Don’t Get Too Down on the Pack Because You Were Too High on the Pack

11-12 Basketball Mark Gottfried NCS Basketball101

Yes, I know. Very clunky and convoluted title. Couldn’t make it any prettier.

Simply put, State got its ass kicked tonight. Why? They played a consensus pre-season Top Five team. On the road. Playing their very best (especially on defense and the glass). It happens.

Prior to tonight, NC State largely took care of business, winning 4 of 5 ACC games, all against foes that have no realistic chance of an NCAA bid. Now, that’s nothing to sneeze at – huge progress from Wolfpack squads of recent vintage. But by no means did it give you any rational reason to EXPECT (not hope for) a win tonight. Certainly not under the aforementioned circumstances.

Losing the hardest game on your schedule doesn’t mean you suck. Even losing it in such clusterfuck fashion. It does mean you know you will need your best effort to beat Virginia on Sunday. Coasting on positive press clippings won’t get it done.

The first step is gaining relevance. Relevance does NOT mean that you’ve arrived. That takes time and sustained effort. And frankly, more talent.

There’s lots of basketball left. And we will no doubt have other bad games. It’s still a far sight from the bottomless pit of despair in which we’ve dwelled for so long.

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.

11-12 Basketball Mark Gottfried NCS Basketball

101 Responses to Don’t Get Too Down on the Pack Because You Were Too High on the Pack

  1. coach13 01/27/2012 at 9:37 AM #

    Wood would be a H-O-R-S-E champion. I swear I like him but damn, so often in big games he just can’t get open, rendering him useless.

    He only got looks on the backups.

  2. pack76 01/27/2012 at 9:38 AM #

    We go our butts kicked!!! Simple as that! Get over it and get ready for Va. Va. is a good team but we can beat them at home. Keep focused! The team last night was tentative from the beginning. Just didn’t seem like the same team we’ve seen in the last few games. BTW, when we went up 2-0 we should have called it a game and gone to the dressing room.

  3. primacyone 01/27/2012 at 9:44 AM #

    “NC State is no worse now then it was 3 days ago.”

    We are actually better now. Our RPI should have be going up several spots.

  4. swamppack 01/27/2012 at 9:46 AM #

    Make all the excuses you want to, NCSU basketball is frail to say the least right now. Sadly, we have arrived at the point that some are willing to include last night’s game in a conversation pointing toward progress. Progress?,Progress?. Don’t talk to me about progress.

  5. Codebrown 01/27/2012 at 9:52 AM #

    They are who we thought they should be at the Dean Dome.

    Nothing good came out of that game other than the Sport Center Top Play from Lo Brown.

    When was the last time someone banked in an 80-footer and missed the rim for the rest of the night?

  6. triadwolf 01/27/2012 at 9:54 AM #

    Last night tells us nothing about our team except what we already knew – we are still several levels below UNC in talent. The next 2 or 3 games will tell us a lot more about this team than last night.

    Any thoughts Calvin may have about the NBA this year should have been put to rest – he is worlds away.

    I actually think to key to us playing better against UNC next time is Painter. He has got to play like a big man first and use his shooting ability to further create a match up problem. He has the size and appears to have the skills of a good inside player, but he does not have the mentality. He needs to work at being a good center who can shoot rather than a shooter who trys to play center.

  7. Wufpacker 01/27/2012 at 9:55 AM #

    I don’t necessarily include last night as pointing toward progress. At the same time, however, I’m not yet willing to write it off as anything more than what it was. We played crappy and got a vicious beatdown from a very good team that was clicking on both ends. We’re not any worse now than we were before the game, nor does it negate the fact that we are a better team now than we were at this same time last year. We aren’t as bad as we looked last night, nor are we as good as we looked in Winston.

    The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Exactly where in the middle is still to be determined.

  8. Six Pack 01/27/2012 at 10:02 AM #

    Not running the offense, Wood standing around, no one setting ball screens and down screens for Wood, and most importantly the match-up problem with Zeller and Henson were the down fall last night.

    Falling under not running the offense would include Calvin consistantly trying to beat them on his own only to have his inside game completely shutdown by Henson’s ability to block everything he shot up.

    Of course, it did not hurt that UNC-Ch has much more talent than State and as someone else said earlier, as long as Ole’ Roy is there, we will never sneak up on them.

  9. rtpack24 01/27/2012 at 10:12 AM #

    We sucked at both ends of the floor and could not have played much worse and there were still several opportunities at the beginning of the second half to cut the lead to single digits. Thank God it is over. I am suprised with our experience that we came out and looked like freshman that were on the road for the first time. Lot of games left this one game changes nothing for us and hopefully we will bounce back.

  10. ryebread 01/27/2012 at 10:22 AM #

    The match up was the absolute worst for us that we’ll have this season. We are best when playing the same style that UNC does, but they’re doing it with a much more ingrained system, more height, better players, at home and with the refs favoring them. That is a recipe for disaster.

