Stepping into basketball season by stepping into the past (Updated 5pm)

08-09 Basketball General NCS Basketball Tradition101

Today is the day.

Monday, December 22, 2008.

Today is the day that we naturally step into elevated interest in the 2008-2009 basketball season.  You can almost say that today is the day that we really kick off our attention to the season as the Wolfpack will host Top 25 ranked Marquette in the RBC Center.

The Wolfpack has done and an adequate job of holding serve in the early part of the season en route to establishing a 7-1 record against soft competition while squandering a great opportunity to beat Top 25 ranked Davidson a couple of weeks ago.  Tonight’s 7pm game televised on ESPNU marks a legitimate opportunity for State to elevate into ‘NCAA Tournament relevancy’ with an eye on a January 3rd visit to Florida and the start of the ACC season.

Due to the opponent, tonight’s game represents almost as much about the heritage of the NC State program as it does the importance of the current season.  Marquette, then coached by the legendary Al McGuire, was the Wolfpack’s opponent and victim in the 1974 NCAA National Championship game.

The following are some random bytes:

  • Marquette’s roster ranks #315th in the country in average height  but has done an admirable job rebounding.  We will get an obvious opportunity to see if NC State is a better rebounding team this year than we have been the last two seasons.
  • NC State plans on honoring  the 1973-1974 National Championship team tonight.  (Link) 
  • I can’t make tonight’s game for holiday & family reasons that are innately obvious to everyone in the world except the people who are responsible for NC State’s basketball schedule…so, I will be very interested in the reports about this ‘honoring’.  If this is anything like last year’s God awful embarrassment of the 1983 ‘honoring’ then I will actually be glad that I didn’t invest more time into the event in addition to the money for my lifetime rights and season tickets.  I am not going to say more about this as you can click here for a detailed commentary.
  • If NC State were healthy, then I would be calling for a Wolfpack win tonight.  This one just feels like a good night for the Pack.  But, the lingering injuries and those injuries’ impact to playing time of four of our top seven players – Degand, Gonzalez, Fells & Smith – throws too large of a wrench into my plans.  If it weren’t for those injuries, I’d be referencing the Pack’s win over Michigan in 2006 for some similarities of the positive vibes.
  • Marquette is led by strong backcourt play and surprisingly strong rebounding that compensates for weaker offensive play on the post.  This is why the injuries to Degand, Fells and Gonzalez are so vital to the Wolfpack’s chances.  
  • If you need another barometer to monitor tonight then pay attention to the officiating.  If our big men get fair treatment and we get to the line in a quantity that is proportional to our attempts down low then we still have a good chance.  If the officials decide that teams in red don’t deserve the same treatment in the post that teams in blue deserve then our chances reduce significantly.
  • Can I ask the natural question of why NC State continues to annually schedule the ONLY decent home non-conference games on odd weeknights around the holidays when it is difficult for fans to attend and when the students are on break?  Does anybody realize that many lifetime rights holders live somewhere other than Raleigh?  I honestly don’t think that our department could TRY to pick a worse way to leverage our home court for both the team or the fans.
  • As much as I don’t like when/how this game was scheduled, I love the fact that this game was scheduled.  Coach Lowe does a fantastic job of mixing the program’s rich tradition into the current landscape of college basketball.  Playing a Marquette gets us a great blend of the two.  You can see our original entry at the time this game was announced by clicking here. 

The following is a “Gamenight” preview from a fantasy sports site I found…

As the non-conference season enters its last few weeks, a number of teams are still hoping to strengthen their case for an at-large bid, and two such teams will meet in Raleigh when #45 Marquette (9-2) faces #49 North Carolina State (7-1).

Marquette’s two losses have been fairly decisive, as Dayton and Tennessee both beat the Golden Eagles by double digits. Their only strong win came at home over Wisconsin, and it’s easily better than any win North Carolina St. has recorded. The Wolfpack’s only loss came against Davidson, as Stephen Curry led a strong Wildcats charge down the stretch to erase a halftime lead.

[snip]

While Marquette hasn’t been that impressive, NC St.’s schedule has been very weak, and a difficult game like this one is not a great time to be depending on a freshman point guard in his second career start. While the Wolfpack will try to take advantage  of Marquette’s lack of size, I’ll take the Eagles for a narrow road win.

…and this link will take you to a recent article focused on Marquette’s inside deficiencies.

