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. maverick_ncsu 01/27/2012 at 11:41 AM #

    Sure, but why not play him 6-7 min in to the second half when it was clear we weren’t coming back? They were still playing their starters, or at least their bigs, and our team was still out there. That would have given him some time (more than 4 min) with our team in an actual game. Just didn’t feel like it could have hurt to give a guy that you think might be able to contribute more than a few minutes at the end of the game.

  2. StandUpAndHowl 01/27/2012 at 12:40 PM #

    So this is how they feel after a State-Carolina football game. That is, if they cared about football. 🙂

  3. john of sparta 01/27/2012 at 1:03 PM #

    since it was a 7PM start on a school night, children could stay up for
    the whole thing. this embarrassment sears into those young memories,
    and when it comes time to declare, it’s recalled. sooner or later,
    we will have to impress a 14-y-o so he will choose us in 3 years.

  4. ncsu1987 01/27/2012 at 1:07 PM #

    BJD: thanks immensely for the post – you are precisely on point.

    rant
    The truth is, aside from good efforts against a couple of good non-conference opponents, this team is still largely an unknown. I don’t know how anybody who has actually watched the team this year can claim to have had any expectations at all last night. Anybody who EXPECTED a win is hopelessly deluded. Do people understand the difference between “hope” and “expect”? I “hoped” that we would be competitive (hell, I even said that was my best guess on the morning “prediction” thread), but I didn’t “expect” it.

    The only real expectation I had last night was that we would lose. I hoped otherwise, I cheered my ass off, I called Roy and Henson every name in the book, and I stayed with the game and supported my team to the bitter end. But I never once EXPECTED the game to be all that close.

    Anybody who wasn’t prepared to lose and potentially lose in a big way isn’t paying attention. UNX is good, they’re damned good, and neither we, nor quite possibly anybody else in the country can realistically expect success against them on any given night, especially in their own fucking gym!

    Yes, I’m disappointed. I’ll always be disappointed to lose to those fuckers, even when I expect to. There are few things in life I hate more. But we have to move on.

    And the “rivalry” stuff is bullshit. We ARE a rival. Roy thinks so, and his players think so. We got the A effort last night, from top to bottom. Vitale and Patrick should ask Roy his opinion before they spout that bullshit Walmart wisdom.

    /rant

    Oh, and the “bad hire” from the vapid talking heads? Have I mentioned that some people aren’t paying attention? So they base this on a single blowout loss? Can’t wait to hear them talk about Roy as a bad hire, since he lost an even worse game at FSU… Dear God, the ignorance is breathtaking….how do these idiots get their podiums?

  5. Texpack 01/27/2012 at 1:14 PM #

    Looking at the conference standings last night it really looks like we should be the 4-6th best team in the league this year. The conference is down but I’d still rather have these guys learning how to win this year instead of getting pounded into oblivion. In spite of the OOC schedule we have played, last night was the first game we played in a truly hostile environment, with the possible exception of Stanford. All of the open jump shots that didn’t draw iron were signs that the guys started thinking too much after UNC-CH got some early blocks/stops.

    We really need to beat UVa on Saturday. It is probably our best shot at a Top 50 win. This team will be ok. We may not go 11-5 in the conference, but we should go at least 9-7 or 10-6. Hopefully last night showed these guys the next gear they have got to find in terms of concentration and execution if they are going to maximize this season.

  6. BJD95 01/27/2012 at 1:31 PM #

    Progress isn’t what happened last night. Progress is leaving that beatdown at 4-2 in ACC play, rather than the 1-5 or 2-4 it would have been any other year.

  7. MP 01/27/2012 at 1:47 PM #

    A sobering, humbling, complete beatdown. Glad I wasn’t in Vegas after all!

    I am in part frustrated that we did not have enough variety in our offensive gameplan or attack (i.e. frustrated with coaching). Until I accept how completely overmatched we are by UNC’s talent.

    Best thing about last night – Watching how quickly we got off the floor after the game. No ‘coaching handshake hugs’ – You know, the old Roy Williams tactic.

    That was Gott’s “Welcome to the ACC Game”. I would much rather it come sooner than later. Everything I have seen from him so far suggests that he will take it seriously and personally – Not make excuses for it as we have seen from ‘others’.

    Oh – And there’s no way you could have been “too high on the Pack” last night. The only way to enjoy that beatdown would have been “baked on the Pack”.

  8. JEOH2 01/27/2012 at 1:58 PM #

    I disagree that we should’ve given guys minutes…if you watch Gottfried during the second half while our starters were still in they were running the offense and he was applauding hustle plays and encouraging our guys…

    He could see the hit in confidence we took so he wanted his starters to go out there, see some shots go through the basket and get some defense stops…the result was a game that once was in the 30s that ended with us losing under 20…not far from the Vegas line…

    Besides if he had put De Theay and Harris on the court for most of the 2nd half, who on the site would’ve chided Gottfried for “throwing in the towel.”

  9. CHASSman 01/27/2012 at 2:02 PM #

    Great post BJD.
    It’s been great to see the progress the pack has made this year. On the other hand, I’m glad I don’t have ESPN and couldn’t watch the beatdown. I hope that in the near future the team is so good I have to break down and spend more money on cable.

