A Shitty End to a Shitty Season

08-09 Basketball118

Maryland 74, NC State 69. That’s your final. Don’t let the margin let you believe that NC State played well, smart, or with any enthusiasm or sense of urgency.

Here is Sidney Lowe’s program in a nutshell – the only guy who consistently played hard and as if he had a brain in his head was Julius Mays. The only guy who even looked for his shot in the last 10 minutes. You remember him, don’t you? He’s the guy who hasn’t played in the last 9 or so games. Yep, that’s a program on the rise. Sure. Repeat it until you believe it, if it makes you sleep better.

After racing out to a 21-8 lead, NC State laid down and died. I don’t remember Maryland taking a tough shot the entire second half. Is Maryland a great team with multiple players that can create offense? Fuck no. One decent player and a bunch of stiffs who might do one thing halfway decently.

Still, the Terps did occasionally miss in the second half. And they got the damned rebound every. Single. Time. Is Maryland a big, athletic team with an NBA-caliber frontcourt? Fuck no. They start four guards and one undersized power forward.

This NC State team will not make the NIT. It may make the CBI or College Insider tourney. Who fucking cares. If this “effort” is all they had to give for such a critical ACC tournament for the program…I don’t want to see them play anymore this season.

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

118 Responses to A Shitty End to a Shitty Season

  1. LKNpackfan 03/12/2009 at 7:53 PM #

    WTF just happened?

  2. charger17 03/12/2009 at 7:54 PM #

    why bother? we’ve all said it so many times

  3. Clarksa 03/12/2009 at 7:54 PM #

    A perfect example of this season…less than 2min to go and our “Big 3” pass it among themselves a few times and then turn the ball over…

    SFN: I thought the exact same thing. Similarly fitting was us down one with Maryland’s ball (about 3 mins to go in the game) and Courtney Fells decides to prance behind a screen that give Vasquez three seconds to line up and nail a three. Vasquez! I mean…who would want to guard him? Why should Fells feel any obligation/desire to play him tight and fight through the screen? He never has fought through one before. Why start in his last game?

  4. LKNpackfan 03/12/2009 at 7:55 PM #

    This is the most confusing game I’ve watched all season……
    Smith and Gonzalez sit all game? Costner plays 3 mins the 1st half? Mays plays the entire 2nd half after not even sniffing the court for 9 games? Fells and Costner combine for 7 pts?
    Its kind of fitting that one of the last offensive possessions was a McCauley-Fells-Costner turnover.

  5. Rochester 03/12/2009 at 7:58 PM #

    Addition by subtraction for next year.

    Coming back:

    Javy
    Mays (play him as a combo, the kid can obviously shoot)
    CJ
    JT
    Horner
    Smith

    Mix in:

    Brown
    Howell
    Wood
    1 more recruit

    Trevor and Farnold deep off the bench

    Maybe we have a chance to go 8-8 and not embarrass ourselves in the ’10 ACCT.

  6. sautz 03/12/2009 at 7:59 PM #

    The slate is getting slightly cleaner next year with some of our top scorers gone. Sidney Lowe will have his own players. The future is bright. Yeah.

  7. transylvania 03/12/2009 at 8:02 PM #

    Seriously, what did you expect? This is our season in a nutshell — our guys played hard, nice effort, but too many critical lapses in both coaching and player execution to gain anything but another “close loss”.

  8. ClassOf95 03/12/2009 at 8:02 PM #

    “The Office” is new tonight.

  9. choppack1 03/12/2009 at 8:02 PM #

    from the other thread:That was disgusting.

    Frustrating on so many levels. We gave up open 3s all night – we weren’t prepared to attack the zone. Javi and Smith- probably our 2 best players the last 4 games of the season don’t hardly see the floor.

    Mays’ success only is more confusing. Where was he in those last 4 games?

    I guess there’s a chance we’ll see some improvement, but I just don’t know. Will we see guys who don’t play for 3 weeks suddenly play 2/3s of a game for no apparent reason? Will we see the guys who have carried us rot on the bench? Will see guys continue to fail to do the little things that are required to win ball games?

    I’ve said before and I’ll say it again – if we see this kind of shit next year, it’s pretty obvious where the problem lies. If we don’t, it’s pretty obvious too. However, as NC State fans, we’re probably destined to fumble through a 7-9 season, w/ an NIT birth. If we DO get clarity – it will likely be in the form of the negative.

    I saw so many problems, on so many levels I would have rather finished my taxes.

  10. turnoffthetv 03/12/2009 at 8:03 PM #

    By the power vested in me I say FIRE SID. Im finished with this site for the season. WTF is gonna be any different next year? EXPLAIN??????????I may just have finished with this team until a coaching change and or Athletics director change is made. We suck balls now and we shall suck balls next year.

