State @ Wake

09-10 Basketball167

NC State travels to Wake Forest tonight for a ‘big’ game for both teams. Although this is a conference game, it is one of three defining games the Wolfpack will play – Wake, @ Arizona, vs Florida – before the conference season kicks into high gear in January.

Rush the Court is going to “Cover it Live”

Both Wake Forest and NC State enter ACC conference play as relative unknowns: sure, the Demon Deacons beat Gonzaga in Spokane, but what are we to make of their double-digit homecourt loss to William & Mary that same week? Similarly, NC State’s victory over Marquette on the road was noteworthy, but their less than impressive victory in their last game over Elon, one of the weakest teams in the nation, has Wolfpackers scratching their heads. Wake enters Sunday’s game at 7-2, riding on the back of Al-Farouq Aminu (15.9 ppg, 10.4 rpg). Ishmael Smith has increased his production for the Deacs, but the true compliment to Aminu this season has been freshman guard C.J. Harris’ shooting, bringing 12.4 ppg while shooting 53% from the floor. State will rely on Tracy Smith and his 18.3 ppg and 9.4 rpg to go toe-to-toe with Wake Forest’s Aminu. In the end though, offensive rebounds could be the factor in this matchup: neither team has shot the ball well this season, Wake is the tallest team in the nation and rebounds accordingly, while NC State has been below average on the defensive glass. Both Dino Gaudio and Sidney Lowe are under pressure from the fanbase to produce after underperforming last year. For both teams, a win in Winston-Salem would be a good place to start for proving they belong in the top half of the ACC.

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09-10 Basketball

167 Responses to State @ Wake

  1. Gene 12/20/2009 at 10:54 PM #

    “IMO SL’s recruiting is over rated.”

    I’m not knocking the players he’s brought in, but what’s hurt more is the players he’s failed to bring in like Wall, Cousins or Favors.

  2. VaWolf82 12/20/2009 at 10:55 PM #

    .339 overall from the field (21-61)
    .286 from behind the arc (6-21)
    .579 on free throws (11-19)

    How many ACC teams will that beat?

  3. PoppaJohn 12/20/2009 at 10:56 PM #

    I think the secrets out, defend us the same as last year. Deny the inside pass (because “we are an inside-out team” blah blah blah) and we have no alternative offense. We ARE the worst in the league.

    However, I think we definitely have potential for next year. There’s talent in those freshmen. They’ve only played 10 college games, a lot of freshmen take a year or so to get it going. If the rest of our team wasn’t so weak we wouldn’t be looking for much out of them, but we are, so we are hoping they’ll bail us out.

    So lets enjoy the few potential wins we have left (Winthrop?) because it is going to be a long, cold winter.

  4. rbwolf 12/20/2009 at 10:58 PM #

    You know what I feel bad about, is my son who loves the wolfpack. Asked me tonight how can a coach have 4 years at a school and put this kind of team on the court. He looks at the tarholes and told me it didn’t take Roy 4 years. I wanted to take him to a game this year but he told me that if that is what we are going to see he doesn’t want to go. Lord help us this will be a long year.

  5. LRM 12/20/2009 at 10:59 PM #

    “I’m not knocking the players he’s brought in, but what’s hurt more is the players he’s failed to bring in like Wall, Cousins or Favors.”

    I still hear people talking about Brown — who has never played a minute at State — as one of the examples of Sid’s great recruiting.

  6. ncsufan13 12/20/2009 at 10:59 PM #

    “However, I think we definitely have potential for next year.”

    Just wait till Sid gets a hold of all that potential. Input prospects, receive 65 points per game.

  7. blpack 12/20/2009 at 11:13 PM #

    Underwhelmed by the first half and frustrated by the second. I think we will have a few games where the shots fall, at Marquette for instance, but this team has a long way to go to be good. WF is not good either, but they have more pieces than us. I did like us playing hard. That is a positive change. 10-12 place in a down ACC looks to be our lot unfortunately.

  8. Wulfpack 12/20/2009 at 11:31 PM #

    Just wait till next year, guys. You will see.

  9. rbwolf 12/20/2009 at 11:35 PM #

    Now that I have had time to think about this loss. I am wondering if there is any way we can place 13th in the league. I feel we may win 2 acc games all year and that is a small chance and I am tried of thinking maybe next year. I am ready to give up on Sid.

  10. 61Packer 12/20/2009 at 11:56 PM #

    I tuned in early tonight on ESPN Classic prior to the Wake Forest game for the scheduled replay of the 2004 ACC Tourney game between Maryland and the Wolfpack. However, it was pre-empted by a women’s volleyball game instead.

    And after watching our live performance vs Wake tonight, it’s becoming more painfully obvious why Wolfpack basketball, except for ’74 and ’83, doesn’t merit “instant classic” status, even when we lose.

    Some folks mentioned that this team has potential for next season. I agree. We could reach the lowest point ever in the history of Wolfpack men’s basketball. And if you think I’m crazy, then just wait ’til next year!

  11. WolfInVolCountry 12/21/2009 at 12:28 AM #

    If Sid finishes this year as the doormat of the ACC, he should be done, no matter what his class next year looks like. We are not even a good mid-Major.

    (BTW… did I miss something? I have not seen BJD95 post for some time.)

  12. fatmann 12/21/2009 at 1:31 AM #

    No need to get rid of Sid until we can get someone capable of hiring a decent replacement.

  13. fullmoon1 12/21/2009 at 2:43 AM #

    1st conference game and some are giving up on Sid already, really. I mean im as disappointed by the loss as anyone, and I am not saying wtny, how about wait until next game. I think we do not finish last. I think this team has the ability to win big games, Hell with 2 min left we were within 7. That is winnable. I think we win some of those games. Are we NCAA tourney worthy, not even a discussion worth having at this point, we have to crawl first. I will reserve judgement until midway through the season. I think our guys learned from this and I don’t think these guys make the same mistakes twice.

