Duke, Wake Each Lose By 27 (Good Link Updates @ Noon)

I can’t say that I saw this coming. Miami forced the Deacons to shoot from the perimeter – and they couldn’t do it. Looks like a good roadmap for other ACC teams. On the other hand, Clemson just beat Duke senseless with defensive pressure and transition baskets (as they and Carolina are uniquely suited to do). Don’t look now, but despite early evidence to the contrary, we might be looking at yet another Duke team that stays down once hit in the mouth.

And freaking Boston College – the team that lost by double digits to Harvard at home – beat a pathetic UVA squad to go to 6-3. Just another Wednesday night in the ACC.

Many all over the country were pleased with the results of the Duke game as evidenced by Deadspin’s lead story – Duked!

The 27-point pasting was Duke’s worst loss since 1997. Their impotent 47 points was their lowest output since 1994. It was their first regular season loss to Clemson in 20 games. Coach Mike Kryzewski called timeout in the final minute, just so his team could savor the delicious pain of one the school’s most pathetic non-lacrosse efforts in nearly two decades.

If you want an excellent read, then jump over to this entry about the ‘Duke Swoon’ at Rush the Court.

The following chart is an example of some of the great work RTC does.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

08-09 Basketball

98 Responses to Duke, Wake Each Lose By 27 (Good Link Updates @ Noon)

  1. VaWolf82 02/05/2009 at 2:30 PM #

    State can be alot better than last year and still suck.

    State’s RPI ranking from CBS sports is currently at #106. State has a grand total of 1 win against teams ranked in the RPI Top 100. Loyola-MD at #142 is the second best team that State has beaten. All of that sucks in my book.

  2. jbpackfan 02/05/2009 at 2:35 PM #

    RPI sucks b/c our ooc schedule included some of the worst teams. That does not = team sucks. A team that sucks gets blown out, loses to crappy teams and is not in games against good teams- none of these things have happened to State. There is a difference b/t RPI sucking and the team sucking. Being unsatisfied with the team is fine and I am unsatisfied, I just wouldn’t say the team sucks. Again, I also wouldn’t say they are good, just in between somewhere.

  3. BJD95 02/05/2009 at 2:40 PM #

    VaWolf is right in that we have a long climb up to get out of the pit of suck. It’s not like we were right on the cusp of ascending into mediocrity.

    This team doesn’t infuriate me as much as last year’s bunch. They show more pride in wearing the uniform.

    But we still pretty much suck.

  4. jbpackfan 02/05/2009 at 2:52 PM #

    I don’t see a difference in this team and many of Herb’s bubble teams (see 2005). The question is whether this team can make a run to get to 7-9 or 8-8. This year that won’t be enough for NCAAs, but by comparison to our previous bubble teams, not that different. If State tanks and goes 4-12 or 5-11, I will agree that they suck. Til that happens we’ll agree to disagree.

  5. BJD95 02/05/2009 at 2:54 PM #

    Right now we are on track for 4 or 5 ACC wins. Steal an upset (like this weekend against VT), and we’re on track for 5 or 6 conference wins and an NIT berth. Maybe then I’ll entertain notions of mediocrity.

    I ain’t holding my breath.

  6. pakfanistan 02/05/2009 at 3:05 PM #

    But, if you insist, here’s some evidence of suck – we are #80 in Sagarin, #93 in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings. I call that pretty sucky. Maybe my standards are just too high?

    That’s top third in the nation. We’re “competitive”.

    Actually, in all seriousness, I love looking at the teams ranked higher than us. It’s a disgrace. According to kenpom:

    23 Brigham Young
    26 Utah
    28 San Diego St.
    34 Davidson
    37 New Mexico
    38 Louisiana St.
    41 UAB
    42 St. Mary’s
    51 Utah St.
    55 Tulsa
    57 Rhode Island
    59 Cleveland St.
    63 Northwestern
    64 North Dakota St.
    66 George Mason
    67 Miami OH
    68 Texas El Paso
    69 Oral Roberts
    71 Wisconsin Green Bay
    73 Wright St.
    75 Siena
    77 Virginia Commonwealth
    78 Providence
    79 Illinois St.
    80 Dayton
    82 Akron
    85 Northeastern
    86 Vermont
    88 Niagara
    90 Cornell
    92 Northern Iowa

    That’s not a “Who’s Who” of the basketball elite, it’s a “Who’s Who?”