    OH But WTNY when we have the Horses to compete with UNC and DOOK. HEEE!HEE!!!

    WTF????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

  11. Noah 03/12/2009 at 8:04 PM #

    Javi Gonzalez looked awfully happy on the bench at the end of the game.

  12. wolfpack95 03/12/2009 at 8:05 PM #

    Im sorry.
    Did someone say that it was basketball season?

  13. BJD95 03/12/2009 at 8:07 PM #

    Yep, keep pinning it all on Fells, Costner, and McCauley. Nobody else played with their heads jammed up their asses. Everybody else looked GREAT. Sid totally knows what he’s doing. Trust me, he really does.

    Don’t ask for evidence. Just trust me, damn it!!!!!

  14. Clarksa 03/12/2009 at 8:08 PM #

    “Javi Gonzalez looked awfully happy on the bench at the end of the game.”

    Probably because he knows the team will be much better next year without our “Big 3.”

  15. stillhoping 03/12/2009 at 8:08 PM #

    Hello, first-timer here, but I’ve been reading SFN for several years now…

    This has got to be on Sidney. Everyone could see we couldn’t get the inlet pass against the 2-3 zone by passing it around the perimeter. You need to dribble penetrate to break the zone, or get a good pass inside (just like Vasquez was doing). That’s on the coach to set up plays, and tell the guard to try to slash inside. Instead, you had everyone standing around, no one was cutting. Everyone could see we needed better perimeter defense. How many times do you have to watch them drain the open 3 before you tell your players to not leave people open?
    I’m sorry, I want to believe, but there was no half-time adjustment here, folks. It’s on the coach.

  16. BAC79 03/12/2009 at 8:09 PM #

    Three straight years of futility. Nothing was accomplished with these players. We saw three pretty decent players two years ago. You would reasonably expect that they would improve and the team would improve with them. Not so, this program is stagnant and going nowhere fast.

    I give Sid one more year then pull the trigger and start over. Of course Fowler will give him three and we will be in a hole so deep we will never climb out.

    Irreparable damage has been done to the basketball program and athletics in general. When will the money guys wake up and smell the coffee. We need change at the top now.

    Someone fire up the Fire Lee Fowler site.

  17. JeremyH 03/12/2009 at 8:09 PM #

    Bryant Feggins thinks this season was a success since no one was shot. (Did anyone see my wallet? Wait, where did Gavin go?)

  18. LKNpackfan 03/12/2009 at 8:11 PM #

    Completely agree, Stillhoping. This one is very clearly on Lowe.

    And Gonzalez was f’ing pissed off in that last timeover. He wanted in the game. I have no clue why he wasn’t.

  19. Rochester 03/12/2009 at 8:11 PM #

    I’ll guess that Mays in and Javi and Tracy out was Sid’s answer to the Maryland zone that screwed us for much of the game. However, aside from Mays launching a bunch of outside shots, nothing much else happened on our offensive possessions. He allowed Maryland’s defense to totally dictate what we did, instead of making Maryland adjust to what we wanted to do.

    Still, if we guard some 3-point shooters, we probably win this game.

  20. charger17 03/12/2009 at 8:13 PM #

    Stillhoping, I agree. It was just too easy to see. There’s no way to disagree with it now.

  21. frankiepack 03/12/2009 at 8:13 PM #

    Unreal,Ben was was our inside presence scoring at will when he got the ball inside and sits for a long stretch of the second half as does Smith.
    Too many guy’s get buried (May’s for most of the season)will cut Courtney slack he must still be hurt. But if Brandon does not want to play as a coach you don’t play his ass.
    Facee it Sid is not the answer ………Call Grant from VCU. He has built a solid program there with his own system of offense and defense. He was an ASST at Florida recruited most of the players from their 2 ncaa championship teams. Not a coincidence that Florida has gone down since he left there.

  22. Rick 03/12/2009 at 8:13 PM #

    This has been a crappy year and I do not see it getting any better with Sid.
    What’s worse is I see no way we get rid of him.

    There has not been a lazier looking group of guys.

    SFN: Yes there has. Last year’s team.

  23. BAC79 03/12/2009 at 8:14 PM #

    Does anyone have the rifle team schedule? What network are they on?

  24. Rochester 03/12/2009 at 8:14 PM #

    Last year I was kind of relieved when we lost in the ACCT. Tonight I’m kind of pissed. I’m not sure if that’s progress.

  25. LRM 03/12/2009 at 8:14 PM #

    I don’t see what y’all are so upset about. Now I can enjoy March without pissing my life away watching that moron coach those morons.

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