team or program will be better? We are a bad team………..period. Not because we lack talent, but because we just plain LACK in things that are due to poor coaching.

  22. turnoffthetv 02/17/2008 at 9:54 AM #

    “So what you are saying is it is acceptable to lose to a good team on your home floor?”

    Okay let me rephrase what I said. It is my opinion that We lost yesterday because WE are a BAD Team. We have a proven track Record and Team Stats to Back this Statement up.

    “The “fact” is that we were in this thing late and pissed it away.”

    How about the “FACT” that we pissed away the final 15 minutes of the 1st Half. We were outscored about 29-12 during that span if I remember correctly.

  23. PackGirl 02/17/2008 at 10:05 AM #

    This one was particularly frustrating because we were so close to winning – take away a turn over or 2 at the end or a missed shot and the outcome is reversed. (or even if Clemson missed one of their clutch 3’s). I was hoping we’d go into OT just to aggravate the RBC center people who were so determined to rush us out of there. I also noticed that they cranked up the ac in the second half – I think they would have removed the wood floor and had them playing on ice if it went into OT.

  24. wolfonthehill 02/17/2008 at 11:02 AM #

    With all due respect, closing the halves on the short ends of 22-3 and 12-2 runs is not being close to winning. It’s a prime example of a bad team with zero mental toughness.

    The fact that Clemson is now, without question, a better team and a better program is a serious indictment of our program.

  25. haze 02/17/2008 at 11:13 AM #

    Extraordinarily frustrating loss… but largely b/c it meant that the team and staff were not rewarded for one of their best efforts of the year.

    The team came out hard and played hard throughout. They fell behind in the first, largely due to bad shooting and the simple fact that we struggle to control penetration by fast guards. It’s a weakness related to our relative lack of quickness; a physical issue. Anyhow, that led to a lot of rebounding problems on the defensive end. The 2nd half showed a lot of guts and heart. We did lose our heads at the end but it should also be noted that the late lead that led to our undoing came from consecutive well-defended 3pt’ers. Neither shot is going down more than 20% of the time, IMO. CU ran a crap O at the end and got bailed out by a couple of bombs. That’s how it goes at times.

    My expectations for this team were changed by mid-year. NCAA’s are the goal but this isn’t a team likely to do much in the post-season. What matters more is establishing a culture of passionate ball that we can build on for years to come. We need effort and fire and some innovation from the staff. Overall, this has been lacking and has been THE REASON to complain. However, yesterday, we saw big gains. We got hustle and improved D. We got Feels driving, rather than just running around screens. We got Mac to take a true perimeter shot. We got a Grant/Fells backcourt for a little while (tacit admission that MJ isn’t getting it done). We had a high-speed pace with serious rebounding and a transition game. Great game? No, but a substantial improvement. Can we sustain? That’s what matters.

    Put simply, I’m not going to rip a team when they are giving their all. Winning now isn’t everything, building winning habits is. It will make for a team that talented kids want to be a part of and that, plus effort, will make for wins. For now, for what we have on the floor and what we have on the bench, this was strong effort and commendable regardless of the loss. Do it consistently and good things will happen down the road.

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