And that’s one of the reasons Tennessee’s Wayne Chism went bananas on the Golden Eagles earlier this week and finished with a career-high 26 points and 11 rebounds in the Vols’ 80-68 victory over Marquette. You see, Chism is 6-9, 242 pounds and a legitimate high-major big man. Marquette has nobody who fits that description. Bruce Pearl noticed it on film and exploited it on the court.

"Wayne had a favorable matchup," Tennessee’s coach said, "and he took advantage of it."

So the question is simple: How many more will take advantage of it?

Lastly, the following are some some interesting items across the internet today related to both this event and the 1974 NC State-Marquette game:

  • Marquette had an unbelievably quick 2-2-1 full court trapping defense that was the bread and butter of the team….Walton and Tatum on the front line…speed and quickness…MU was able to generate pts off of this defense…but not vs NCSTATE….I never knew why until I worked at Rick Majerus’ basketball camps a few yrs later…and I heard him lecture about top PG play and how to beat a trapping press like the 2-2-1 MU utilized so successfully.

    Said Rick, “The key to breaking a trapping press is to do what Monte Towe did to us in the ’74 title game. He did something I had never seen before. He dribbled into our trap and when we sprung it, Towe kept his dribble and dribbled backwards where he had come from…with our front line our of position after committing on the trap…and our back 3 guys already committed to zone guarding the back cutters, Towe would make a crisp pass to the open cutter and they beat our press every time…We were really counting on that press to give the 5-5 Towe some problems. But it did not. Towe was one of the top PGs we had ever faced.”

    Al blew the national championship game…it would have been hard…but MU could have beaten NCState….but this game was forgotten when Al won the final game in ’77…but this game…and the game vs. Ind in ’76 when Al blew the game with a late T….and the Kansas State game on St Patrick’s Day in March, ’77 when MU fell behind by 14 but turned the tide….cut it to 7 and Al sensing that KState was choking grabbed his neck tie to signal the choke to his team and the refs thought he meant that the refs were choking so they T’d him up…and KS made the FTs and went ahead by 10…AL sat down and told Hank…"If we lose this game…I am done in Milwaukee."

    Luckily for Al, MU came back and won by 1….and MU beat Wake Forest…UNCC and then NC for the national title…

    You may enjoy this this thread

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    08-09 Basketball General NCS Basketball Tradition

    101 Responses to Stepping into basketball season by stepping into the past (Updated 5pm)

    1. Afterglow 12/22/2008 at 11:13 PM #

      I think the similarities between this year’s team and HWSNBM revolve around our point guard situations. With HWSNBM we didn’t really have a point guard and with Lowe, we lacking identity with our point guards due to: injury, inexperience and lack of ability. I do think this will heal itself around early to mid January and I believe we will see some interesting things from this team. I should clarify-good interesting things. I also believe that we will see Mays emerge as a formidable point guard and see Degand become a good back up.

    2. wufpup76 12/22/2008 at 11:20 PM #

      “I agree that Farnold had a good last part of his game but he didn’t look good to me.”

      I didn’t say he looked good, only that it was his best performace of the season … HUGE difference

    3. Afterglow 12/22/2008 at 11:21 PM #

      packpowerfan-I actually believed (up to this point) that when the Pack loses a big game I can’t smile for the rest of the day. But, I think you getting a picture of Santa shitting under your tree may remedy that situation… albeit for a split second.

      Interesting visual. As for your dog, I think I’ll pass on that picture.

    4. sf59 12/22/2008 at 11:31 PM #

      Go easy on T-ferg. He had a tough match up but gutted it out. Word is he played the entire second half with a broken hand. Can anyone confirm?

      Not only are we out manned at the 1 and 2… but we are dang snake bit.

    5. blpack 12/22/2008 at 11:44 PM #

      We faced 3 of the best guards we’ll see this season and we held our own. We really had our chances tonight. We have to learn from our mistakes and get better. I wonder how much our guys improve and how much our coaching improves? We have a long ways to go.

    6. W0LFPack 12/22/2008 at 11:47 PM #

      I stumbled across this website one day early during the football seasons, and since then it has become a daily reader…I loved the optimism that was surrounded by TOB & Co. However, I feel that there is absolutely no optimism for Lowe. None.

