Pack Wins Opener 69-53

09-10 Basketball General92

RALEIGH — N.C. State wants to win with its offense running through Tracy Smith. The Wolfpack also has to learn to how win without its big man.

With Smith in foul trouble, N.C. State struggled to survive against a Georgia State team filled with ACC castoffs on Thursday night. Ultimately, Smith got on the court long enough to offset a miserable shooting effort and lead the Wolfpack to a 69-53 win over the Panthers in the season-opener.

Smith’s game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds, in only 25 minutes, were enough for N.C. State’s 16th straight season-opening win. A late 18-5 run, capped by a Scott Wood layup at 3:42, brought the previously lifeless crowd of 9,502 at the RBC Center to its feet and allowed them to exhale.

–Link to Statefansnation message board discussion of the game

–Shooting a concern for the Pack

-Box Score

–Link to Gopack story, coaches quotes, and player interviews.

09-10 Basketball General

92 Responses to Pack Wins Opener 69-53

  1. BJD95 11/13/2009 at 11:45 AM #

    Bradleyb – I admitted that I should have caveated that statement. As to this game, I said not to over-analyze either way, which I think is imminently fair.

    Akron will be a better test, and that game interests me greatly.

    As to coaching search stuff, yes I have heard enough from reputable sources that I do present certain items as fact. Whether you believe me or not is up to you.

  2. phillypacker 11/13/2009 at 12:01 PM #

    Wooooohaaaa, you seem to like torching everybody. If you want to make an enemy of yourself to everybody on the board, you’ll earn the right to be ignored by everybody.

  3. primacyone 11/13/2009 at 12:02 PM #

    Woohaaaa, they’re actually telling the opposite. Post your completely different opinion as much and as often as you like – the more the better, just don’t CRITICIZE the INDIVIDUAL POSTERS OR AUTHORS for posting an opinion different from yours. Just post your completly different opinion to the best of your ability and they will not critizie you, and if they do tell them to kiss your arse as the format and freedom of this blog allows you to post your opinion completly as you see it. And don’t get pissed off when someone else disagrees with your opinion. Sometimes people post stuff just to spark discussion and debate.

    There are a lot more positive posters and author’s here now than there are negative.

    In my opinion, of course!

  4. ncsufan13 11/13/2009 at 12:04 PM #

    I don’t think we’ve seen nearly enough of our team to predict what is going to happen this season. Akron will be a better test than Georgia State, and we have plenty of other mid-majors to go in order to tighten up our perimeter shooting. I hope more people show up at the next home game to let our players know that we appreciate the wins. We have a lot of young players and we should show them that we’re an enthusiastic fan base while they’re winning to build confidence heading into the ACC schedule.

  5. PoppaJohn 11/13/2009 at 12:16 PM #

    Let’s see what the rest of November brings. We’ll have four more games played, many practices under our belts, and hopefully begin to get a sense of what we are going to see on the floor this year. I’m hoping we’ll see something encouraging, but I’m not expecting to scare anyone but the fans this year.

    You have to give Sid some credit for one thing. He’s a Wolfpack guy, so he knows the fanbase is passionate and expects excellence, and has been waiting for it for a long time. He also knew coming in that he was going to get killed in the media (and the blogsphere) for a few years. But he came anyway, and keeps trying to put a good spin on his rebuilding of our program. I hope he can pull it off.

  6. Rick 11/13/2009 at 12:21 PM #

    I am pretty sure we have banned Whooohaa as another alias. Maybe that is why he acts like he does.

    As for this gem
    ” Fowler is a GOOD THING when it comes to bringing in a coach. The coach knows he has little accountability, the coach knows that he can pretty much run the program as he pleases, and the coach knows that he won’t get fired. There’s little else that a coach desires from an AD. ”
    The only type of coach looking for “security” is one that ids going to need it. The good coaches do not worry about failure.

  7. bradleyb123 11/13/2009 at 12:27 PM #

    BJD95, I agree. I’m very much looking forward to the next game. It’s at a neutral site against a decent Akron team, but still one we should win.

    I hate to bring up the negativity, because most of you guys’ posts and blogs have very good, well-thought-out and researched information. (I pointed out what I thought was bad, so I have to also give you credit where it’s due…) Like someone mentioned earlier, some of us positive-posters get called “delusional” and stuff on here, and the mods let those kinds of personal attacks slide. But when we point out negativity, we get called out for it.

    I just think that there’s an appropriate time to call for a coach’s job, and that would be later in the year once he has clearly done a poor job, or at the end of the season. At this point, what purpose does it serve? If we start calling for their jobs while we’re still unbeaten, we confirm what opposing fans think of us, that we’re a “lunatic fringe” with unrealistic expectations. Shouldn’t we at least wait until the team is losing games we shouldn’t be losing. Then the complaints are more justified.

