Sunday’s Stuff

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Anyone who cares anymore is thoroughly embarrassed (again) after Saturday’s egg laying exercise in Blacksburg; the problem is that fewer and fewer people actually care anymore about something that is so irrelevant.

We just don’t have the energy or desire to chronicle Saturday’s defeat, so we encourage you to look around our message boards for various threads or you can even see how we struggled through the day by reviewing our Twitter feed.

This link will take you to a conversation about the ACC’s projected bowl line-up.

On the good news front, NC State defeated Austin-Peay by seven points last night on the hardwood to advance to 3-0 before tonight’s match-up with SEC doormat, Auburn. The Wolfpack used the same formula from Friday’s game against Akron – play well early and then hold on late as our court awareness and guard play seemed to deteriorate in the second half.

Once again, N.C. State produced a suffocating first-half defensive performance. Once again, the Wolfpack found itself clinging to a lead late. Saturday, Austin Peay got within four points with a minute to go before the Wolfpack hung on for a 66-59 win.

N.C. State is the only undefeated team left in the Glenn Wilkes Classic, which means a win over Auburn on Sunday would secure the outright tournament championship for the Wolfpack. (A loss would still give N.C. State a share of the title.)

Tracy Smith led N.C. State with 16 points, Dennis Horner added 10 of his 15 in the second half and Javi Gonzalez had eight assists for the Wolfpack (3-0).

Friday against Akron, N.C. State held the Zips to 9-for-28 shooting in the first half to take a 22-point halftime lead. Saturday, the Wolfpack held the Governors to 7-for-20 shooting for a 16-point lead

Some people have wondered how important Farnold Degand is to this team, and I think the poor ball-handling and guard play we’ve seen at the end of the last couple of games speaks to Degand’s importance. We need as many good free throw shooting ball-handlers as possible on the floor.

Today is NFL day, and we tweeted earlier in the week that Philip Rivers’ Chargers have a big one in Denver against a Bronco franchise that he traditionally owns. (Link)

Since it is football day, we thought you would enjoy the following inside look at the Cowboys new stadium in Dallas. I was supposed to attend the Panthers’ Monday night visit to Dallas in September but had to miss it.

If you occasionally enjoy the escape of some pretty good videos, please click here for our our ‘Tag’ of recent videos we’ve posted for some fun.

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'09 Football 09-10 Basketball Pro Sports

20 Responses to Sunday’s Stuff

  1. 85Designo 11/22/2009 at 11:33 AM #

    As I watched in disgust the Va Tech game with my 9th grader, (a pack fan since conception) he says to me “Dad why did you ever want to go to NC State”? I replied “good school” for my graduate degree, “I had a good time, I was there for the 83 National Championship” I told him “things should be better by the time he gets there”. His reply was heart breaking! “who said I want to even go there” In a nut shell sports fans! He is a top honor student. His first pick ….Florida
    wonder why?

  2. StateFans 11/22/2009 at 11:48 AM #

    Wow…Lee Fowler will put your family on his prayer list. (I’m not kidding).

  3. SidtheKid 11/22/2009 at 12:35 PM #

    Schools like Florida must see a surge in out of state applications when the football team is dominating. Too often the out of state students are just donating money to the school unless they are a truly remarkable applicant.

    I’ve said this before, but there is an entire generation of state fans who have not seen a title. The best thing the young generation has is a bowl win over Notre Dame. I can’t imagine there are too many high school students cheering for NCSU unless they have a family tie to the school. Think about it, if you had no affiliation to any North Carolina school what color shirt would you wear to school Monday. It sure wouldn’t be red.

  4. SeaWolf 11/22/2009 at 12:39 PM #

    I went to the Panther/Cowboys game. That stadium is utterly ridiculous. Imagine how good the Pack could be with such fuh-cilities.

  5. PackHowler 11/22/2009 at 12:40 PM #

    I’ll agree that it gets harder and harder to care about something that is so irrelevant. I’m worried about our “superbowl” next week against UNC. The placement on Thanksgiving weeked, what we thought would elevate our game to prominance because of it’s importance, may turn into a negative factor as fans/students choose to stay home with their families for the holiday than go watch a tired, beat football team that has little left to play for.

    Of course, last years game seemed like a daunting task and we all saw how the team responded. I just don’t feel that the spark is there anymore.

