NC State Falls to Temple 76-72 In the NCAA Opening Round

12-13 Basketball ACC & Other NC State NCS Basketball193

A season that began with great promise ended with NC State losing its opening round game in the NCAA tournament 76-72 to the Temple Owls.

The loss came in the typical way that we’ve seen NC State lose all year: not showing up to start the game and leaving itself far too much work to advance in the field of 64.

The favored Wolfpack started the game lethargically, playing poor defense and with a lot of standing around when it had the ball, leading to a 38-22 halftime deficit.  That lead proved to be too large for the Wolfpack to overcome as it staged a solid second half comeback, and as a result, the team that was picked to win the ACC and to make some noise in the national tournament accomplished….nothing.

Box Score

12-13 Basketball ACC & Other NC State NCS Basketball

193 Responses to NC State Falls to Temple 76-72 In the NCAA Opening Round

  1. Wulfpack 03/22/2013 at 5:09 PM #

    I agree BJD. But with the mass exodus, there won’t be much of a “rotation”. Gott can recruit with the best of them. Now we need to see some coaching. He has to get control of this program. I hate to see down years due t the players not getting along. In the end, it does come back in the coach. Next year is a clean slate.

  2. choppack1 03/22/2013 at 5:10 PM #

    This is a fitting to end to the season for this STAFF.

    Look, if you’ve followed Gottfried career at Alabama – it was utterly foolish to expect anything else.

    Not doing the little things and coddling stars doesn’t usually end up with a team meeting expectations.

    I don’t put this on Leslie or Zo. Hell, our best rebounder doesn’t even box out half of the time.

    This staff never demanded excellence and they never got it. Pure and simple. There’s a reason why you run out every grounder. There’s a reason why the catcher backs up first base when he can… it’s called doing the little things.

    If we were playing against a 10-15 seed today – we might have survived. Instead, we thought it would be cool to sleepwalk through the season and put together some majestic run, just “turn it on.” V’s teams could do this on occasion – but V had a great and unique feel for the game that Gott doesn’t possess.

    Look, I don’t think Gott sucks as a coach – I think he’s a solid coach and a great recruiter. However, to think we’ll ever accomplish consistency under this regime…well, let’s just say you have to ignore the only time he coached in major conference. And me, I don’t ignore the most relevant data out there.

  3. phillypacker 03/22/2013 at 5:11 PM #

    I agree. I just know you can only do so much when you have the issues that were there. I think he took Calvin to his ceiling as a player.

  4. Alpha Wolf 03/22/2013 at 5:11 PM #

    if Brown does come back, Lewis is still your starting PG.

    I am not sure Barber won’t earn the role over Lewis by midyear.

    Gott has GOT to get Barber minutes when he can next year. One of his biggest mistakes was not putting in Lewis earlier in the year where and when he could. Yes, I know that Lewis struggled at first, but he still could have gotten more time in early-season games than he did. He really cannot afford to do that with Cat Barber.

  5. mak4dpak 03/22/2013 at 5:11 PM #

    Box score says 38 pts, each half for the Owls. Us on the other hand, 22 points in the first, 50 in the second. Problem solved. What does it take to motivate these guys to come out the gate playing? Awful FT shooting, and turnovers killed us. Shoulda coulda woulda. And even though he was chased throughout the game, Wood forced some bad shots at crucial times, and of all things missed a 1 and 1 to cut it to 1. Guys just gotta to learn to show up for a complete game.

  6. john of sparta 03/22/2013 at 5:12 PM #

    phillypacker,
    you are correct, sir. well played.
    college basketball lacks overall talent.
    both in players and officials.

  7. Alpha Wolf 03/22/2013 at 5:13 PM #

    Not doing the little things and coddling stars doesn’t usually end up with a team meeting expectations.

    Sounds like Amato and a certain running back…just saying…

  8. phillypacker 03/22/2013 at 5:15 PM #

    Chop, doing what he did at Alabama was no small feat. He is not Kryzewski, but I think what he has done with the personnel he has had is a pretty good thing.

  9. phillypacker 03/22/2013 at 5:16 PM #

    John, a grateful nod to you, sir.

  10. Wolfpack93 03/22/2013 at 5:16 PM #

    Am I hearing in the preceding comments that there is a contingent that would like Calvin to play another year for the Pack? Seriously?

    CJL is too full of himself to play another year at the collegiate level — both in my mind and his. Thanks for the memories. Don’t let the door hit ya…

    Now if Zo wants to hang around another year, I’m all for it.

  11. BJD95 03/22/2013 at 5:17 PM #

    You can only do so much with “headcase” issues when you have 7 scholarship players. Especially when they’re not predominately your recruits.

    Even though we will be short on bodies next year as well, can still use the lessons of this season as a teaching tool. It’s always easier to get guys to buy in with something concrete to point to, instead of just a hypothetical.

  12. john of sparta 03/22/2013 at 5:18 PM #

    Wimp at Alabama
    won with Robert Horry.
    Gott didn’t with CJL.

  13. Alpha Wolf 03/22/2013 at 5:18 PM #

    One thing to remember is that if CJL and Zo leave, then it’s pretty much all Gottfried’s team.

  14. Pack78 03/22/2013 at 5:18 PM #

    Alpha, re your comment on CJ:

    “If he hears that from the people that matter, he will come back. If he comes back, he needs to screw his head on right, and find Julius Hodge and work with HIM all summer on his game.”

