Countdown to Tipoff

13-14 Basketball112

Less than two hours from tip-off.

If you are looking for a little national basketball discussion then you can check this piece from our partners thebiglead.

Top 8 NCAA tournament seeds from 2013 that will miss the tourney in 2014:

McIntyre – Kansas State, St. Louis, Butler, NC State, UNLV, Georgetown

Lisk- Kansas State, UNLV, Butler, Illinois, NC State, Colorado State

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13-14 Basketball

112 Responses to Countdown to Tipoff

  1. mak4dpak 11/09/2013 at 12:00 AM #

    If the big corporate spenders can’t show up for the games, then the bottom level should be open to all, after a certain amount of time so the team can have the fans closer to them, instead of the nose bleed seats. And just hoping TOB can keep up his winning record against the heels being on the UVA staff.

  2. BJD95 11/09/2013 at 8:04 AM #

    I’m one of the evil people who thinks that if the big money/corporate people want to use all their tickets in a scrapbook or bonfire…that’s their business.

    Without the big money support, we would be dead in the water. That’s just life in the modern sports world I am all for creative ideas to make ticket exchange/opening up vacant seats at halftime easier. But shaming seems highly misplaced, to me.

    This is also magnified by having an arena that’s WAY too big, save for one or two games a year.

    From the espn3 feed, the crowd seemed lively and engaged. Perhaps that was totally student-driven, but that’s what we need them young whippersnappers for.

    I was happy it was on Friday night, as there was otherwise nothing on tv. I just haven’t been able to foster any interest in HS football since…I was in high school. Even then, it was more about Bacchian chants “Beer is good! Sex is fun! We’re the Class of ’91!” Than anything on the field.

    I have said many unpopular things in this comment. /ducks

  3. BJD95 11/09/2013 at 8:13 AM #

    Also, I wish people would quit acting like Lewis/Barber is an either/or proposition. Both guys have their own unique strengths (such as Barber’s ball-hawking defense), and they seem completely comfortable playing together. Isn’t it nice to be able to use the best talent without egos getting in the way?

    Freeman was MUCH better than expected. He and Washington each move, on both ends of the floor. That’s more important than empty size (sorry Vandy and King Hippo). Yes, it will cost us a bit on the glass, but it will also create mismatches in our favor. I think you will see more and more of Buckets as a stretch 4, as we need to get WBS, Cat, and Des as many minutes as possible (and Turner is a solid 4th guy in that 2-3 rotation). When Vandy comes back, he might take some “8th man” minutes from King Hippo, but that’s all. Too bad, because I am enjoying the season’s new meme.

  4. BJD95 11/09/2013 at 8:15 AM #

    Never forget MG’s most memorable line (which sums up his philosophy very well) – “They gotta guard us too, pal!”

  5. bsly 11/09/2013 at 8:24 AM #

    Who is Rodney Purvis? I’m very impressed with Lee so far. I really like Turner too. He may not be as great of a shooter as Wood but he can do it all. He’s a great all around player. I think Lewis and Barber are going to be fine playing together.

  6. Adventuroo 11/09/2013 at 8:34 AM #

    Without dragging this out…..as far as the “Prime” sections go….

    Agree that HS football could have been an issue.

    BUT, think of all the different ways that NCSU (the AD and the WPC) have TRIED to make it easier to get tickets “MOVED”.

    I remember a “Donate” campaign. You can NOW do it electronically.

    In addition, if you want to transfer (give, sell, barter, exchange, whatever) you tickets, then all you have to do is come by the PNC and fill out a simple form (envelope?) at the Will Call. They will actually do the “passing along” for you. I have had to miss a few games and could not arrange for a personal handout. Take the tickets and fill out the form…and the all someone has to do is show up with the NAME and an ID and bingo….tickets to get in.

    It is VERY easy, in today’s electronic interchange to let folks USE tickets….as well as in the conventional manner.

    Other than taking a digital of the each section at random times during each half and then having a software program that identified the empty seats and sending out email reminders, I do not know WHAT else to do…

    Maybe some enterprising lads and lassies in the Computer or Engineering department could do this as a project. Seems to me to be a simple thing…..