      I played basketball for a long time, and I can tell some of you have not. This will probably piss some of you off, but oh well. I watched the entire game, and I got exactly what I expected, EXCEPT we didn’t go inside nearly enough. I also caught the interview after the game…I love how some of you blame the loss on the coaching staff. Big Ben said “we just didn’t do what the coaches told us to do, and it’s why we lost tonight.”

      As for Fergs, he does as much defensively as he can, considering he’s completely un-athletic, not fast, and can’t jump. He played pretty well overall for the night, considering who he was guarding. When you’re guarding a strong offensive player it takes away from your own offensive game. Mays will be a solid contributor for four years, and has the chance to develop into our starter at the end of the year. As for Degand, give the man a break. Brandon Rush also tore an ACL, except a little less severe, and it took him about 9 months to fully recover. Degand is on the way back, but probably won’t be the same without his speed.

      May I also remind some of you…Engin Atsur, Julius Hodge, and Illian Evtimov were the furthest thing from athletes that have ever stepped on a basketball court, but they made it work. This team can, and will compete this year. If they continue to play solid, and work hard, they can make the tournament. I apologize for the length, but seriously, give Lowe a chance. Oh and for the record, I agree that Dennis Horner should never be allowed to walk on the court again…seriously.

      P.S. Jason Williams, the great Duke Guard from the late 90’s and early 2000s said that if Brandon Costner were to play like this that Duke, UNX and Wake should all watch out… Think about that for a minute…we’re not a pathetic team.

    7. wufpup76 12/23/2008 at 12:00 AM #

      “Go easy on T-ferg. He had a tough match up but gutted it out”

      Fergs is a much better defender than he is given credit for … He actually denied McNeal the ball on several possessions tonight

      Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the other guy, and for those wondering about why Thomas or Williams didn’t play more – they turned the ball over when they were in and were liabilties on the offensive end … Plus, McNeal scored on them, too

      Don’t get me wrong, I love both guys – but they need time and experience, especially on the offensive end

    8. ryebread 12/23/2008 at 12:16 AM #

      I watched the game on the U. I said before tonight that this was a critically important game for a team whose best case scenario for the season was to be on the bubble. I felt that this was a winnable game, but one we didn’t match up well in due to their guard play. My thoughts on the evening were as follows.

      Good:
      – Mays: He’s our best PG. Put him in and let him get 32+ mpg between now and ACC time.
      – Costner: A game of beauty. Period. Sorry that coach didn’t feed you the last two possessions.
      – Smith: I liked that aggressiveness.
      – Effort
      – Teamwork
      – Crowd: Complain about a 16k number, but they were there and loud from what was heard on the TV.
      – Rebounding

      Bad:
      – Allowed Marquette to shoot 60% in the second half.
      – Offensive and defensive execution down the stretch.
      – The play of several players who I won’t call out individually.
      – What appeared to be the same old, same old for honoring of the 73 team.
      – Jay Williams is a terrible announcer.
      – WTF was our last play? .4 seconds and our best shooter is throwing the ball into our center? Granted, there’s little that can be done with .4 seconds left, but this was representative of the execution problems down the stretch.
      – We lost to a very mediocre Marquette team. If that team goes 9-7 in the Big East, I’ll be shocked.
      – Our inability to drive and break down a zone.

      Ugly:
      – Substitution pattern: I think we had 3 different 7 point leads (which we ultimately frittered away). Instead of keeping the starters in to extend the lead and potentially blow the other team out, we tried to sit on it with the bench and watched each of them disappear. A line up with Fergie (who was 1-5 on 3’s), Degand, Smith, Harris and Horner leaves only Tracey as a legitimate scoring option. There’s no way we should have that line up in from the 8 – 4 minute mark of the 2nd half and we did. Fergie was looking dog tired down the stretch, we didn’t take him out and he got burnt. Terrible. If you’re riding one player into the ground tonight, that player is Costner.
      – You could see this coming a mile away. It was Davidson all over again.
      – BM’s total choke job down the stretch. I’m not sure whether his play was uglier or the decision to allow him to have the ball in his hands over this period.
      – Turnovers: We lost the game with them. Just about everyone turned the ball over. You can’t win with 14+ turnovers, particularly if you don’t force any (like we don’t).
      – Our absolute fear of a non-existent press. On Javi’s first possession, he walked the ball up and then IMMEDIATELy passed it laterally across the court the second he crossed the timeline. I turned to my friends and said “that was @#($)ing stupid.” Sadly, it was our MO for most of the first half. That is absolutely the worst way to beat a press. If we do that, Clemson, UNC, Duke and Maryland will absolutely blow us off the court.

