Weekend open thread

08-09 Basketball51

You can use this entry for various conversations with so many different things going on out there.

State 78 Lipscomb 58

  • The Wolfpack advanced to 7-1 on the hardwood with a twenty point win over Lipscomb. 
  • The headline at the N&O says, “Mays leads Pack” (Click for article) 

    • Thrust into a suddenly prominent lineup spot, Julius Mays outfought two Lipscomb players for a defensive rebound and hustled the ball up the court without hesitation Saturday as N.C. State tried to widen its lead.

    After dribbling to the top of the key, Mays whipped a pass to Trevor Ferguson in front of the N.C. State bench. Ferguson hit one of the three second-half 3-pointers he made in N.C. State’s 78-58 win at the RBC Center.

    A freshman from Marion, Ind., Mays made the most of his first career start Saturday. He replaced injured sophomore Javi Gonzalez and wound up tying a Wolfpack team season high with seven assists.

    Mays also scored nine points and did not commit a turnover despite an overall sluggish performance by N.C. State.

    • In 24 minutes in his first start Mays did NOT commit a turnover while scoring 9 points on 4 of 8 shooting; dished out 7 assists and landed 1 steal and 2 rebounds.
    • It is always nice to see a balanced roster with different players leading the State each night, but it is particularly nice to see freshman Julius Mays adjusting to the college game so quickly.  If the Pack is going to have any chance of making some noise this year then they are going to need unexpectedly strong play from the young players in the backcourt.
    • I attended the State-Davidson game and it Mays appeared very comfortable while in the game.  I remember him driving the lane a couple of times and hit a nice floater on one drive.  Barring any improvement by Javi Gonzalez, if Mays continues efficient offensive production then the comfort in Mays ability to execute offensively would elevate him over Gonzalez in many Wolfpackers minds.

    Around the dial

    • Purdue beats Davidson like a drum.  I told some friends of mine here in Charlotte that this was going to happen.  Without Jason Richars this Davidson is partly living off the glow of last year’s run.  Mark my words – this team will NOT make the Final 8 without one lucky draw in the NCAA. 
    • YES…I fully acknowledge that Davidson defeated NC State this year.  I also fully acknowledge that the Wildcats could barely pull out the victory in the last seconds with ALL of the following working  
      • a home court
      • an officiating job so bad that it ranked alongside a visit to Cameron or the Smith Center
      • a miraculous performance from a single player
      • injuries to three of NC State’s best six players (Farnold Degand, Courtney Fells & Tracy Smith) 
    • How is this one for some fun — NC State squeaks into the NCAA Tournament as a 12th seed this year and gets a re-match with a 5-seeded Davidson?  I know that you are skeptical…but, at least one local follower of the ACC thinks the Wolfpack has a shot at that 12th seed – see Dan Wiederer’s power projections.
    • Wake Forest avenges their loss that should have never happened against Navy today and starts the ACC’s Bowl season with a win.
    • Duke dominates Sean Miller’s Xavier on the road.  Another nice one for the ACC to add to our list.
    • Yes, that IS Darth Vader (and some Stormtroopers) with Thad Matta.  WTF?

      • Video courtesy of Palestra.

    About StateFans

    'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

    08-09 Basketball

    51 Responses to Weekend open thread

    1. elee624 12/21/2008 at 5:01 PM #

      Just for the record, Lipscomb is not the biggest basketball joke in the world. They are, year in and year out, competing for the conference championship with Belmont in the Atlantic Sun Conference. This is the same conference that a year ago sent Gardner-Webb to Kentucky to win, sent Belmont to the NCAA Tourney and took Duke to the wire, and had other notorious wins over power conference schools. It’s a gimme win. Take it. When you are a mediocre basketball team, at best, you take what you can get. Perhaps you schedule Campbell instead of Lipscomb out of the same conference.

    2. Gene 12/21/2008 at 5:12 PM #

      If Lipscomb was the worst tier team we played that’d be one thing, but they’re much better than other teams on our schedule, which is sad.

    3. Wulfpack 12/21/2008 at 5:21 PM #

      The problem with playing a bunch of powder puffs is that the team seems to develop a false sense of confidence. You can go out and play like crap and still win by 20. What does it mean? Absolutely nothing. Once you face a stronger team in ACC play, you don’t have the experience of battling to the wire and things all apart.

      The selection committee has taken notice the past couple of years. There is no “magic number” of wins a team needs to get in. You’ve got to play well in your conference and you’ve got to have some decent non-conference wins if you are a middle of the road ACC team.

