State/Carolina – It Used To Be All That Mattered

Big Four Rivals51

Those of you under the age of 30 (or older if you didn’t grow up in North Carolina) may not remember this, but the schoolyard used to segregate itself with this simple binary choice – State or Carolina. That’s it. Things got inevitably more heated during the winter, as UNC fans had a tendency not to like football until well into the Mack Brown era. But I could count the Wake fans in my school on one hand, and believe it or not, there were even fewer Duke partisans. Raleigh native, frequent NPR contributor, and hilarious essayist David Sedaris even has his own take:

YouTube audio or print excerpt.

Flash forward to February 23, 2011. On SFN’s message boards, we are discussing whether or not anyone really cares who wins tonight.

Doesn’t that sum up everything you need to know about the last two decades of Wolfpack hoops?

This can also be the open game thread, for those so inclined to want one.

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.

Big Four Rivals

51 Responses to State/Carolina – It Used To Be All That Mattered

  1. golf76 02/23/2011 at 10:34 PM #

    I was there when we won the NCAA in 1974 and when we won in 1983 and while they were both awesome that 12 – 10 game with Duke was phenomenal.

  2. hoop 02/23/2011 at 10:48 PM #

    Anybody got a link to watch online?

    TIA

  3. hoop 02/23/2011 at 10:59 PM #

    Found it!

    http://www.theacc.com/live/

  4. OldWuf 02/23/2011 at 11:48 PM #

    Man I despise that light blue color and all the evil it represents. GO TO HELL CAROLINA!

  5. PackerInRussia 02/24/2011 at 12:18 AM #

    I was in 9th grade when we moved to a small town in North Carolina in 1995. On my first day, in Geometry class, they asked me that question: “State or Carolina.” I had moved from Delaware and we were fans of pro teams (Skins, Orioles) and I didn’t know much of anything about college teams. In Delaware, I had a friend with a Blue Devils Starter jacket and another friend with a Tar Heels Starter jacket, but to be asked so informally “State or Carolina” had no meaning which I’m sure they got a big kick out of. They then explained to me that everyone there was either a UNC-CH fan or a NC State fan and then pointed out the lone Duke girl whose dad had gone to Duke, but it was clear that her opinion mattered little in the matter of rivalries. So, in this corner of North Carolina, in 1995, the rivalry still was State/Carolina. I have no idea what it would be now.
    Fast forward several years. I was in college and watching State/Duke on TV at a local restaurant because I happened to be in town and would have missed the game if I’d traveled back to Raleigh to watch it. State was ahead, but every person that walked into that place (no exaggeration) took a hard look at the TV, expressed great surprise that State was winning, commented that State would lose in the end, and walked away. State won, but it was clear that the tide had turned in this little town. There was no longer any hope in NC State basketball.

  6. state73 02/24/2011 at 2:49 AM #

    just got home from the game. i live 2.5 hours from raleigh.the team played their hearts out. i have been going to wolfpack games for almost 45 years. this was the worst officated game i have ever been to in raleigh. hard for 5 to beat 8.the call on wood early in the game was terrible. tarhole zeller had 8 or 9 ovious fouls.barnes is a dirtier player than i thought.one time we had 6 players on the floor after unc-cheat inbounded the ball. the blind refs never noticed. GO TO HELL CAROLINA !!!

  7. 61Packer 02/24/2011 at 6:09 AM #

    Hey Pack fans, it’s Groundhog Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  8. tuckerdorm1983 02/24/2011 at 8:02 AM #

    in all likelihood we are headed to the NIT where we should do quite well.

  9. mak4dpak 02/24/2011 at 8:26 AM #

    So if we play with heart and hustle and still lose that is okay. NO!!!! Sidney has got to go, and find someone to lead us to victory. I despise the holes, so arrogant and talk smack, and of course they get by with it, and the calls go their way, though that didn’t cost us the game. I hope the terps will do us a favor and kick the a–holes from the hill. And show Henson he isn’t all he thinks he is. Go Terps!

  10. BJD95 02/24/2011 at 9:05 AM #

    Effort should have been a given all season long. This is the exception that proves the rule.

    And of course, we still lost. By double digits.

    The NITology site isn’t up yet this year, but I’m not sure we make it, and I hope we don’t. We’ve beaten 1 NCAAT-caliber team all year (George Mason), and we haven’t shown the ability to beat NIT-caliber foes on the road (or consistently at home).

  11. coach13 02/24/2011 at 9:16 AM #

    Wow. 10 in a row. Roy is 15-1 vs State. Will we ever have a team worthy of it’s fanbase again? RBC sounded raucus over the tube last night. Probably the loudest the big 3 freshmen have ever heard the RBC. Unfortunately, we just aren’t that good. And the beat goes on…

  12. El Lobo Loco! 02/24/2011 at 9:24 AM #

    While the Pack has not been so brilliant in the last years… is there any other game more important than this one?

  13. Lock 02/24/2011 at 9:28 AM #

    The whole ‘you young’uns don’t know what it was like back’n the day’ bit is getting kinda old too. I don’t miss the 30 cutoff mark by much, but I can promise that some of us babies know the deal as well. Maybe mine was the last generation to have the State/Carolina segregation (the Duke clan was certainly starting to move in), but we definitely had it.