    I don’t know if Sidney needs to stay or go. But he’s here, and I just want him to get a fair shot to redeem himself and show improvement.

    Unless we can get Rick Barnes right now. Then we can kick Sidney to the curb. 😉

  8. Alpha Wolf 11/13/2009 at 12:31 PM #

    “thinkpack: don’t you get it? Your opinion doesn’t matter… That’s basically what they’re telling you… Tow the party line or get the **** out”

    Bullshit.

    You are welcome to your opinion. You are welcome to espouse that opinion.

    Just leave personal insults out of it. Don’t attack other posters, and make a somewhat nuanced argument that fortifies your point.

    You CAN change my mind, if what you say is compelling. I try to be fair and see both sides and form what I think based on the facts and the opinions based on them that make the most sense.

    I can and have disagreed with BJD on some issues in the past. If there’s a memo that told me I have to toe some SFN editorial line, it never made it to my mailbox. That’s probably because it was never written in the first place.

    You guys might think that “we” want Lowe to fail. Again, bullshit. “We” (since we are all State fans) would love nothing more than to see him succeed wildly, setting off celebrations along Hillsborough Street to mark the victories.

    Maybe that will happen, maybe it will not. Opinions vary. But time will tell and then we’ll all know.

    “Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  9. Thinkpack17 11/13/2009 at 12:44 PM #

    I don’t know Alpha. You are always pretty diplomatic, but I have been insulted on the boards. I have been insulted by Mods on these boards.

    From what I understand…on this board if you and I are in a disagreement there are some shots that are off limits. You may be offering criticism and I may be offering praise, there are some things that I can’t say to you.

    1. I can’t say that you are not a Real Fan.
    2. I can’t say that you are just being Negative.
    3. I can…IN NO WAY…compare you to a Carolina Fan.

    But where is the list of things you can’t say to me? I’ve had my intelligence insulted, I’ve been compared to Lee Fowler (Which on these boards is the WORST insult one can muster), I’ve been called delusional, I’ve been called a lemming. I’m just saying call it both ways. I’m getting hacked over here and getting called for touch fouls on the other end.

  10. Wulfpack 11/13/2009 at 12:50 PM #

    This thread was awesome and then it went completely down hill thanks to a couple of morons. Thanks, guys. If this keeps up, it’s going to be one hell of a long season regardless of what happens this year.

  11. MA Wolfpack 11/13/2009 at 12:58 PM #

    Wow, I cannot imagine the opinions on this site had we lost to GA State. Lowe should be, and will be, back next season. I’m not a Fowler fan, but I’m glad I do not have to worry about him removing Lowe this season.

    I’m not sure what people expect out of this team…they just do not have the talent of other teams (especially without our top 2 freshman from last year’s recruiting class in Howell and Brown). My impressions from last night are different than many posters.

    Javy has developed nicely. Mays is a solid combo guard off the bench. Josh Davis may fill a role on this team…3 offensive rebounds and good effort on defense was nice to see. I’m not impressed with Vandenburg, but he gives us 5 fouls. He should NEVER let anyone have a layup under the basket the entire season…either block the shot or foul them so hard they cannot make the basket. His value is only fouling 5 times in less than 10 mins per game.

    I do not like what I see from Painter at all…he appears to be an athletic kid without solid offensive skills that THINKS he has good offensive skills. This will lead to a lot of bad shots from Deshawn.

    Horner, Smith , CJW and Wood appear to be solid ACC players. I am very worried about Wood on defense against ACC level wings though…my opinion may change once I see ACC teams isolate him.

  12. ldr of the pk 75 11/13/2009 at 1:24 PM #

    I can’t imagine the “discussion” when we start losing.

    Will it just be “bitch slap”, or do the guns and knives come out?

  13. Thinkpack17 11/13/2009 at 1:37 PM #

    “I am very worried about Wood on defense against ACC level wings though…my opinion may change once I see ACC teams isolate him.”

    That will definately be something to watch. I don’t remember that many 3’s from last year. Henson and Singler will surely put Wood in the mixer, but they are going to do that to everyone. Potter and Bizarro Potter down in Clemson are pretty good too.

  14. RickJ 11/13/2009 at 1:57 PM #

    It is going to take a lot of stamina to get through this year based on this thread.

    For those interested in Akron, they play Temple tonight at home on ESPN-NU.

  15. Rick 11/13/2009 at 2:21 PM #

    I have never heard so much whining about “whining” in my life.