  14. BassPacker 12/21/2009 at 7:57 AM #

    ^ a response that is not knee jerk. I agree fullmoon, people seem to want a reason to be negative rather than positive. This team will win some games it should not win. Last nite we beat ourselves, had a chance to cut it to 4 with 2 minutes to go. Only thing I can see there negative is the lack of an ability to get the ball in without turning it over. We turned it over what 3 times on in bounding the ball in the last minutes? I blame coaching for that. I said it before, this was a game we should/could have won. We didn’t but I did see some positive.

  15. Rick 12/21/2009 at 9:18 AM #

    ” I agree fullmoon, people seem to want a reason to be negative rather than positive”

    I wonder why. 3 years being the cellar of the ACC with a 4th year looming will drain the positive out of even the most upbeat State fan.

  16. Wulfpack 12/21/2009 at 9:19 AM #

    What most are angry about is we’ve been losing in this manner for a long time. It never changes, no matter who he brings in. This time last year everyone was telling us “just wait till Scott Wood arrives”. Well, he’s here, and not much has changed.

    I doubt we finish last, but we are no-where near the top, something that hasn’t changed. I am sick and tired of hearing WTNY. The next year comes and we still suck. What gives?

  17. GoldenChain 12/21/2009 at 9:34 AM #

    Fullmoon, I agree with you and Bass and wholeheartedly disagree with many others. What’s different? How about playing hard for 40 minutes? When was the last time you saw a State team do that? A journey of 1000 miles starts with a step.
    You think we’ll go from last to top half of the league in a season? No way. We’re going to have to earn our way up. I didn’t like the poor shooting, poor FT shooting either. We left several point blank shots short. And WTH was Horner waiting for on that one bunny? He was wide open but waited for the defender to get there then missed the shot?!?!

    Regardless, all players played hard and wern’t going through the motions. In time the rest will come if they continue to play hard like this. We probably won’t win 20 games but I bet we finish better than dead last in the ACC too.

    We were picked to finish last in the ACC. Losing the players we lost last year etc. If any of you thought we were going going to go undefeated then you’re smokin’ peyote! Anything better than last is a positive.

  18. Daily Update 12/21/2009 at 9:50 AM #

    Wake is a tough matchup for us because of Wake’s size which translates into instant foul trouble for T. Smith. Once he goes to the bench, our chances of winning go down significantly.

    Last night didn’t make me anymore negative as what I expected to happen happened.

    We play more than one game this week. We need to beat Arizona. That is a big, big game for this team.

  19. eas 12/21/2009 at 9:57 AM #

    I went to the game last night and everyone agreed (WF & NCSU fans) that the officiating was horrible….really bad. Not that I didn’t see anything different being there in person but the offense looks LOST. It’s like watching a pick up game at the Y or something. So many times there were 4-5 guys all around the perimeter and nobody to be found on the blocks/paint.

    One good note is the hustle and effort is much better this year. The talent level is still pretty darn low. However, with a decent offense it would have been a much closer game. Wake is not a very good team either. Very sloppy but Ish pretty much showed the difference in what better guard play could do.

    I am putting the Kool Aid back in the fridge for next year.

  20. WolfInVolCountry 12/21/2009 at 10:00 AM #

    Guys, I guess I just see the same ‘ol same ‘ol.

    I will give them credit for playing harder for the entire game, but still evident is sloppy ball handling, no D on back cuts, what often appears to be just plain out-of-control play and clueless coaching.

    It is obvious that these guys want to compete, but I am just not sure that we have the coaching or the caliber of players (except for one, maybe two) that would ever get us above 8th or 9th in the league.

    Thus my mid-Major comment. We could be competitive in the MAC… at best.

  21. pack44fan 12/21/2009 at 10:07 AM #

    How bout that fast break offense and pressure defense we keep hearing about……You think T. Smith had a hard time against Wake, wait till he has to go up against Duke, UNC, Ga Tech, Clemson, FSU’s front line.

  22. VaWolf82 12/21/2009 at 10:09 AM #

    people seem to want a reason to be negative rather than positive.

    The problem is that no one has to look for reasons to be negative. The issues are numerous, obvious, predicted, and repetitive. These problems were simply hidden when playing teams from the bottom half of Div 1. “Playing hard” and LOI’s are not reasons enough FOR ME to feel positive.

  23. fullmoon1 12/21/2009 at 10:09 AM #

    I know this may sound silly but last night’s loss was very different from previous losses. Like others before me pointed out it was 40 minutes of solid effort. Smith shut himself down with fouls, not Wake’s defense. I am not even going to mention the bizzare offensive fouls called through out the game and no calls resulting in the shooter on his back as thats a given in any acc game.Javi hit 2 big 3’s. The sloppy stuff can be fixed easily. Javi is a good point guard and draws defenders because he hits 3’s. Wood looked better as well. i think we beat Wake at the RBC. This year we don’t have to wait for someone to learn the pg position, we just have to simply clean up passes. As a coach that has to be an easier issue to tackle.

  24. Wulfpack 12/21/2009 at 10:10 AM #

    You know you are in trouble when the best thing you can say about a team is that at least they played hard. You want to take a guess at how many other teams in the NCAA “play hard”?

    This is basketball, and this is basketball at the highest level. You don’t get cherry points for playing hard. That should be a given.

  25. ms termeaner 12/21/2009 at 10:18 AM #

    We were only down by 8 with 4 or 3 minutes to go and they kept showing our bench. It was sorry looking ,so many sad faces no emotion . When they showed Wake’s bench McFarland and the others were talking their guy’s up and cheering .
    Am I the only one who saw this?

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