    I have a sudden urge to get trashed.

  7. VaWolf82 02/05/2009 at 3:08 PM #

    If State tanks and goes 4-12 or 5-11, I will agree that they suck.

    When you only win 2/3 ACC games in the first half of the conference schedule…then it’s not called “tanking” if you only end up with 4/5 wins total.

  8. BJD95 02/05/2009 at 3:12 PM #

    Back to the topic, I do highly recommend the “Rush the Court” blog. Great stuff on there for the general college hoops fun.

    I still really miss the “DaveSez” blog.

  9. jbpackfan 02/05/2009 at 3:21 PM #

    You guys are entitled to your opinion. I’ll choose to stay positive, the season’s more enjoyable that way. I’m just sick of seeing the same negativity after every loss and every win and every time a player screws up. Its like every coaching decision and every shot, pass or dribble each player takes is a referendum on the state of the program.

  10. Alpha Wolf 02/05/2009 at 3:51 PM #

    My idea of a good year is RPI top 35, with easy entrance into the NCAA.

    Mediocre to me means RPI 35-55 with a couple of ACCT wins and a low bid into the NCAA.

    My standards are high but I was a State fan long before the last 20 years, when our younger fans were taught that a good year was what I call mediocre. The NIT is not mediocre, not for a university the size of NC State. It’s a booby prize for not getting the job done. Who cares if you’re “#66!”

  11. Rick 02/05/2009 at 3:52 PM #

    I get a kick out of this guy every now and then
    http://davebarendscollegehoophumor.blogspot.com/

    For example
    “When Louisville prints Freedom Hall, the name of its arena, it uses a basketball in place of the letter “o” in Freedom – signifying the importance of that sport to the school. I think they should mix it up a bit. Like, to signify the unimportance of academics, the school could replace the “o” in Freedom with a “u”.”

  12. LRM 02/05/2009 at 4:07 PM #

    jb,

    Probably not the most credible way to support your point by comparing this team to one of Herb’s bubble teams, like 2005.

  13. jbpackfan 02/05/2009 at 5:15 PM #

    My only point was they don’t suck. Not that they are good, not that I am happy with the results. Just that they don’t suck. Huge difference. I don’t think Herb’s bubble teams sucked either. That’s the comparison- I think its fair and credible.

  14. Gene 02/05/2009 at 5:17 PM #

    “He also found Tyrese Rice, who was a 2-star recruit according to the database on Scout.com. That is why Skinner’s been so successful. He’s not just reading the Rivals and Scout recruiting tip sheets. He finds the under-the-radar gems.”

    But from what I remember about BC, the past few years, is none of the diamonds in the rough Skinner has leaned on had to do it as freshman. They may have gotten minutes as freshman, but they weren’t expected to carry the team or even be the primary guy at their respective positions.

    Who knows, maybe some of the less heralded players on our roster can be coached up…I hope so…I really do…

  15. smile102 02/05/2009 at 5:18 PM #

    An OT basket from being tied for LAST w/ UVA: there’s some serious denial going on here….

  16. jbpackfan 02/05/2009 at 5:39 PM #

    smile- I can play that game too. A last second shot away from beating a top 10 team (Marquette) and being 13-7. Another last second shot away from beating SEC leading Florida and being 14-6.