      Our games against Marquette and Florida loom large. We’ve GOT to get one of these if we don’t plan on being able to post 8 or 9 ACC wins. And right now, seeing what I’ve seen from the other schools in the league, winning 8 is going to be a tall order as things stand today.

    4. spanky 12/21/2008 at 5:41 PM #

      “Lastly, on the longevity of one Russell Wilson under center and how I think Glennon has a loooong wait. Wilson, if drafted in ‘10 must go low lower than the 3rd rd. That is the line of demarcation (Money) for guys with remaining eligibility and leverage. He was drafted in the 41st rd. out of high school. I’ve seen him play baseball and with no knocks here, can’t project him higher than 10th rd. yet.”

      I believe I’ve read where Mr. Wilson was GRADED as a 4th rounder out of high school but told teams not to draft him as he had plans on going to college. Despite this his potential was great enough where he was picked in the 41st round by the Orioles (I think) as a ‘just in case’ pick.

    5. packalum44 12/21/2008 at 6:15 PM #

      Glennon will play. He’s too good of a talent. We have two talented quarterbacks who will both see playing time in the next several years. One or both of them will win an ACC championship. Save up your money for the BCS game in a year or two. No excuses!

    6. sf59 12/21/2008 at 6:36 PM #

      some personnel things i noticed from skeltons and such:

      -Mike Glennon can put the ball where ever he wants to. he made a couple throws in skeltons that should just not be allowed. He had a streak of 4-5 passes in red zone skeletons where he drew ooohs from the whole d-unit (and me). If we can produce an o-line to give him a pocket one day… he will carve up any secondary.

      -Earl Wolffe and Clem are gonna be a great tandem at S. Wolf can really cover som ground and Clem just aticipates so well for a guy only playing the postion for half a year

      -Ellis is gonna make a solid corner eventually

      -Brandon Barnes is much more powerful a runner than i expected. Some of the loudest pops during the scrimage periods were from the ends of his runs

    7. Noah 12/21/2008 at 6:57 PM #

      – Brandon Barnes has a younger brother who is considered the better prospect.

      – Don’t see Wolff starting next year over Javon Walker. Was Wolffe playing SS or FS?

      One possibility with Wilson is that even if doesn’t become a high draft pick, if he’s a borderline high draft pick, he might give up a final year of eligibility of football to concentrate solely on baseball.

      Terry Harvey DIDNT do that and it probably cost him. He had a dead arm as a senior (after spending the summer pitching).

    8. cowdog 12/21/2008 at 7:10 PM #

      Here’s the thing Spank. I do seem to recall something regarding his draft status out of high school and maybe words to effect of “I’m going to school.” Usually those are words to up the anty for a kid that would sign out of high school, but has something in his side pocket, a schol. From personal experience, and I do apologize if I seem to draw on it too much (I know I do.), sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn’t. If I had heard a regional scout make that 4th round projection I might be inclined to give it …a modicum of truth. I don’t know, wasn’t there, and he is a quality kid. But the 41st selection is a throw away pick.

      If he is much better in time from what I’ve seen, then hell yes he could go in the first three rounds. More playing time away from the grind of spring football may show us. Will he be an every day’r this spring? Has he played in a collegiate summer league? Unless TOB releases him from spring FB obligations coming up, I just don’t see him leaving at 21.

      Now here’s the funny thing. By his senior year he may still have leverage with MLB. Who’s to say he doesn’t become even more impressive with the pigskin? We know he’s not gonna get any taller, but he sure possesses the acumen doesn’t he?

      Just a view from my seat.

    9. RabidWolf 12/21/2008 at 7:16 PM #

      “…I’ll bet Lee’s wheels are spinning right about now. RED MEANS GALACTICA”

      Where’s Dirk Benedict when you really need him?

    10. spanky 12/21/2008 at 7:29 PM #

      Agree on that cowdog… I wasn’t there either I just remember hearing/reading that, and hearing/reading that he actually wanted to go to school. The 41st pick was definitely a throw away ‘what the hell, why not?’ pick. I really don’t see him leaving either unless he just provides a spark to the scouts and they are amazed at his potential, and gets a hell of an offer.

      I also believe he will have to focus more on baseball instead of splitting time with football to really get a chance at a high draft pick. I sure hope he does, I’d love to see him do well in the sport where everyone seems to believe the money is for him. At the same time I’d love to see him exhaust his eligibility in a football uniform. If he continues to improve as QB’s do under O’Brien and Bible and he played this well as a RS-Frosh… can you imagine him as a RS-Senior??

    11. wolfonthehill 12/21/2008 at 7:46 PM #

      Since this is an open thread, I’ll jump in…

      With the Chargers’ waxing of the Bucs, and the Broncos’ fold-job against the Bills today, the Chargers can win the division with a home win against Denver next week.