  7. Alpha Wolf 11/09/2013 at 9:44 AM #

    My only gripe about the “prime” positions were the two Appy jacklegs on the front row, center court behind the benches yelling out every time we shot a free throw.

    Back in my day, in Reynolds, that wouldn’t have happened, and if it did, that guy would have gotten a Coke poured on his head, or worse.

    Get off my lawn. 🙂

  8. packalum44 11/09/2013 at 9:57 AM #

    Are we really 10th in the ACC? As Huggins sarcastically said during West Virgina’s first year in the Big 12, this must be a really good league. Hopefully the turnout is different (they ended up sucking).

    We have gobs of talent. Dez Lee is much better than I expected. We won’t have a problem scoring this year our backcourt is dirty good and the offense doesn’t rely on having a Bill Walton just as long as the bigs can rebound and defend. TBD.

    Ralston Turner would be the 1st or 2nd best player on most SEC teams. I didn’t even notice him last night – not meant in a bad way, just that we didn’t need him to score. Do play defense though.

    Our guards/wings (Turner, Dez, Cat) are athletic and have much more lateral quickness than Zo, who was a liability last year. Lewis has improved but will continue to be a liability on defense b/c of his height – he’s actually athletic and quick. Point is he’s improved and seems to optimize what he has but he was targeted in the 1st half.

    Cat can be scary good one day. He had back to back turnovers trying to do too much in the 1st half but that is not unusual for someone with his ability to want to drive to the hoop in his first college game despite the opposing team having 4 guys in the paint. He settled down in the 2nd half.

    Overall, what a refreshing “down year” to have. One game against vastly inferior players is hard to make a prediction. I can say we looked talented and better than I expected.

  9. SqlWolf 11/09/2013 at 12:22 PM #

    Adventuroo, I believe there are already systems in place that could be used to support an unused seat filling system. The dudes who scan our tickets at the entrances use a bar code scanner that confirms the ticket presented by the attendee. A little bit of data capture and some simple processing could be used to allow the folks in the higher sections to move from their seat in 2xx or 3xx down to 1xx after the first half if the ticket for that seat in 1xx wasn’t scanned at the entrances. Seems pretty straightforward. Of course, I am not familiar with the data capture systems at PNC (if they even exist) and there may be some effort involved to integrate the wishes of those no-show ticketholders with the systems to allow access to the empty seats.

  10. Whiteshoes67 11/09/2013 at 1:01 PM #

    ^I’m not suggesting Lewis and Barber shouldn’t play together, only that as the season progresses, I think you’ll see less and less of that combo on the court for extended periods, especially when Warren is playing the 4. You get a lot with Lewis. You also give up a lot on the defensive end. It’s the Steve Nash scenario. Basketball isn’t about putting the five best individual players on the floor, it’s about putting the five best parts that make the best team. I thought there were a lot of good rotations last night, just not the starting five. I really liked Freeman, Warren, Turner, Lee, and/or Lewis/Barber. Thought that was easily our best offensive/defensive rotation.

    I’d add that I think the Barber and Lewis tandem could work well if Gottfried was committed to speeding up the game by running some full and half court press. But that doesn’t seem to be in his arsenal. I’m fine saying we’re not a great defensive team, but we’ll outscore you. If you’re gonna take that approach, then you need to try to avoid the half court defensive sets against bigger, more physical and athletic teams

  11. TeufelWolf 11/09/2013 at 1:46 PM #

    With how young our lineup is, it is unbelievable to me that Purvis would transfer. It had to be his on inferiority complex that led to that. There was no way he wouldn’t have been getting tons of minutes this year. Oh well, without him leaving, we wouldn’t have gone after/attracted/landed Dez Lee and HE seems like a huge upgrade in every facet.

    Oh and it was good to see Justin Gainey last night.

  12. Wulfpack 11/09/2013 at 8:45 PM #

    We are anywhere between 7-10 in the league. It is a great league. Could get 8 or more bids.

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