    Then you had all the articles in the press this week about how this was going to be a good game and a close one. I knew UNC was going to come in with a chip on their shoulders. That made it even tougher.

    One of my close NC State friends and I were talking earlier this week. We both pegged NC State’s chances of winning at about 5% last night. Our hope was that we’d keep it close enough and positive enough that the loss wouldn’t spill into our game against UVA on short rest.

    Prior to the game, I thought we’d lose by 12. I knew within the first 3 minutes that we were going to lose and lose badly. It reminded me of a SL game.

    Good:
    – 80 foot bank shot before half by Lo.
    – TDT makes his first 3 on the season (banked in, ugh).
    – Didn’t sub out all 5 and run off the court like little pansies.
    – Honest assessment from Gott at halftime about what we weren’t doing right that had some humor mixed in.
    – Scott Wood fought to the end and played within his role. CJL fought until the end, but unfortunately didn’t play within his role.

    Bad:
    – Almost everything else that we controlled. No need to go into it all, but some highlights were getting out rebounded 2:1, getting beat in transition, not playing our offense, missing free throws, regressing to individual play and generally playing scared. The most disappointing thing to me is that I didn’t see us rely on our strengths. When the going got tough, we went away from our team’s identity and went into a shell.
    – I hate Roy. Putting the ONE sub in and instructing him to shoot until he made it, watch him make it then laugh about it, then pulling him out and running the starters the rest of the game was pretty classless. It’s what I expect from UNC. I hope that our coaches pick that BS up on the tape and it makes them hate UNC as much as I do.
    – Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale. In their defense, they were covering a blow out that was supposed to be a close rivalry game. I still can’t stand Patrick. Vitale is what he is, but the “not a rivalry” thing stung even if true.

    The staff now really has their work cut out for them. They’ve got to get the team to put this behind them and focus on UVA. They also have to get all the previously established traits back and the demons lurking exorcised. That’s a tall, tall order in a short period of time.

  11. BladenWolf 01/27/2012 at 10:39 AM #

    For the second straight year I sat in that nauseating blue pit and watched our team lose in the first half of the first half. Air balls, no defense, bad passes, heads down… Another complete and utter beat down and we had no response whatsoever. So forgive me if I don’t have rays of sunshine shooting out of my ass and am not the Zen master like BJD95.

    Did I think we would win? I’m not that naive. UNX is good and there is no question about their talent. But I did think we would at least compete with them, if not for the entire game, then at least like we played Syracuse in the first few minutes of each half.

    I agree with the first part of the statement “Losing the hardest game on the schedule doesn’t mean you suck…” however losing in the fashion we did is cause for concern.

    Having a different coach this year I was hoping that would translate into a change in attitude when we played the smurfs, however I saw the same team (minus our previous PG) that took the court last year. Henson OWNED Leslie…again. Howell simply is intimidated and does not show up for the games in Chapel Hole. So what disappointed me the most was not the snarky assholes sitting all around me last night, but the fact that I witnessed the same defeated-before-tipoff mentality we showed last year.

    Gottfried said it well… “We completely lost our poise”. I would add… “Again”.

    So remaining a realist and not getting too hard or “too high on the Pack”, I see four or five more wins for us this season (BC, WF, GT, Miami, and VT or Clemson), which coincides with my earlier prediction of an 9-7 season. No dancing unless we pull some upsets. That is about as realistic as it gets.

    GO PACK! Upset UVA!

  12. PoppaJohn 01/27/2012 at 10:45 AM #

    Virginia will be a true test of Gott’s ability to coach. Can he get their heads right for the next game, or do we lose multiple games due to the Heels hangover?

  13. Prowling Woofie 01/27/2012 at 10:57 AM #

    UVa is a MUST WIN.

    Period.

  14. HPWolf 01/27/2012 at 11:06 AM #

    No one should be melting down over this loss. We played a team that will probably end up a top 5 team on the road and lost badly. Gott doesn’t have one recruit on campus yet. What did we expect to happen? This loss will help us as the season unfolds and I’ll bet you our bigs learn how to lean in, bump off a taller defender, and draw the foul by the time the a holes come to Raleigh. We may not beat them this year guys but things are going to change. We need coaching up and time to change player expectations. Recruiting will strengthen our bench and add confidence. We are at least on our way now. I know it sucks but we need to be patient and let this rebuilding process take place without freaking out. One last thing, I still despise those smug sun bitches. Go Pack!

  15. Rick 01/27/2012 at 11:09 AM #

    This is exactly why I have said all year we are not that good and to start thinking we are is just going to make the crash back to earth that much worse.

    Look for the good when you can. That is what this year is about for me.

  16. Clarksa 01/27/2012 at 11:09 AM #

    If you just accept the Wolfpack Zero Expectations mindset, you won’t get to upset over losing, and be that much happier when we win.

  17. FL Tar Heel 01/27/2012 at 11:10 AM #

    Great win for us but I do like what Gott has in store for NCS. I like the old days when UNC/NCS was THE game of the season.

