Pack Preseason BBall Schedule Entry (Updated)

07-08 Basketball General86

July 4, 2007 Update
State to play Presbyterian College. (Link)

June 4, 2007 Update
“ESPN Regional Television, Inc. (ERT), a subsidiary of ESPN, announced today the schedule of matchups for the 2007 Old Spice Classic, to be held on Thanksgiving weekend at the Milk House at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla.” (Link)

“In the first round of action, beginning Thursday, Nov. 22, Penn State will take on South Carolina; Rider will face North Carolina State; Central Florida will meet Villanova; and Kansas State and George Mason will square off. All games on the first day of action will be televised on ESPN2.”

State’s game with Rider will tip around 2pm on Thanksgiving Day.

Previous Entry
NC State will host the Davidson Wildcats on December 21st and will return the trip in the 2008-2009 season. This link to today’s Charlotte Observer discusses more specifics.

At this point, we know the following related to the Wolfpack’s out of conference schedule for the 2007-2008 season.

Nov 22 – 25 – in Old Spice Classic in Orlando, FL

Nov 28 – @ Michigan State in Big-Ten Challenge (Link)

Dec 21 – vs Davidson

vs High Point

vs Cincinnati

@ East Carolina

vs Presbyterian College

vs South Carolina State (Link)

(State and Davidson) haven’t played since 1995. Both have been mentioned in preseason top 25 polls for next season. Davidson went 29-5 last season and has every scholarship player returning, including freshman standout Stephen Curry. N.C. State returns four starters from a 20-16 team.

Davidson already had scheduled two games at Bobcats Arena against ACC opponents. Davidson will play North Carolina in a 7 p.m. game televised by ESPN on Nov. 14 and will play Duke on Dec. 1. Wildcats coach Bob McKillop said it hasn’t been determined if the Duke or N.C. State games will be televised.

We can only hope that if State does have to travel to Davidson next season that the game will be hosted in Bobcats Arena so that Wolfpackers can attend and enjoy Uptown/Downtown Charlotte.

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07-08 Basketball General

86 Responses to Pack Preseason BBall Schedule Entry (Updated)

  1. PackHooligan 05/22/2007 at 12:28 PM #

    I would hope we would only agree to a return trip if it is in Bobcats Arena

  2. packpigskinfan23 05/22/2007 at 1:01 PM #

    that NCState Michigan St game should be a good one. always love the acc/b10 challenge!!

  3. packbackr04 05/22/2007 at 1:39 PM #

    love the schedule, way to go QT

  4. Astral Rain2 05/22/2007 at 1:44 PM #

    That’s actually a semi-dangerous Non-conf schedule. East Carolina the only real scrub team in that. Even High Point might be somewhat dangerous, since they finished behind Winthrop in the Big South and I think they get all their guys back, they have a good shot at a tourney bid next year.

  5. redfred2 05/22/2007 at 2:01 PM #

    I love playing Davidson, they are local and worthy.

    Astral, the word is “challenging”, and why would we want it any other way?
    I was at the Wofford game last season, Sidney Lowe’s first real game in Raleigh. Yep, it was me, my daughter, and the other twelve people scattered around and sitting in that section. Maybe Davidson can supply some of their own fans to help make an early trip to the RBC a little more exciting for us.

  6. packbackr04 05/22/2007 at 2:32 PM #

    we need to get back at cincy for this year too

  7. PackHooligan 05/22/2007 at 3:51 PM #

    “@East Carolina” . . . . shudder

  8. Astral Rain2 05/22/2007 at 5:22 PM #

    Yeah, I don’t mind semi-dangerous, it will look good in March when we’re fighting for a decent seed, or to get in.

  9. Gene 05/22/2007 at 6:09 PM #

    I’m not blown away by the schedule. The Old Spice Classic could provide better competition, yet George Mason, which may not have recovered from the senior led Final Four team, may just be another above average mid-major, Kansas State, which may or may not have recovered from Huggins departure and I don’t know if they lost out on Beasley (I think is the kids name), who was a big time recruit, may fall back to being a mediocre Big 12 school, Penn State, a Big Ten doormat, Rider-eh, so what, South Carolina, nice for old time rivalries sake, but not a high caliber team, Villanova, the marque team in this tournament, and University of Central Florida, again-eh, so what…

    Michigan State should be a good game, but we weren’t in control of that selection (I assume, though I’m never sure of how the Big 10/ACC Challenge picks the pairings).

    Davidson is a quality mid-major, with a solid program, but again not a big time game. Same with High Point. ECU is an embarrassment.

    Cincinatti struggled last year and I don’t know how much they’ll improve. Again a mediocre team, unless they really surprise everyone, who is playing in a mediocre conference.

    We do not have any big games so far this year. No Alabama’s, Washington’s, Notre Dame’s, like we’ve squeazed in the last few years.

    We’ll need a couple of legitimate NCAA tournament teams, on top of MSU (and if we get to play ‘Nova), to make me feel good about this OOC, otherwise, this is not much different than what we’ve had to deal with the last few years. If the mid-majors do well and make the NCAA’s, than our SOS is good, if not, it’s not so good.

  10. Texpack 05/22/2007 at 6:10 PM #

    This is the kind of opponent that will upgrade the OOC SOS by not having an RPI over 200. This could end up helping our RPI significantly. If you want to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament in March, you’d better position yourself for a seeding of 1-5. RPI pretty much determines your seeding.

