Your “Bounceback Road Win…Hopefully” BC Game Thread

Wow. That was ugly, huh?

I mean, I expected us to look overmatched in Chapel Hill. But just….WOW.

The Pack (12-4, 1-2 ACC) kinda took it on the chin this past weekend. Of course, with the game delay due to the winter storm, one of the themes during the game was “NC State wanted to play this game last night”.

Lemme tell ya something…. Ain’t no winter storm ever caused a beatdown like that. Did the game becoming delayed from Saturday night until Sunday afternoon cause some issues? Some changed routines? Of course it did.

Did it feed us a 51 point defeat….?

No. Sorry.

But at the same time, we are not as bad as we looked in Chapel Hill. I hope. At least I don’t think we are.

The good news? Even a 51 pt drubbing at the hands of our not rivals was not only not terribly damaging to our overall resume thus far…but our RPI is up this week.

Now….it’s time to bounce back, learn from the beating, and get some W’s.

I hope.

With BC, GT, Pitt and Wake in the chamber the next two weeks (the latter 3 at home, btw), the time is now. Just saying.

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Boston College

The Eagles (8-8, 1-2 ACC) are not good. Beating them will not necessarily improve our RPI…but losing to them will damage it fairly significantly, even on the road. We should be able to take this one. I mean they’ve lost to Harvard, they’ve lost to Richmond. They’ve lost to both Fairfield and Hartford. THEY’VE LOST TO FREAKING NICHOLL’S STATE!!!!!

That being said, they did manage to buck up and take down ‘Cuse at home. So one never knows.

But it’s an opportunity for a conference road win, RPI be damned. I hope we don’t have too big a hangover from Sunday’s beatdown.

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DSJ = FOTW

College basketball freshman rankings: NC State’s Dennis Smith Jr. starting to rise (CBSSports.com)

Freshman of the Week: Dennis Smith Jr., NC State

This was one of the toughest weeks so far this season to decide on FOTW. Smith wins it narrowly over the likes of Creighton’s Justin Patton, Minnesota’s Amir Coffey, Kansas’ Josh Jackson, Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox and UCLA’s Lonzo Ball. A really nice week for the first-year players in this sport.

Yes, Smith and his NC State teammates got absolutely steamrolled by North Carolina on Sunday, losing by 51 and sending a blast of panic through State fans hot enough to melt the snow that blanketed the Triangle. But from an individual standpoint, Smith had a big week. NC State’s had just two triple-doubles in its history, the second coming last week when Smith put up one of the best single-game stat lines we’ve see this season: 27 points, 11 boards, 11 assists and five steals on 56-percent shooting in State’s 104-78 win over Virginia Tech.

And he’s up to #5 overall

5. Dennis Smith Jr., NC State

Last week: No. 6

19.1 PPG, 6.4 APG, 4.2 RPG, 2.2 steals, 50.0 2-pt%, 38.4 3-pt%, 112.1 ORtg

We covered Smith’s season and most recent week above. So what’s next? At Boston College on Wednesday, then home vs. Georgia Tech on Sunday. Smith will have two opportunities to go ham, as both those teams lack the athletes in the backcourt to handle him. But what I’d like to see more of: consistent effort on defense. Smith has the ability to be a top-level defender, but he’s not shown that throughout this season. He’s not bad, or even a liability, but if Smith puts it all together and really commits without the ball, then he enters into the conversation for No. 1 overall pick.

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NC State @ BC

Coverage: RSN (FoxSportsSouth/FoxSportsCarolinas, etc)

Also ACCNetwork Extra (ESPN3) but subject to blackout.

Time: 9pm

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