      PR was amazing (again) today, throwing 4 TD’s for the first time in his career, a few of which were simply perfect. The fact that he got snubbed will be an embarrassment by the time the season’s over.

    12. cowdog 12/21/2008 at 8:16 PM #

      Glennon may be the next coming, Wilson may slip. Very nice to have them both as long as we have both. Wilson may even get a choice draft, sign, and give up his schol only to play out his eligibility.

      I’m really hard pressed to come up with a relevant D1 FB player to give up remaining eligibility to sign.
      Were Wilson to sign with years left and not play football, it just might be a first.

      PR, shining light for a lackluster team performance this year. And they’re still probably playoff bound.

    13. Dr. BadgerPack 12/21/2008 at 8:18 PM #

      The discussion of Wilson’s draft status as related by Avent is in this article…

      When Wilson chose college, major league teams backed off — the Orioles eventually selected him late in the draft as a just-in-case. “A lot of scouts said Russell could have been taken in the third or fourth round [of the ’07 MLB draft] and were making calls trying to get him to sign,” Avent says. “I have no doubt he’ll make it to the big leagues.”

      http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3512366

    14. spanky 12/21/2008 at 9:00 PM #

      Thanks, DBP, thats where i read it from. I thought I had read it and the words had come from someone important (Avent’s) mouth.

      But this is a great problem to have… Glennon/Wilson…

    15. cowdog 12/21/2008 at 9:13 PM #

      10-4 on the article. Don’t recall seeing it in detail from Avent before. May have to up my projection on the ’10 draft to the 5-6 zone on that kind of talk alone.
      Looking forward to seeing more of him this spring. At the yard .

    16. spanky 12/21/2008 at 9:40 PM #

      Speaking of baseball… and recruiting… I keep hearing about our ’09 class and how good it is (assuming they make it to school and avoid the draft)… anybody have a good free site that shows baseball recruits/commits/signings?

    17. PAJ 12/21/2008 at 10:05 PM #

      I would guess the reason behind honoring the 1974 national championship team before the Marquette game is becauase Marquette was the team they beat in the title game. Everyone remembers knocking off UCLA, but that was the semi-finals. Marquette/NCST was the 1974 title game. It makes sense.

    18. wirogers 12/21/2008 at 10:55 PM #

      Back to the top of these comments; Seat and Noah got it correct. According to Rivals those two OL from GA have committed to State.

    19. SMD 12/21/2008 at 11:30 PM #

      While I do feel a little sheepish in forgetting the Marquette angle, I stand by my contention this is NOT the best game to do the ceremony at.

      To me, having more fans there in a higher profile game outweighs having the ceremony during the Marquette game.

    20. spanky 12/21/2008 at 11:41 PM #

      Does anybody have any idea what Sid WANTED to do..? he said in the Lipscome post game presser that the NCAA wouldn’t allow him to do what he wanted but they still had something planned to honor them.

    21. sf59 12/22/2008 at 12:10 AM #

      i remember at one time there was talk about getting the 74 final 4 teams togethr for a tourney

      anyhow, i like what we are doing with this type of game 🙂

    22. Alpha Wolf 12/22/2008 at 8:43 AM #

      “…I’ll bet Lee’s wheels are spinning right about now. RED MEANS GALACTICA”

      Where’s Dirk Benedict when you really need him?”

      Number Six would kick Dirk Benedict’s ass. Come to think of it, so would the new Starbuck.

      The real BSG returns 1/16. So say we all.

    23. burnbarn 12/22/2008 at 10:10 AM #

      For tonight’s game, Sid said he wanted to do something very special for the ’74 team, but NCAA rules would not allow it.. I wonder what he had up his sleeve?

    24. Ed89 12/22/2008 at 10:28 AM #

      ^^^Does anybody have any idea what Sid WANTED to do..? he said in the Lipscome post game presser that the NCAA wouldn’t allow him to do what he wanted but they still had something planned to honor them.

      The NCAA won’t allow NCSU to give the players gifts of any kind. I think that was one sticking point. I don’t mind honoring them on National TV against the same opponent (Marquette), but I have seen little publicity, and I hope they do it right.

    25. PackGirl 12/22/2008 at 11:31 AM #

      Mays may have played his best game on Saturday but he has a long ways to go. He should definitely not be starting over Javi (or Degand, once he is healty). Although he had no TOs I think it was just the lack of pressure. He looked on the verge of going out of control every time he took the ball down the court with any speed. Having said that, I think he has potential and getting this experience is good for him. Hopefully he will continue to improve and contribute.

    1 2 3

    Leave a Reply