    I cannot put into words how much I hated this one little rhyme.

    “Duke is puke,
    Wake is fake,
    But the team I hate…”

    …proof enough that at some point, we were the most relevant.

  14. wolfpacktexx 02/24/2011 at 10:07 AM #

    Tuckerdorm1983 – NCSU is not going to the NIT, We have not even met NIT criteria this season (NIT invite would require at least 18 -19 wins). We most likely will have a losing season.

    No NIT (trust me) Go to the ACC tournament and see what happens then be respectful to Lowe on his exit and make the signing for new leadership.

  15. tuckerdorm1983 02/24/2011 at 10:11 AM #

    no I still think the NIT is within our grasp. If we play in the next 4 games like we did in the last two games we are going to win. Unless we do an el foldo we can win the next 3 games. That gets us to the NIT. Sid stays one more year.

  16. beavis214 02/24/2011 at 10:13 AM #

    Picture was bad and always is with Raycom Sports.In one point in the second half it looked like the picture was in slow motion. CJ Leslie player of the game???? I dunno but I thought his shot selections late in the game was the reason the gap widened. Lots of good hustle for the most part but when you have triple teams on Smith and Leslie getting rejected all night, you have to score from the outside or tell Leslie to dish it out. l heard on sports radio yesterday Lowes comments about the team not getting it…….Well its his job to get it and get them to get it. That comment alone was enough to make you want to wonder what the heck they are teaching in Brown Weisinger?

  17. Classof89 02/24/2011 at 10:29 AM #

    “Unless we do an el foldo we can win the next 3 games. That gets us to the NIT. Sid stays one more year.”

    If there is one thing consistent about our team this year, it is pulling the “el foldo” for 5-10 minutes minimum in every game. What in the world makes you think we can beat Virginia in Charlottesville?

    If Sid’s at basketball games next year, it’s because he bought a ticket…

  18. whitefang 02/24/2011 at 10:48 AM #

    Agreed. Even Lee Fowler would not be able to protect Lowe’s job going forward. I am sure he is gone. What little is left of our program cannot take another year of SL. We won’t be able to fill up a high school gym.

  19. blackdom 02/24/2011 at 12:30 PM #

    Now it is all about playing hard? We still have no offense ,take way too many bad shots ,do not box out or rebound. I have never seen a team just get dunked on they way we do with other team grabbing every offensive rebound.
    This was his year remember? Playing hard should be a damn given ,not something to rejoice about. That Red jacket is a better coach than Sid.
    Also down by 8 less than 2 mins before his T why the heck were we not fouling?

  20. coachkoh 02/24/2011 at 12:34 PM #

    ^ All good points I agree blackdom. Also to think this team is going to the nit I have to disagree , the nit has changed it’s format as well and no way we fit it.

  21. WolftownVA81 02/24/2011 at 1:42 PM #

    The team gave the kind of effort last night I’ve been waiting to see all year. But, if we do the fundamentals (box out, protect the ball, take good shots) we win that game. It just shows me that we have the potential to be a successful team with the right coach. Agree with whoever said why the T at the end of the game with little time to affect any change and why no fouling? Another frustrating night in Pack Land.

  22. JSRy2k 02/24/2011 at 1:49 PM #

    @61Packer, BJD95:
    My greatest pain over the last five years is that there is nothing positive we can expect from NCSU basketball night in and night out.

    I dare anybody to name a single good thing we do consistently.

  23. packhammer 02/24/2011 at 2:09 PM #

    We have to stop talking about the past folks. Great Britain used to be the only world super power. Forget about it. Super effort last night from our players. Really great fired-up crowd too, especially given the circumstances. Refs were terrible. Sid should have drawn his technical after the idiotic intentional foul call, not at the end of the game. Coach said our players didn’t make good decisions. Maybe so but who was it that told them to keep throwing the ball into Tracy Smith, who was being triple teamed?

  24. JSRy2k 02/24/2011 at 4:14 PM #

    packhammer, if your ‘past’ comment is directed at me I was pointing out patterns, not so much dwelling on the past.

    My real problem with the past is this: The sport which used to be far and away my favorite now pains me more than any other. My fondest memories as a boy were my Dad taking me to Bucknell basketball games (PG Jay Wright’s teams were some of the first I remember). In approximately 14 years, from the ages of 5-18, I witnessed 30 all-conference players, 3 POY, and a conference record over that span of 129-62, with the worst record of 6-8 only happening twice. The teams were consistent and well-coached, and the crowds were most often full-(or over-)capacity, rowdy and creative. Now an NCSU alum, class of 2000, I am inextricably bound to over a decade of heartache.

    And for all of us, we must draw on the past to reach our future. Only those who don’t understand where we’ve been think we can’t expect too much. Nonsense! History speaks that that our ceiling is unlimited. If Herb and Sid – of all coaches – can take us on a 5-yr NCAA run and recruit at the highest level amidst a downward spiral then, without a doubt, a real coach can take us where we want to go!

  25. NCSU84 02/24/2011 at 5:20 PM #

    This link about sums it up – sad, so sad

    http://www.wralsportsfan.com/colleges/flash/8994839/

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