  10. JSRy2k 01/27/2012 at 2:07 PM #

    ryebread, I get your concern about how this loss affects our performance vs. UVA, but I see it a little differently.

    I think the asswhuppin’ actually will help us focus better. I think the players will be MORE receptive of the coaches’ directives in practice, realizing they bought into their press clippings too much and fully aware they’re not where they need to be. I expect to see a focused, intense bunch vs. the Wahoos.

  11. Alpha Wolf 01/27/2012 at 2:33 PM #

    Now we will REALLY see what this team is made of. Will this dent State’s psyche? I for one hope so. These players need to be the lunchbucket type: humble, and they go to work when they get there and put in a good hard day of it. We’re NOT good enough to mail it in, NOT against UNC and not even Georgia Tech.

    I kind of got the idea that these kids were buying their own press. I’m hoping that this makes ’em bow their neck and say through gritted teeth that “you might beat us but you’ll for sure know we were there!”

  12. Manu Ginobili 01/27/2012 at 2:43 PM #

    Last night was painful, five years without winning against the cheaters in not a good thing, but then I remember we have beaten them in five consecutive years in FB, then I feel a little better.

  13. wolflane74 01/27/2012 at 3:11 PM #

    Let’s be honest. The team we played has bigger,better, and more skilled players that are poised. Our guys seems to get severe restriction of the wind pipe when playing UNC. It may take 2 or 3 recruiting classes like the one put together this year to become a team that can compete with our neighbors. I really like the coaching staff. I hope we can hold on to them.

  14. Howler 01/27/2012 at 3:35 PM #

    Tired of David Glenn using the verb “dismantled”

  15. Rick 01/27/2012 at 3:37 PM #

    If you listen to that dolt you deserve it

  16. Prowling Woofie 01/27/2012 at 3:50 PM #

    I’d like to punch David Glenn right after I punch Roy…

  17. Gene 01/27/2012 at 6:05 PM #

    “last night was the first game we played in a truly hostile environment, with the possible exception of Stanford.”

    Stanford was a half-full 10,000 seat arena. Like Miami (FL), you can be on the road, but there’s not much of a crowd there that intimidates the players.

    Having 19,000 people clad in sky blue and being loud really got to the team.

    What bothers me is everyone has been to Chapel Hill before. We have no freshman, who play significant minutes.

    They should know what to expect there.

  18. VaWolf82 01/27/2012 at 6:16 PM #

    Alternate title suggestion:

    Free Advice for the Delusionally Optimistic

  19. wolfpack4ever 01/27/2012 at 7:42 PM #

    Excellent article BJD95. I truly was hoping for a closer game, but did not expect it. The holes were just taller, faster, more athletic and were at home.

    Our guys were probably extremely tense to begin with. When they got punched in the gut and hit in the face with blocked shot after blocked shot, more uncertainty set in. Most if not all of the “old bad habits” were back in play as they felt the pressure.

    I have not lost any confidence that I had in this team or the coaching staff because of last night. We just need to come out Saturday and win our home game.

    I hope that my son has come back in off the ledge he was on last night. He had bought in to the hype and thought we were better than we really are.

    I may be in the minority (maybe I am alone and just don’t know it), but I still think this team and coaching staff can finish in 4th place in the conference and be in the hunt for an NCAA tournament bid.

    After the last two coaches and 15 years of underwhelming, sometimes just plain pitiful basketball, I am still very proud of this team and the progess that has been made thus far. With the exception of last night, I truly enjoy watching State basketball again. Go Pack!!

  20. EasternWakeWolf 01/27/2012 at 8:13 PM #

    Wish Vitale would lose the rest of his voice and become a mute.

  21. wolfpack4ever 01/27/2012 at 8:26 PM #

    EasternWakeWolf,

    My disdain for Dick($uck) Vitale is surpassed only by my hatred for anything “holes”.

  22. Wolfman 9806 01/27/2012 at 11:02 PM #

    Good post.

    It not the ass whipping that bothers me, but rather the fact that we just rolled over and played dead.

  23. tractor57 01/28/2012 at 4:27 AM #

    After some reflection I still am of the same opinion as I was right after the game – Carolina played as billed and the Pack did not. I’m not going to try to parse the game blow by blow. We lost, we lost BADLY. Now there is another game tonight. To date the team has exceeded my expectations but there are still some glaring faults. One that did not show was a lack of hustle.

    Carolina played the game they way I like to see it played – immediate punch to the gut and hand on the throat. I see Gott moving the Pack in that direction but it does take some time to change course especially when playing one of the nation’s best when they are motivated and playing at the top of their game.

    Disappointed? Hell yes. Ready to throw in the towel and cry “same as always”? Hell no.

  24. PackerInRussia 01/28/2012 at 4:50 AM #

    “What game plan would you suggest?”

    How about put in the 3 shortest guys on the team and have them sit on the feet of their tallest guys and hold onto their ankles and hope that the refs don’t notice.

  25. theTHRILL 01/28/2012 at 5:27 AM #

    As long as I hate UNC with every fiber of my being, I will be upset when we lose to them, regardless of the expectations. I still do, so I still am.

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