Pack/Bees Game Thread

11-12 Basketball311

There’s a small chance I will semi-liveblog, if the new version of WordPress is more “blackberry friendly” re post editing. But more likely I will just see you in the comments.

Bottom line – this is the kind of game than even Sidney Lowe would win, so I definitely think the Pack will end tonight 2-0 in league play. But don’t be surprised if there’s a lull or two, an inevitable letdown after the emotionally charged opening win. But an ugly win is still a win.

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

311 Responses to Pack/Bees Game Thread

  1. moose8865 01/12/2012 at 12:14 AM #

    phillypacker, what about Wood, bring him off the bench

  2. phillypacker 01/12/2012 at 12:16 AM #

    I don’t see Wood’s scoring ability as being as big of a benefit compared with the liabilities he brings in terms of speed, lack of strength.

  3. Whiteshoes67 01/12/2012 at 12:23 AM #

    Brown has done a pretty good job being thrust into the point but he seems a little too finesse and/or timid. We go as he and CJL go. The others are going to dissappear at times.

  4. phillypacker 01/12/2012 at 12:30 AM #

    Great tweet: by will brinson: “This feels like a Globetrotters game.” Nice.

  5. TheCOWDOG 01/12/2012 at 12:31 AM #

    Didn’t vote, but it’s in writing somewhere in the forum. 9-7

  6. phillypacker 01/12/2012 at 12:32 AM #

    Brown does very well out of position. Next year will see some magic when guys are pushing down court knowing the PG is thinking two or three steps ahead of them. We will not keep Tyler Lewis off the floor. He will become beloved.

  7. mayberrypackfan21 01/12/2012 at 12:33 AM #

    Whiteshoes, I completely agree with that statement. Zo has to get to the rim! He’s too good of an offensive player to do all the “dipsydoo” stuff around the basket. CJL is the one constant we have going right now. If we want to go dancing, Zo has to take over in games like the one we had tonight.

  8. blpack 01/12/2012 at 12:39 AM #

    Bad loss to a bad team. We didn’t bring our best game and paid for it. GT really played well. I think they just hit another 3. On to a big game in W-S.

  9. Baccapacker 01/12/2012 at 1:20 AM #

    Sorry guys I jinxed us, got my hair cut today knowing that I shouldn’t have messed with a hot streak. How else do you explain our worst game of the year against a 7-8 team at home? Good grief I’m just now cooling off, terrible shooting, turnovers, hot shooting by a terrible team and last but not least a joke of an officiating job. I was a 10-6er but tonight threw a pretty big wrench into my gears as I had figured this to be a sure win. To end the night on a positive note, I’m still very proud of this team so far. Man, I am going to hear some shit-talking in the morning though…

  10. Wufpacker 01/12/2012 at 2:33 AM #

    Rodney Purvis was in attendance tonight if I’m not mistaken, yes? Hope he didn’t join Graham as the latest decommit after witnessing it.

  11. state73 01/12/2012 at 2:51 AM #

    Just got home from the game. We were awful tonite but the damn refs were worse. How could the ACC have such awful refs? As much as we pay the commissioner, surely we can hire decent officials.

  12. Codebrown 01/12/2012 at 7:24 AM #

    NIT (if we’re lucky) here we come!

  13. tuckerdorm1983 01/12/2012 at 8:54 AM #

    lets hope that this was a one off deal. That is we ran into a buzz saw. GT shot lights out and we couldn’t hit sh%t. There is very little room for error if we wish to dance. I am without doubt that soon, maybe not this year, we will be “dancing and advancing”. Thats the goal and we have a proven leader that can get the job done. ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN A DAY.

  14. tractor57 01/12/2012 at 9:38 AM #

    Tech played very well and had a good plan to exploit the Pack’s weaknesses. First with limiting run outs then with strong rebounding then their lights out 3 pt shooting (aided in some cases by defensive lapses). Last night they were the better team. If the earlier parts of the season are any indication the Pack will grow from the experience but as others have said there is still work to be done. The outcome of the season depends on that growth in relation to the growth of the opponents.
    Watching on TV it appeared that the refs were not on their peak games either but that WAS NOT the reason for the loss. The Pack was outplayed last night. Even with that one game I’m far from giving up.