      For posters who don’t understand why people are angry, it doesn’t matter about what should have happened on paper. This early in the season, rankings outside of the top 10 really don’t mean anything. This (like Davidson) was a VERY winnable game against a mediocre opponent when we had a working lead and let it slip away. Unlike Davidson, this one was on our home court and WE had the hottest player in the game. This will kill us and the league come tourney selection time.

    9. packalum44 12/23/2008 at 12:46 AM #

      I agree that this Marquette team was mediocre. I disagree with Jay Williams that the other Big 4 should watch out for us. Costner is good but he is no better than any of those school’s 4. One breakout game where we lost to an average team does not convince me. McCauley is the worst 5 except maybe Duke’s. The 1-3 spots are easily better at the other schools.

      I just get really pissed watching our team and I hate that b/c I love b-ball. Its not the losing I hate. Its our sucking and underachieving. Lowe has always micro-managed but I tell myself it is necessary with our current players. We suck. Its sad. I admire others’ optimism but I do not share it…I don’t think Lowe is very good but I will admit that he is only working with half a team…meaning we have no guards, only bigs.

    10. gopack1975 12/23/2008 at 12:48 AM #

      “Like I said earlier, unless we end up with a great 5-6 player recruiting class, it’ll take time and luck to rebuild.”
      Gene I’m glad that you said that. Some people do not understand that it takes time to build a program. Sid is just now getting the recruits he needs for his style of play. Herb recruited unathletic players to NC State and now Sid has no choice but to play them. Let Sid get a few classes under his belt and then we can judge him. Give the guy a break. I don’t think recruits like to hear fans complain about their team and coach. He is making the best of a not so good situation. This is what we wanted…we begged Herb to leave…stop complaining and support this team. It is going to take time.

    11. W0LFPack 12/23/2008 at 1:34 AM #

      Ohh, please don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we’re as talented as the other schools in NC. I do however believe that we can play with most teams in the country and SHOULD make the NCAA this year. Look Marquette has exactly what we do not have, which is guards. They not only have one NBA guard, but they probably have three. Considering we lost to them on a 3 pointer with under a second to go in the game I have faith in this team. I believe that Sidney is going to turn this program around. You also have to think about what Sid’s going through. He coached in the NBA, which if you aren’t sure is a completely different game than college. I’ll say it took him a year to realize that, and last year was that year. I say last year because the first year he didn’t have a star to go to…last year Hickson was our go to man and probably deservedly so. Look at his recruits:

      Hickson – we all know he was good.

      Tracy Smith – Was overweight and wasn’t getting much playing time behind Hickson, McCauley and Costner last year. Probably should have redshirted if you ask me. Has had an injury this year which has kept him out, but everyone likes the guy when he’s in the game, he produces and will continue to produce. He will get good minutes this year.

      Javi – An average guard in a good league. Would be a decent backup, but in most cases should not be a starter, yet.

      Johnny Thomas – Made a ridiculously stupid pass tonight, which you expect from a “freshman” in one of his first games (played in 5 games, and this is the first real game in which hes played). Still recovering also, but I expect this kid to be a Cameron Bennerman type player.

      Julius Mays – We all like were he’s headed

      CJ Williams – Good defender, good fundamentals, will be good by the end of the year. I’m not certain as to why he’s not getting minutes right now, but I’m thinking he could have an undisclosed injury. Your minutes don’t get cut from 30 to under 5, when you play great defense against a great player for no reason.

      Lo Brown, Richard Howell, Scott Wood, CJ Leslie, and Ryan Harrow. I’ve seen videos of Wood, and the kid can shoot. ESPN considers him one of the best, if not best shooter in the midwest. ESPN also recently ran a story on him (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=3770138) and mentioned him as a good athlete and one of the best players in the tournament he was in.

      As I’m sure all of you know according to scout, espn and rivals we are in contention for Favors and Wall…However some of you may not know that according to scout and rivals we’re also in the running for Demarcus Cousins now. All I’m saying is, give Lowe a chance, he’s learning the game too. Give him at least enough time to have nothing but his recruits in his system. By the way I agree with gopack1975, we gotta support em. We’re in the running for Cousins because UAB doesn’t support Mike Davis. How would we like to lose all five of our commitments for the next 2 years? Not to mention the possibility of Favors/Wall/Cousins?

