McCauley Closes Out in Style

08-09 Basketball84
BC (20-10) 34 35 69
NCSU (16-12) 43 31 74

Playing his last regular season home game (don’t expect a home game in the NIT, either), Big Ben walks off the court a winner – with his rebound and free throws sealing the deal. His final numbers? 20 points and 6 rebounds, with each rebound being crucial.

The other stat we can feel great about is 6:1 – that was Javi’s assist-to-turnover ratio (Edit: Fixed the TO number.). Got to tighten up on those free throws, though.

Fells played well before his injury, and quasi-senior Brandon Costner at least played hard (but in no way did he play smart). Kudos to the veterans for not laying down. Next up is Miami, in a faceoff for the 9 seed.

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

84 Responses to McCauley Closes Out in Style

  1. redfred2 03/05/2009 at 5:02 PM #

    Greywolf, that is the kind of talk we should be hearing about BB right now. Good stuff!

    I looked over on a FB thread the other day and it seemed everyone posting was TOTALLY UPBEAT about the potential for this upcoming season. Now while that is all great and good, if you take an HONEST look at the both the FB and BB programs, and compare their overall winning percentages, there isn’t enough difference to warrant all of these negative opinions that keep cropping over and over again.

    TOB is great, he has turned some things around and he will do great things for NC State…IN THE FUTURE. With all of that said, TOB’s fortunes were VERY MUCH affected, and changed for the better, because of the very positive impacts of one or two players who stepped up and embraced the role of leaders on the field. Again, TOB is setting things up for a great future for Wolfpack football, but without the on the field help and leadership from just one or two players, his early years, especially last season, would not be looking so positive.

    I say all of that not to knock TOB at all, I say it because Sidney Lowe has yet to experience the luxury of that kind of leadership on the hardwood. And also to say that unlike the decades before Lowe came back as coach, there are some very good signs that he is very capable of guiding and developing those leadership qualities from the personell that he has available.

  2. ppack3 03/05/2009 at 5:09 PM #

    Greywolf – I had considered the script, and I knew (to a degree) that it was used in the NBA, but when a guy is hot, a guy is hot, right? My intention is not to second guess Sid. I have a feeling that, if asked, his answer would be something like, “We need to keep that guy fresh for later in the game.” Take time outs for example. Notice that Sid takes most of his time outs just before the commercial time out, which gives everyone an extra breather. Maybe he is trying to slow that adrenaline rush and calm these guys down to make better decisions. I don’t know. I do KNOW there is logic behind these decisions, I just want to know what it is.
    There are a lot of ways to get it done. I think you can win with different styles of offense. For players it comes down to execution, heart, hustle, and being basketball savvy. For coaches, there are a million and one things, on this level, to get right in order to be successful. Sidney is figuring all of these out, and branding NC State Basketball. We have lacked an identity since V left. I’m hoping that we get some of that back through Lowe.

  3. redfred2 03/05/2009 at 5:13 PM #

    ^Amen.

  4. redfred2 03/05/2009 at 5:25 PM #

    OK, so if we happen to mess up and lose to Miami, will the vibe for the BB program take YET ANOTHER nasty turn towards the negative?

    UP, down, UP, down,…

    We’re not there, but there is progress being made, just watch and enjoy it. The future is out there.

  5. TheCOWDOG 03/05/2009 at 5:36 PM #

    Greywolf has always been at his best when the fur gets ruffled by inane and poorly thought out comments.

    Just check his Avatar out. Old wolf flat out on his back. That is how some may see it.

    Upon further examination, there’s a wolf in high heaven, happier than a pig in s…!

    Knowing that you were indeed on your back today, the clarity of expression that you prosed regarding coaching aspects of this team did not surprise me, but it did force me to examine why I write unwarranted or uneducated criticisms of Lowe off. ( Just the inexperienced flapping.) I have not addressed those folks anywhere near the eloquence you did today.

    Was it the cold medicine? 🙂

  6. redfred2 03/05/2009 at 6:10 PM #

    Come to think of it COWDOG, I wonder if my generally optimistic viewpoints gets under their “inexperienced’ skins, as bad their continuous negativity gets under mine?

  7. Greywolf 03/05/2009 at 9:08 PM #

    redfred,
    Thanks for the kind words.
    Regarding the different reaction to football would the reactions be reversed if we were steady getting our ass handed to us in football by UNX while we were whipping their ass in basketball. There are a couple of numbers that make football progress easy to take, 42-10. 😉

    Personally I am trying to stay positive. I am not optimistic about the ACCT or the big dance, but I want to keep a positive attitude. Progress and acknowledging progress seems to be positive to me.

    We talk about the team mailing it in. There is more mailing it in going on on this board (and other places) than our players ever thought about. When the Nega-bots clean up their “mail it in” act, then I’ll listen to them a little more. I don’t even have a problem with the pessimists, who say I just don’t think we can handle Miami or whoever. It’s the we’re going to stink it up and mail it in and the lazy…. that rub me wrong. Every good thing is meet with some off-putting negative comment. Give it a rest. This parade called NCSU basketball is sparce enough without whipping it out and whizzing all over the good.

  8. redfred2 03/06/2009 at 12:29 PM #

    I guess it’s just more of the same folks who could not see that there was a collapse occurring during the grand and glorious “five in a row.”

    Again, and I’ve said it before, anything and everything that has happened over the past three seasons, has not been that big of a drop off. Though I guess if one narrows the width of their scale for what they consider to be “success”, and as much as some of these NC State fans have in recent in years, then not having the ability to be mediocre could actually be disappointing, I guess?

  9. redfred2 03/06/2009 at 5:20 PM #

    Greywolf, about the football deal again, whether it was TOB or Vince Lombardi coaching Wolfpack FB last season, there ain’t no 41-10 without having a player like RW.

    Also, and while I’ll admit that it’s great to whoop unc in ANYTHING, in reality, beating a bunch of guys dressed in powder blue FB uniforms has NEVER been any great accomplishment, except just to shut them up for awhile. Or just to hear that familiar and time tested unc standby, “Wait until BB season”. It warms my heart everytime I hear that one.

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