  15. tractor57 01/12/2012 at 9:40 AM #

    Oh and hit the free throws and the game is totally different.

  16. Spike 01/12/2012 at 10:50 AM #

    Very well said Tractor57. There is a lot of bitching about the refs and talking about how bad GT is. They may not be that great but they outplayed us last night and could not miss down the stretch. There were definitely some bad calls but that was not why the game was lost. We are a better team this year but there is still a ways to go to get where we’d like to be

  17. Spike 01/12/2012 at 10:58 AM #

    Hopefully this will light a fire under them and make them more hungry. I’m surprised to see so many people all over Wood here. He is normally lights out but he has an off game and he’s raked across the coals. Granted his defense is not stellar but I just find it funny when every game they call him the best 3 point shooter in the ACC. I hate that we lost this one but we were outplayed and needed a reality check. I hope this makes us stronger.

  18. Sweet jumper 01/12/2012 at 10:58 AM #

    I was at the game, and we stayed until the final buzzer. We played poorly against a mediocre team. Too many critical turnovers coupled with poor shot selection, cold shooting, poor perimeter defense and boxout lapses did us in. Several 3’s as the shot clock expired were especially hard to stomach. Glenn Rice, Jr. is a thug. He got away with murder both with the ball and without the ball. He is a cheapshot elbowing machine.

    The refs definitely compounded our problems but did not cost us the game. The refs had a stretch of some of the poorest, one-sided officiating during GA Tech’s second half run that I have ever seen. I can’t stand to get homered at home. Glad to see Gottfried care enough to get a technical foul. That has been missing for 20+ years. I hope he sends tape of that stretch to head of ACC officials. I could not believe the ref refused to talk to Gott ater the technical. That never happens with K or ol’ Roy.

    Let’s regroup and beat Wake on the road Saturday. Go Pack!!

  19. Thinkpack17 01/12/2012 at 11:04 AM #

    Taking our 1 good outside shooter off the floor is a terrible idea. The entire starting 5 played horrible defense last night, there is more than enough blame to go around. We did not lose because Wood has slow feet. Our best on ball defender was getting cooked all night. Lo Brown let Mfon, a kid he grew up playing against, come into his house and look like he was playing in his neighborhood YMCA. Lo’s cool, smooth ass again refused to take it personally and push his game to the next level. Our big men were playing a couple of the worst scoring bigs to ever come through the league but didn’t rotate off them to help the guards. EVERYONE was terrible, throwing Wood under the bus is a knee-jerk reaction.

    Take Wood off the court and see what happens to our floor spacing. Opposing teams could probably get away with putting 4 bodies in the paint. How do you think that would affect Brown and Leslie’s game? We’d be depending on Painter to knock down jumpers for us.

    Lastly…I am big on Tyler Lewis. His year will come…but it won’t be next year. His defense makes Scott Wood look like Lebron James. He’s tiny and his feet are just as slow.

  20. phillypacker 01/12/2012 at 12:16 PM #

    Thinkpack, I never said take Wood off the court. I never in any way linked him to the loss.

    I said I’m not sure he should start next year, depending on the impact of freshmen. We need guard play that slashes and pushes the ball in a way Brown is not built to do and Wood cannot. I agree with the spacing comment regarding outside shooting but Wood has not been a “one bad game” shooter. I think you are way, way too hard on Lewis’s defense, especially as a high school kid. “Tiny” may not have anything to do with defensive effectiveness, as many State guards have demonstrated.

    The main point of my post was that the talent is there for a potential 9-7 run, but last night was horrific defensively and the offensive confidence was very much affected by allowing an inferior opponent to mow them down at the other end. Maybe someone else is throwing Wood under the bus. I don’t see that. Don’t see any knee jerk reactions either.