  17. wufpup76 02/05/2009 at 5:45 PM #

    A little off topic:

    Caught some of Dave Glenn’s show earlier – a caller who caught the John Wall game last night stated that Wall had his own posse / entourage and that whoever signed him would have to deal with that

    Can’t say I’m too much in favor of that

    I only mention it b/c Glenn, who was at the game, confirmed it and said there was a needed “transition period” for some athletes going into college etc etc etc …

    I’m in favor of signing Wall but talk of posses and entourages makes me squirm more than a bit

    Oh well …

  18. BSIE80 02/05/2009 at 5:55 PM #

    alpha,
    what does our football team have to finish to overcome the suck factor? In other words did we suck this year, mediocre, or was it a good season and what was our final ranking 75th??

  19. choppack1 02/05/2009 at 6:07 PM #

    BSIE – everything is relative.

    This year was a successful one because 1) we were supposed to stink (instead we finished 4-4 in the conference),
    2)we won our last 4 conference games in conference,
    3) We absolutely stomped our rival
    4) In those last 4 games, we beat 3 bowl eligible teams.
    5) For the year, we played 10 teams that went to bowls, we had a respectable 4-6 against them.
    6) The games that we did lose, are easier to understand because we didn’t have a healthy QB and/or LB and/or DL – and the having those guys healthy demostrated that we were a very good team.

    Now, if Sid wins 6 out of our next 9 conference games – guess what OUR BASKETBALL SEASON WILL BE A SUCCESS. If Sid proves that he can consistently win WITH ANY ROTATION when healthy – WE’LL FEEL BETTER ABOUT THE FUTURE.

    I don’t know why you feel its necessary to denigrate TOB, but I’ve seen that in some of your posts.

  20. BJD95 02/05/2009 at 6:17 PM #

    I will gladly take the posse and have the Wolfpack Club find them jobs. I’m tired of sucking.

    The close losses (Marquette, Florida, Davidson) balance out exactly with the close wins (Loyola!, GT, Miami). Can’t argue that we’ve had good or bad “breaks” with a straight face.

  21. BSIE80 02/05/2009 at 6:35 PM #

    Not trying to put down TOB, just pointing out that expectations are different. Excuses are ok for TOB but not for Sid…

    The reason typically given is due to previous experience. (TOB) has some, Sid does not.
    I understand the argument. However, we have had experienced coaches previously that did not succeed (depending on how we define success).
    There are plenty of success stories with no experienced coaches as well.

    Back to my question, is finishing 70-75th in football rankings sucking, mediocre, or is this success? Or do we throw this out as long as we beat ECU, Wake, Duke, and Carolina in the same year?

    I am definitely happy this happened by the way, and I see it as being a successful year because of it. Getting into the bowl game (a non ACC bowl game) was icing on the cake for me. I had low expectations because I didn’t see a QB on the team, RW proved me wrong on that one-what a surprise.

    If only J Mays would step up at the PG position, we could go 6-3. Sid then would be very fortunate if this happened, as lucky as TOB.

  22. smile102 02/05/2009 at 7:41 PM #

    “jbpackfanNo Gravatar
    Feb 5th, 2009 at 5:39 pm”

    “smile- I can play that game too. A last second shot away from beating a top 10 team (Marquette) and being 13-7. Another last second shot away from beating SEC leading Florida and being 14-6.”

    I don’t see a Dec. FL win as the difference between suck and mediocre 🙂
    But OK, let’s have it your way: I believe 1 game out of last place sux.

  23. wufpup76 02/05/2009 at 8:30 PM #

    Fla St. – Ga Tech is really ugly

    Jackets hold a 1 pt. lead w/ 8:00 to go and have led most of the game …

    This would be one of Fla. State’s annual NCAA-killing losses if the score holds … It’s in Tallahassee, and I’m thinking a home loss to Ga Tech would be more than a crippling blow

  24. TheCOWDOG 02/05/2009 at 8:41 PM #

    Highjack Alert….

    Josh Powell getting significant time with Lakers V. Celts on TSN.

  25. wufpup76 02/05/2009 at 8:47 PM #

    ^You have a lot more patience than I, my friend for watching an NBA game … Oh how I hate it so

    But good for Josh

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