  6. 85Designo 11/22/2009 at 12:58 PM #

    It sounds shallow to pick a school for the reason of football. Who of us can understand the mind of a ninth grader. Being surrounded by UNC fans mostly the Wal-Mart variety makes it hard to wear red with pride. The fact of the matter is …. college should be the four best years of your life and any one who grew up around big time college football knows it can be a good time. Growing up in the northeast during the 60’s and 70’s and going to a Div 3 School with a losing record for the four years I was there (Delaware Valley College ‘now in the D-3 playoffs’)gave me no understanding of big time college football until I came to State for grad school. I loved my Saturdays in C F even during my first three years of Monty Kiffin’s time here, he was canned because his team went 6-5. My point is our students are being denied the the joy of a winning program and the administration has done nothing to raise their spirits. In the 80’s Jimmy V, Chancelor Paulton and even Les Robinson in the 90’s were always out with the students at games and around campus win or lose. Like John Gault who the hell is Lee Fowler.

  7. MrPerfectionest 11/22/2009 at 1:08 PM #

    Jesus, what’s with all the “our team isn’t good in athletics, that must mean we won’t bring in quality students” crap. I grew up a Tarheel fan, as did all of my immediate family (none of which ever attended). I didn’t even send an application to UNC because I wanted to major in engineering. I did visit Duke (this was in 1997/98) and decided their engineering program wasn’t up to snuff. Two of my closest friends grew up UNC fans and chose NCSU for engineering as well. I’d hope that the vast majority of quality students across the country are doing the exact same thing.

    If an NC student is bright enough to get a full ride to an equal or better engineering school out of state, it’s likely we wouldn’t have landed him anyway. If a student (or his parents) is dumb enough to pay out of state tuition to an equal or slightly better engineering school (GT/VT), then we probably didn’t want him anyway.

    Until I see a real study (likely to never happen) that is more comprehensive than the one earlier in the week about athletics effect on academics, I’m just not going to bother trying to tie the abysmal performance on the field/court to some greater negative outcome to the University.

  8. rtpack24 11/22/2009 at 1:32 PM #

    Called a diehard alum and fan since he was a kid, and asked him what he thought of the football game. He informed me he did not wathch it or go to the Clem game last week. He has been a season ticket holder in football and b-ball for years. He said he sold his basketball tickets for this year. He said he could not take it anymore. This made me wonder how many are starting to feel the same way. Then my brother texts me this morning to let me know that Ga Tech is #7 in the country. I texted him back to WTNY!

  9. StateFans 11/22/2009 at 1:36 PM #

    ^ I think you just described me.

  10. 85Designo 11/22/2009 at 1:49 PM #

    Mr. Perfect,
    I agree, my education was outstanding and like I said of my ninth grader, when he finally decides what he wants to do with his life he will come to see the value of any one of our quality State NC schools even if they suck at sports. My point is, I want it to be a quality experience for him and enjoying a successful sports program is a big part of the enjoyment factor. I can’t afford Florida so in-state it will have to be. My oldest is at UNCW and loves it, sports was a non-factor in choosing where to apply. NCSU wasn’t even in his top 3. To attracting out of state applicants school exposure is a big part. The AD’s job is at least 60% PR, Fowler is absent.

  11. wolfpack95 11/22/2009 at 2:18 PM #

    We attended the game in Blacksburg on Sat.
    The VT fans were very inviting and polite; many VT groups welcomed us to Blacksburg and told us that they hoped that we had a good time as we walked to and around Lane Stadium. Everything, aside from the game, was a great experience. Even getting people to and from the stadium was a very efficient experience.

    C-F is a better facility than Lane in some respects. I was surprised by the piss troughs in the men’s bathrooms and standing water on the bathroom floors. It reminded me of Wallace Wade. I also felt that the tailgating was scattershot and weak.

    Overall, NC State’s administration could learn a lesson about gameday efficiency from VT.
    _____
    As for losing athletics programs and pride in one’s school….I will always be proud of my academic experience and NCSU degree….but I don’t have to pull for State’s athletics teams. The two are separate, and I promised myself the following:
    If our football program cannot muster three winning seasons within the next 5 years, starting in 2010, I am pulling ALL of my money from the WPC. Life is too short to waste it on something which should produce joy but instead produces A LOT of heartache. Will the university notice or care if this happens? I dont know, and I dont care. This is for me, and not some larger message to Lee Fowler or anyone else.