    12. SaccoV 12/23/2008 at 2:20 AM #

      I watched the replay on the U and I’m a bit baffled by some of the responses here. Just looking at the pre-game matchups, Marquette was head-and-shoulders ahead of us with guard play where we had a huge advantage in the post. There are three things which should be noted about this game:

      1) Our collective point guard unit is not nearly as good most of the teams we will face. The point-guard-by-committee strategy is all we have to go on this year until one of these three emerge as the clear favorite. From Mays’ play, it will probably be him, as he was the only one who even resembled a point guard who can drive toward the basket to create opportunities for his teammates. Defensively, guarding three different senior guards was a hassle, and IMO our guys played about as well as could be expected given they were outmanned.

      2) (a) Costner was back to 2007 form in this game, and there is no question that he is the go-to guy offensively on this team. (b) Costner made no excuses which means he has definitely learned from last season and is a good leader, and really doesn’t deserve any criticism from this game. As for the other low-post players: Ben can score but only when he has a one-on-one matchup, and Tracy Smith is very skilled offensively and will continue to score in the post, even if well defended but neither he nor Ben can be called upon for scoring when necessary because of limited range.

      3) The bottom line in this game is that Marquette made big plays down the stretch. I think State fans should be optimistic about this team given their playing in some tough, see-saw-style games early against ranked competition. Since the team didn’t win, we should assume that they will improve knowing that making plays down the stretch is what separates decent teams from tournament-bound teams. One shot by Ferguson, one non-turnover, two free throws by Ben, or any number of things could have swung the game in our favor. Chill out with the firing squad on Sidney; he’s working with the cards he’s been dealt.

      In the final analysis, this team is still .500 in the ACC as I see it, and is an NIT team unless some big wins in conference help out. Given that Florida held on at home against Georgia Southern, I’m thinking State has a 50-50 shot with them next week, which is as good as you can ask for. Also, this team is improving although these close losses may not indicate it.

    13. papackman 12/23/2008 at 6:07 AM #

      Looks to me like coaching lost this one. McCauley and Costner on the bench in the second half with the game so close. Costner has an great game, but this team lack a floor General.

    14. wolfonthehill 12/23/2008 at 7:06 AM #

      We simply folded with 10 minutes to go. Up to that point, we’d played a good (if not great) game.

      Honestly, our offensive problem was that we just let whoever was open take the shot… when you have (a) Costner on fire, and (b) Tracy Smith in the game, one of those guys should get the first look on every possession. We appeared to have no concept that such a strategy was legal.

      And our defensive problem is (and will continue to be) our guards’ utter lack of ability to guard anyone on the perimeter. We HAVE to help in the lane on defense (which this team does not do on a regular basis) or we’re gonna watch 40 minutes of layups routinely in league play this year.

      Both of the above point to coaching… and not in a good way.

    15. Alpha Wolf 12/23/2008 at 7:52 AM #

      “We simply folded with 10 minutes to go. Up to that point, we’d played a good (if not great) game.”

      Killer instinct.

      We need it from our guards. Mays has it.

    16. wufpaxno1 12/23/2008 at 8:14 AM #

      I really am baffled by the platoon system of substitutions, “Red” team “Blue” team??? We were way overmactched in ’06-’07 and made a nice run through the ACC and NIT with very little substitutions. Why is is all of a sudden so important to rest, cool off” our big guns?

    17. Hans03 12/23/2008 at 8:23 AM #

      Did anyone else noticed that extra time came off the clock after the James 3 pointer? I would say there should have been 0.7 sec left instead of 0.4. Maybe that would have been enough time for the BM shot.

    18. Rick 12/23/2008 at 8:46 AM #

      “It’s defense without the ball, Rick, it’s offense when Degand and Ferg touch the ball.”

      What does this even mean? I will assume you were drunk because the other option is you cannot comprehend what you read.

      “Killer instinct.

      We need it from our guards. Mays has it.”

      And Mays did not see the court at the end of the game. Another stupid decision.

    19. ktoh 12/23/2008 at 8:54 AM #

      Every team we play has superior guards ,and these are Sid’s guards.
      Lets live and die with May’s at the very least!

    20. NCMike 12/23/2008 at 9:00 AM #

      65-68.