  16. BJD95 11/13/2009 at 2:28 PM #

    OK, let’s all take a deep breath and get back on track. I’m sorry that everything spiraled on a tangent based on one particular jackass who has apparently made it his life’s work to disrupt the conversation over here (yes, it’s the same guy using many aliases – we’re cracking down as best we can while maintaining an open forum).

  17. theghost 11/13/2009 at 2:29 PM #

    Alpha – I’ll say that you do seem to be pretty fair and well-reasoned, in general. But some others do seem to lump Lowe in with Fowler unfairly, and jump on Lowe for any reason they can muster – as some are pointing out here.

    As for the game, I didn’t see it, but from what I’m reading, the concern if any is playing poorly, rebounding, maybe shot selection. The positives are winning by 16 even when playing poorly, turnovers look improved from the practice game, and the biggest one I think is starting listless and finishing strong, instead of the past 20 years of playing no more than 30 minutes of good basketball before collapsing at the end. Just one CAA game doesn’t mean much, but that to me is a positive sign, especially of the coaching. Good question from someone a little bit ago – what did the critics see specifically from Lowe that they didn’t like?

  18. BJD95 11/13/2009 at 2:33 PM #

    ^ The comments skewed into “program health in general” as opposed to “what happened last night.”

    The game-specific observations will be better/more in-depth after Akron, which is a decent early test.

  19. 61Packer 11/13/2009 at 2:41 PM #

    “Akron will be a better test, and that game interests me greatly.” -BJD95

    If memory serves me, the last time we played an Akron team was here in Carter Stadium in football, and we lost, before a national ESPNU audience, on the last play of the game. Now, we’re comparing ourselves to them in basketball.

    We’re so bad that we no longer compare ourselves to other ACC schools, let alone BCS-level teams.

    BJD continues to get ripped every time he states a problem with the way our b-ball program is being coached. Heaven forbid a “Wolfpack guy” be held accountable for the product on the floor. An overblown attendance figure of 9500 sedated fans on opening night in a 21,000-seat hockey arena says a lot.

    If most who read this believe that the removal of Jed from the AD chair is the first thing that’s needed to revive basketball, then somebody tell Bev not to sell the Dix property just yet.

  20. VaWolf82 11/13/2009 at 2:45 PM #

    I was using the term “playing hard” to describe this year’s team against last years team and not relating it to talent at all. Nothing more, nothing less.

    I understood what you were driving at and my conclusion still stands. “Playing hard” should be a foregone conclusion for starters/reserves and not worthy of comment. But in Raleigh, it has to be said…and might well be the only positive to utter after the ACC season gets underway.

  21. GAWolf 11/13/2009 at 2:52 PM #

    Our problem for the last 10 years, among other things, has been rebounding and peremeter defense.

    However, anyone assessing the ability of our team to compete against acc teamsbasedd on agame against gastate is really pushing the limitations of inference.

  22. theghost 11/13/2009 at 2:53 PM #

    BJD – fair enough, but you can glean something from this game, right? CAA isn’t the worst conference out there, and GSU has a former SEC coach, wake transfer at guard, 6-10/6-7/6-7 front line – not ACC calibre, but not St. Paul’s either.

    Again, I agree with BJD that you don’t take much from this game, beating GS doesn’t prove or disprove any theories about “program health,” but certainly you can draw something from it. Point is – GSU brings enough to the table that bad coaching should reveal itself. I didn’t see it, so I don’t know – was there bad coaching last night? Just seems like on paper this was a decent effort with some positive signs, and it doesn’t force anyone to recant general positions, but at least call it both ways – for this one game, did the coaching staff put together a decent performance?

  23. VaWolf82 11/13/2009 at 2:56 PM #

    Point is – GSU brings enough to the table that bad coaching should reveal itself

    Nonsense.

  24. Dr. BadgerPack 11/13/2009 at 2:56 PM #

    VaWolf, to be fair- when Vitale et. al emptied their mouths long enough to talk about Hansborough, one of the first things said was “how hard he played”. That, and of course his superior listening skills. Damn I wish I could listen like that…

    Your underlying point is sound though, that playing hard should be a given.

    I think the biggest difference between this year and the last two is that you have upperclassmen who will tell the others to step up the effort if need be. Engin did that in year one but we didn’t really have the leadership in years 2 or 3. We had guys like Javi and Smith and Mays who would play hard DESPITE the senior, err, leadership.

  25. bradleyb123 11/13/2009 at 3:04 PM #

    Could it be the whole “playing hard” comments from Sidney is in reference to guys that DIDN’T play hard the last couple of years, that are no longer at NC State? Our so-called “best players” that would periodically “take the night off” in games?

    In other words, maybe that’s just a subtle way of telling us it’s not going to be a problem any more?

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