  18. maverick_ncsu 01/27/2012 at 11:11 AM #

    I agree with a lot of the other posters but a couple of things that really annoyed me last night especially and it did concern what I perceived to be a little less coaching than I would have like to have seen (now, I think Gott is a great coach for us so I’m not throwing this whole game on him).

    I was very disappointed in our lack of offensive game plan execution. While I know the staff put together a plan and it was up to the players to execute, I also did not see the staff changing their strategy when it was not working. We were out-matched but I could not stand seeing all of our big men taking 16-18 ft. jumpers! Yes you go blocked some but they aren’t going to block all of them. Just like in boxing, wear them down and maybe you get them in foul trouble or you start getting lay-ups.

    While there were plenty of other obvious areas that I agree still need work, I definitely agree with coach13 that while our recruiting class next year looks to be great, we need BIG men who play as BIG men.

    With that said, I’m glad we played them there first and when we have a little more experience against good teams and now that we’ve been shell-shocked, they still have to come to Raleigh for a team that I expect to be more poised next time. I’ve had the most fun watching this team run and get their hands in passing lanes and be scrappy. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this kind of exciting basketball. So, we took another punch last night. But the fight’s not over until we’ve finished our schedule!

  19. Mike 01/27/2012 at 11:12 AM #

    My two cents……….

    1. BJD’s computer got hacked

    2. Calm down everyone. Winning takes some time, and learning to win is the first step. Yes, we have played the bottom feeders of the conference, but those wins help to build confidence and bounce back. We are still 4-2 and as someone posted earlier, looks like we can go 3-1 or even 4-0 in our next four as we have 3 more bottom feeders coming. Bounce back Sat against UVA and the confidence is back.

    3. This team was bad for the last 5 years and I am going to say we are young. Brown is a soph playing his first year at point. Howell and Painter and Jr’s, but wiht the coaching (or lack of) they have had their first two years, they are still young. Calvin is a soph but finally has some coaching for the 1st time in his career. So if you think about it, we are still very inexperienced.

    4. We are getting better, much better than last year. Last night was an aberration, but mostly due to intimidation. But the little things are there over the course of the season to see the improvement, last night being the exception. When in panic mode, you get away from the norm and the fundamentals. Gott will fix it.

    5. Saw the interviews on TV – Gott and Wood were both ticked, gave great sound bites. It will be fixed.

    6. Last comment – now is the time to jump up and SUPPORT this team. Turn on them now and they will retreat to last year. Step up and give them encouragement and they will respond positively.

    BJD, get a better anti-hacking software program!

  20. blpack 01/27/2012 at 11:18 AM #

    Calmer this morning. Looked like a loss in the preseason and it was a loss yesterday. Regroup for the UVa game. Protect our home court.

  21. Rick 01/27/2012 at 11:19 AM #

    “I was very disappointed in our lack of offensive game plan execution. ”

    We have one player on the team who can shoot and we have under sized and unathletic big men. What game plan would you suggest?

    I consider it pretty dang impressive to be scoring at the clip we have been all year given our short comings.

  22. stillapackfan 01/27/2012 at 11:21 AM #

    I say we let it go about Roy taking his players off the court at FSU. We have no idea what Gott would do in that situation. NO ONE, I repeat NO ONE, ever rushes the court for a win over the Pack so we just won’t ever be in that situation.

  23. maverick_ncsu 01/27/2012 at 11:28 AM #

    “We have one player on the team who can shoot and we have under sized and unathletic big men. What game plan would you suggest?”

    I would have liked to have at least seen attempts of Zo driving and dishing and our bigs to at least be within 5 feet of the basic when shots were going up. I know it’s one game and our guys looked like they got hit with a big hammer and didn’t know how to respond. So, again, one game and hopefully we’ll play UVA like we did WF after the GT loss. That would be impressive.

    One side question: with last night going so badly, why do you suppose Gott did not play some of the other guys more and De They earlier? I know he wanted to give his guys a chance to work some of it out, but why not just give some of these other guys some time when it was not clean up from a big win, to give them some experience for the future against a tough opponent?

  24. Rick 01/27/2012 at 11:30 AM #

    I am not sure mop up time against the UNC bench does much for anyone.

  25. bill.onthebeach 01/27/2012 at 11:41 AM #

    I am 110% confident, that in lieu of “playing 18”, at the COACHES ONLY breakfast early this morning, the MENTAL ASPECTS of PREGAME PREPARATION and IN-GAME ADVERSITY were frankly and sincerely *discussed* with the responsibilities for and duties required thereto clearly re-established, not either team’s or any player’s strengths or weaknesses.

    While not literally true, Rule Number #1 among successful coaches in all fields is a fundamental philosophy that “There are no player mistakes, only coaching mistakes”.

    After an appropriate break to check on our players to make sure they were in class and to handle other matters…. the work then focused the technical requirements for victory over the next opponent…

    GO PACK !!!

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