    21. wolfpackbball 12/23/2008 at 9:06 AM #

      I’m not exactly sure why some people think we should be automatically better than last year. I wish I could find the kool-aid that they’re drinking. This team should in no way be expected to make the NCAAs. Just play with heart and give the effort that will make us proud, and right now I think they are. Somebody said that when you’re rebuilding, first you’re going to lose by a little, then you’ll start winning by a little. It’s coming.
      And for goodness sake, give Sid at least as much time to suck as you did the other guy. Good lord he’s got some players coming in the next two years and has multiple top recruits mentioning us in their lists. The alternative is not pretty. We had two pretty good recruits (Werner-we’ll see soon enough, Wright) back out when the other guy left.

    22. Wulfpack 12/23/2008 at 9:41 AM #

      We have failed in our only two real tests up to date (Davidson and Marquette). These are two very average teams that will be high (as in 10, 11, 12) seeds in the NCAA tournament. Both of them were winnable but we did not make the plays. I am not attacking Sid but it just seems we are developing the habit of finding ways to lose these kinds of games. Year 3 and same old story.

      As far as the tournament talk goes, we are going to have to win the majority of our games in the ACC, end of story. We have posted no significant wins and the selection committee will take notice. We are going to have to turn some heads in ACC play to have a chance. Here’s how it lines up today IMHO:

      UNC – 2 Losses
      WFU – 2 Losses
      Duke – Loss
      Clemson – Loss

      *Clearly, those four teams are far better than us at this stage. I do not see a win here. That’s six near-guaranteed losses in my mind.

      The post peason prospects for our season will hing on our games with the following opponents: Florida, FSU, VT, MD, UVA, GT (2), BC (2) and Miami (2).

      That’s 11 games that could go one way or the other. We are currently 7-2 and I would expect easy wins against Loyola (lost to Davidson by 30), Towson and NCCU. If my math is correct that would be 10 sure wins.

      We must win the majority of those 11 games and at least one in the ACC tournament to have any chance. We are going to need 20+ to get any consideration given our weak non-conference schedule. It starts at Florida on January 3rd. Last chance for a decent non-conference win. Otherwise we are going to have to be gangbusters in conference play.

    23. Alpha Wolf 12/23/2008 at 9:47 AM #

      I’m not exactly sure why some people think we should be automatically better than last year. I wish I could find the kool-aid that they’re drinking

      We should be improved because most were hoping that Degand would be back and as good as he was when he was hurt, and also because the team would have new dedication and determination. They aren’t as bad as they played last year.

      BTW, it’s not the Kool-Aid, it’s what’s added to it that makes the difference.

    24. packalum44 12/23/2008 at 9:50 AM #

      I have not heard one person mention that Lowe should be fired as some on here seem to be suggesting. I think most fans have a right to be displeased with some of the coaching this year. Those who say Lowe had to learn the college game are wrong…b/c most say it in past tense….he is STILL learning. I look at other schools and notice Syracuse loses to Cleveland State. That made me feel better. No one dare suggests Boheim is a bad coach. However, that is only one element in which a person can gain perspective in how to evaluate a coach. Others say give him time to get his players. Well, I agree. He is bringing a knife to a gun fight…ONLY because we don’t have guards. We have 3 4-star post players (Costner, McCauley, Smith). Most teams would kill to have those guys.

      However, those who are irritated that we had that 2nd team lineup in for that long stretch in the 2nd half are 100% correct. I bet K and Roy were laughing as they watched those guys flounder. I hope Lowe learns that just b/c you can play 11 players doesn’t mean you do it! He did this successfully against inferior schools but let us hope he learns that the one simple mistake likely cost us a big win. Most agree he needs more time and he will get it. If we had Woods this year we are undefeated. We are one good shooter away. We are one good guard away. Nevertheless, these are frustrating times for us and there is nothing wrong from critiquing our coach.

      Now, about recruiting, we really need a 5. Smith is short and he will be all we have next year. If I were Wall, I would salivate watching our team. With him, we blow Davidson and Marquette out of the water. He could be a star on this team. I just don’t know if he would prefer to be a Rose and compete for a championship next year which will not be the case at NC State.

    25. Gene 12/23/2008 at 12:55 PM #

      On a side note, for perspective. Tennessee defeated Marquette at home handily. Temple face crushed, destroyed, chewed up and spat out Tennessee in Philadelphia a week earlier. Temple was up by 20 for most of the second half.

      You can’t judge a season, team, etc. on one game.

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