  21. phillypacker 01/12/2012 at 12:33 PM #

    By the way, thinkpack, thanks for your excellent insights about the game. They confirm how things looked on my computer screen.

    I thought Gott had a floor as a coach that would not allow a Lowe-like, team-wide meltdown (a la the 40 point loss to Wisconsin a year or so ago) in so many phases of the game. I think last night demonstrated what Gott meant about the team having a long, long way to go, which I think is hard for many of us to take, given how many decades we have waited for the rise above mediocrity.

    When ESPN has shown locker room talks by Gott, he is always preaching “play hard” and play unselfish. That mindset takes a while to translate and internalize with a team. It may get me shot to say this, so draw your guns, but I want to see bodies on the floor, defensive aggressiveness, hard work fighting through screens, hard cuts, etc, like we once saw here and, frankly still see at a school like Duke.

    This team is getting better at that but the blend of focus and intensity, that slap the floor thing before you defend as your man is coming down court, was not just underrepresented last night. It is hard to adjust to a work in progress, but I think this is a work in progress unlike the Lowe and HWNSNBS where we falsely hoped we were seeing longterm improvement that would make us competitive for ACC titles. I think they will play much better versus Wake.

  22. Thinkpack17 01/12/2012 at 1:02 PM #

    “Unless he is going to be much better shooting 3-pointers, I question whether Wood should start. He seems slow on defense. Has he been this streaky?”

    “I don’t see Wood’s scoring ability as being as big of a benefit compared with the liabilities he brings in terms of speed, lack of strength.”

    Those are two of your quotes. I don’t want to get into the semantics of “well I never actually said he should come off the court.” You had to ask if Wood was a streaky shooter so I feel I should break this down.

    1. Scott Wood has started every game he has been of able body since his first start. Without the injury he would have broken the State record for consecutive starts. He leads the league in 3 point percentage and free throw percentage. He’s 6-7, spreads the floor and actually blocks shots…WE NEED HIM.

    2. Lo Brown is our PG. He will be or PG next year. People say that he is really a SG…he’s not. He played PG at Centinnial, we recruited him to play PG for us. When he failed to qualify he played PG at Hargrave. We needed him to slide to the 2 because we had no 2’s, he did so. Now he is back to stay as long as he wants the job.

    3. Tyler is the least likely of the 3 to start. Again…I love Tyler’s game, he is going to be huge for us but facts are facts. He has trouble staying in front of high school kids. He’s 5-11 160 and has slow feet on defense. “‘Tiny’ may not have anything to do with defensive effectiveness, as many State guards have demonstrated.” Get outta here with that back in the day stuff. They make guards big now. Look at our backcourt…who could Tyler guard? After seeing our perimeter defense last night forgive me if I want to give T a little time to grow into his destined role.

    Starters 2012-2013

    Brown
    Purvis
    Wood
    Leslie
    Howell

    Or

    Brown
    Wood
    Warren
    Leslie
    Howell

  23. phillypacker 01/12/2012 at 4:21 PM #

    OK, you’re way more invested in this debate than I am. I just don’t care about it this much. I don’t concede anything you’re saying here but am moving on. I hope you continue to enjoy the discussion.

  24. tuckerdorm1983 01/12/2012 at 4:25 PM #

    You folks out there (and I count myself as one) began smoking the happy weed when we won a few games. After we beat Maryland we began to see us in the sweet sixteen. Last night showed that that may be a wee bit optimistic at this point. I think we may not be dancing and advancing this spring, but what do have at this point, warts and all, a solid NIT team that could do some damage and go all the way. A true solid assessment can only be made after the next three games. If we win those, then NCAA here we come. If we lose all of the next three, then not good.

  25. Wufpacker 01/12/2012 at 4:42 PM #

    I’m not so sure that by the end of the year Lewis won’t be starting. You’ve got a freshman starting in each of your line ups. I agree Wood will be on the floor as a starter, but I think Lewis working his way in might be just as likely as either Purvis or Warren, perhaps more. Plus, getting Brown off the point opens him up more as a scorer a la Ernie Myers.

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