    Dead on, lets get Da Jules to work with the whole team!

  15. wufpup76 03/22/2013 at 5:20 PM #

    La Salle and Creighton both escape …

  16. phillypacker 03/22/2013 at 5:23 PM #

    Not from me. Amen, BJD95. As for coaching aggressiveness at both ends of the court, its a lot easier to do with freshmen you have for four years and without head cases in the mix.

    As for coaching defense, if you put any creedance in what Wood said in the press conference, they seem to be very consistent at both ends in practice, which tells me coaching can’t play the game for guys like Leslie.

    I remember watching Leslie coming out of the timeout near the end of the FSU game when he let Snaer run to other end of the court for a layup that helped put the game out of reach. That had nothing to do with coaching.

    In mid-season, Leslie and Howell were not boxing out worth a damn, then coaching staff seemed to re-emphasize it and they piled up rebounds at both ends for a number of games. I’m telling you Leslie……

  17. phillypacker 03/22/2013 at 5:24 PM #

    No. Leslie needs to head up the NBA D League and see whether he plays in the US or in Europe.

  18. graywolf 03/22/2013 at 5:28 PM #

    Maybe its time for Debbie to have her meeting with Gottfried and clarify what she means by top 25.

  19. Whiteshoes67 03/22/2013 at 5:28 PM #

    ^What did Gott say in his postgame presser?

  20. WolftownVA81 03/22/2013 at 5:30 PM #

    Count me in the great disapointment camp. I don’t understand the lack of effort and motivation. Other than the Lowe year when the team gave up, I can’t remember when I’ve so pissed about a season. I may have to give up having any expectations regarding Wolfpack sports.

  21. choppack1 03/22/2013 at 5:31 PM #

    I don’t like this depth excuse. I think the Lewis results show that this staff can’t necessarily be trusted.

    Could TDT have provided adequate and needed depth? Perhaps.. Would increased playing time led him to finish out the season? I don’t know.

    Did Painter think he’d get a fair shot with Jefferson in the line-up? No idea.

    What I do know is that if we lose our 4 starters this year -2 of which are definitely gone – at the very least, I suspect we’ll lose one of 2…we’ll have less scholarships than when Gott began – and quite frankly, we’re dealing with a coach who reminds a lot of Chuck “All my eggs in one basket” Amato.

    Remember, Chuck was pretty awesome when he had another Coach’s recruits and before he had a team that was all his. Once the program was purely Chuck’s – the program was a sad joke.

    Don’t get me wrong – I think Gott has a better track record than Chuck. However, the absolute best case scenario I see for us under this staff and its current recruiting philosophy is GaTech during its heyday. And that would be pretty awesome…But Tech never had much depth and they were always one player away from missing the big dance.

    Once the game changed and Cremins stopped being able to load up on blue chips, his program wasn’t very consistent.

    I’m not saying fire Gott. What I am saying is that I don’t think you’ll see a coach who builds a program that is a consistent 2-6 seed under his leadership. We’ll have too little depth and we’ll suck at D. Does this mean we can’t have a couple of great seasons – no.

    Does it mean we can’t ever cut down the nets under him? Nope.

    It just means I’m expecting more years like this year than (where great talent underachieves) than last year (where they meet their potential.)

  22. Whiteshoes67 03/22/2013 at 5:32 PM #

    ^thank you, chop…my thoughts exactly, couldn’t say it better

  23. packalum44 03/22/2013 at 5:34 PM #

    This was a shitty “team”. No one could have guessed that. Its hard to know whether to pin it on Gott but time will tell. If there is a trend over into next year then we’ll have a problem.

    Does appear that he’s not a great coach regarding strategy and player development. I fear his year 1 results were simply b/c he followed on the heels of one of the worst coaches ever.

    Time will tell and frankly, we don’t need more than 2 or 3 years. His recruiting is pretty damn good but that is replaceable.

  24. Whiteshoes67 03/22/2013 at 5:36 PM #

    I don’t know the ends and outs of the ACC landscape next year, and frankly don’t get all that worked up by how many stahs some 18-year old has beside his name, but I can’t see us having a ceiling above .500 next year if 4 starters leave. If 3 leave, maybe slightly better. If our 2 seniors, the most consistent performers on the team, leave, I think you still have a team that’s only marginally better than this year, if that, unless there’s some major improvement on defense. All the talk about player deficiencies (and there are some) and depth is bunk.

  25. choppack1 03/22/2013 at 5:39 PM #

    “You can only do so much with “headcase” issues when you have 7 scholarship players. Especially when they’re not predominately your recruits. ”

    Yet when the season began, there were 4 holdovers and 4 Gott recruits.

    Before the season began, he alienated potential depth star******* for Amile Jefferson. If he added another player – especially a front court player – we’d have some additional depth.

    Look – you think Coach K would tolerate his stars loafing? You think Roy – who understandably takes a lot of heat for his coaching – would tolerate the crap he saw this year? Heck no they wouldn’t.

    Ultimately, you get what you demand. This staff allowed these guys to sleepwalk. Maybe, just maybe, those 4 guys who have transferred in the last year realized there wasn’t a durn thing they could do to get significant playing time…so they left.

    Heaven help us if we lose one of the 3 youngins…Of course, if that happens, I won’t be surprised. If I was a certain PG, I’d be putting out the feelers right now.

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