  12. PackMagic83 11/22/2009 at 5:36 PM #

    I saw this link on gopack.com that might explain Dennis Horner’s sudden improvement.

    http://www.gopack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9200&ATCLID=204837245

    Currently the NCSU basketball scoring leaders are:
    Smith 16.7 ppg
    Horner 15.3 ppg
    Wood 8.7 ppg
    Gonzalez 8.3 ppg
    Mays 8.3 ppg
    Williams 4.0 ppg

    Since Wood is the only freshman in this list, for the future team development, I’d like to see the other freshmen in this list before the beginning of ACC play, particularly Vandenberg (2.3 ppg), Painter (2.0 ppg) and Davis (1.2 ppg). This can happen if we get a large lead early, protect the lead in the second half and allow more time for bench players. Of course, when Degand and Howell return to the active roster, playing time will be harder to get.

  13. VaWolf82 11/22/2009 at 6:13 PM #

    Jesus, what’s with all the “our team isn’t good in athletics, that must mean we won’t bring in quality students” crap.

    Ah, the ole straw man argument makes an appearance.

  14. mafpack 11/22/2009 at 6:33 PM #

    Heh, if you’re silly enough to think that on field performance doesn’t have off field consequences, just ask Davidson how many applications came in the year after their tourney run. Granted Davidson is a smaller school (while still ranking top10 liberal arts in the nation) so the surge may be more apparent that at a large state school like NCSU – regardless, the facts still show a resounding increase based on ‘on field’ performance.

    Record Number of High School Seniors Apply for Admission into Class of 2008
    http://www2.davidson.edu/jbtest/news00.aspx?newsid=1955

  15. NCSU84 11/22/2009 at 11:11 PM #

    Granted MrPerfectionest, a student should not (and for the most part probably does not) select a school based on the athletics program. However, athletics provides a school with exposure to people who otherwise would not look twice at a particular school. This exposure attracts attention to the academic programs which includes interest from the best and brightest students. It is a shame that some still do not understand this.

  16. highstick 11/22/2009 at 11:15 PM #

    Just ask how many alumni don’t support NC State because of the way the Athletics Department operates(or better yet, DOESN’T OPERATE), but also how the guts of this university has been skewered with the political antics of the Sleasley’s and others for years!!

    I can guarantee you that if I was a non technical/engineering type student coming out of high school right now, NC State would not even be close on my list. You don’t know how bad that pains me to say that either cause I was a State student before most of you guys were born and several years before there was much more than Engineering and Ag.

    I know the proud tradition behind NC State cause I decided to abandon an engineering career, spent 4 years in the Army during Viet Nam, and came back to NC State to finish a non Engineering/Ag degree before the establishment of the School of Management. I was very close to transferring to UNC when I came back because of a much stronger business department, but I still had a love of NC State that I’d developed for two years while being Aerospace student. Dean wasn’t “king of the hill then either”. Coach Case WAS!!! Tell me that didn’t make a difference!!

    Maybe the winning tradition of the basketball program wasn’t my major point in the decision making process, but I can tell you, it didn’t hurt my feelings at all to be a grad living in Raleigh in 1974 and having gone to class with Burleson and Thompson!!

  17. MrPerfectionest 11/23/2009 at 7:48 AM #

    Rofl, strawman? It was a direct reply to the first comment of this post. Nothing fallacy about it.

  18. WolftownVA81 11/23/2009 at 1:57 PM #

    My wife and I went to Lane to see the game (primarily to visit with our son). This was my third trip in two years and as always the fan were great though this time I was wearing red. The tail gate activity is pretty spread out but the lot 5 area off Prices Fork Road is always pretty lively. The game day atmosphere is hard to beat. The stadium was nearly full eventhough the students are on fall break. Agree with the poster on the bathrooms – that was the only negative. We set with the alumni at about the 30 yard line. Great seats about 1/2 up the East stands. Too bad the game was so bad. Boring for them and painful for us Wolfpackers. Besides not being able to hold on to the ball, we looked very flat during most of the game. After we didn’t score the first series of the second everyone knew it was over (at least the few wearing red). I told my friends that if we didn’t have some coaching changes after next Saturday we should be looking for a new head coach. Good thing I got a visit out of it because driving to watch that crappy game cost me over $700 with two nights in a hotel.

  19. Alpha Wolf 11/23/2009 at 3:55 PM #

    I can understand why the team was so flat, given what the coaches were and are going through.

  20. highstick 11/23/2009 at 10:58 PM #

    Ok guys, I don’t want anyone to take this the wrong way, but maybe the team can go out and win one for Coach Bible this weekend! That would be fantastic!!

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