  11. DRW 05/22/2007 at 7:07 PM #

    I still cannot believe we are playing AT ECU!!!! WTF?

  12. JimValvano 05/22/2007 at 8:38 PM #

    I just wonder if Andrew Brackman is rethinking his decision at all…I think he would’ve been worth a little more had he been able to maintain the excuse of not being able to focus on baseball. Looking at his stats…in comparison to Erik Surkamp…I think I’ll take Surkamp in the draft instead. It sure would’ve been interesting to see his production under Sid. Oh well…here’s the stat line for Surkamp (All ACC 2nd Team) and his fellow NCSU pitcher Andrew Brackman.

    ERA W-L CG IP H R BB K 2B 3B HR OpBAvg WP HBP
    E.S. 2.94 4-3 1 85.2 75 32 25 75 9 2 7 .239 1 6
    A.B. 3.81 6-4 1 78.0 78 41 37 74 11 3 7 .264 12 10

    E.S.=Erik Surkamp
    A.B.=Andrew Brackman

    Here is the link

  13. PackerInRussia 05/22/2007 at 10:01 PM #

    Here’s an article from ESPN a little while back in which they say that Davidson was the “best RPI opponent” last season. It’d be easier to read the article than for me to summarize what that means. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=afc&id=2842544

  14. Luke12321 05/22/2007 at 11:23 PM #

    This is a very good game. Local school that is very solid. I watch alot of Davidson games and know the team very well. Like said earlier, they lose nobody and gain some solid recruits. We will have the advantage on the inside. Outside, we will have to find a way to contain Curry and they have a solid senior PG in Richards who will be very hard to rattle. They can shoot the three ball very well and we will have to step out and defend. It will be interesting to see who gaurds Curry (He can fill it up from outside, just ask Maryland! I watched that game and Strawberry got all he could handle and more and he was a great defender). I think we will win the game though with our bigs overpowering and hitting the boards. I hope we can get some more quality teams on the schedule. Anyone know what the chances of us playing Nova and K-State in the Old Spice tourney is? How the tourney is laid out…ect.

  15. Astral Rain2 05/22/2007 at 11:41 PM #

    I’d say Mich St and Davidson are locks to make the tourney, and High Point is likely the co-favorite in the Big South, Cincy is a Big East team so shouldn’t be a drag even if they do stink, and I think they’ll be better next year. Isn’t W-Va on the schedule as well somewhere?

  16. bTHEredterror 05/23/2007 at 1:16 AM #

    I think we completetd the home and home with WVU and Bama. It will be interesting to see who they get to replace them on the schedule, but I hope Davidson isn’t one of ’em. They are a good step up game and will be a great game opponent, but I would like to see a couple more big names on the list this year. Tennessee, Georgetown, a Big 12 team maybe (Okla St). These are gettable games, as each of these teams has a recent history of playing anybody, and wouldn’t hurt your RPI even if they have a down year. The first two sound especially fun to me.

  17. highonlowe 05/23/2007 at 9:06 AM #

    I think this is a terrific OOC schedule so far.

    Also, sorry if this is late, but Tracy Smith is signed and fully qualified. To say this is good news is an understatement.

  18. JimValvano 05/23/2007 at 9:54 AM #

    Yup…he’s signed: http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/commitlist.asp

    One other thing of note…Hickson has moved into the Top Ten in Rivals recruiting rankings. Please also note the drop of one-time targets Julian Vaughn and Chris Wright.

    http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?SID=910&Year=2007&ra_key=1611

  19. Gene 05/23/2007 at 10:18 AM #

    Why do I feel like the only person, who isn’t have a schedule-gasm because we added friggin’ Davidson to the schedule?

    I remember being embarrassed watching us lose to them in December ’93, at Reynolds. This is not a marque game. This never has been a marque game.

    We need a few Davidson’s, UW-Milwaukee’s, etc., on the schedule, but with mid-majors it’s sometimes hit or miss. They often win because they have senior led teams, but when the seniors graduate, the team falls down a bit. Happened last year when we had Valpo, which had been a very good mid-major, but had lost a lot of talent, from the prior year and was having a down year.

    If we can get a home-away series with someone from a major conference, than I’d be excited. But Davidson isn’t doing it for me.

  20. TNCSU 05/23/2007 at 10:23 AM #

    That’s a huge drop for Wright (and Vaughn). Really lets you know that our coaches do their homework, and don’t rely on what rivals or scout says about certain players.

  21. Gene 05/23/2007 at 10:27 AM #

    Hickson has moved into the Top Ten in Rivals recruiting rankings.

    Does anyone know what our ’07 Class has been ranked nationally? Or do we have to wait for the rankings?

    I’m curious what the pundits think about Lowe’s first recruiting class.

  22. redfred2 05/23/2007 at 10:35 AM #

    Is it just here, involving NC State and being generated by the overly concerned types who still bring up Chris Washburn everytime there is an opportunity? Or are these kids qualifications right in line with some of the other kids coming in, *much more quietly though*, at the other schools?

    I haven’t seen anything anywhere near this concern in the general press, involving these admission concerns, as I have right here on an NC State site. That goes for ours or the recruits coming in at any other school, so I have to believe that some of these folks within the NC State fan base are still our own worst enemies with regards to recruiting. I don’t know about actually learning anything from a mistake from back a looong time ago, but one thing is for sure, there is no doubt that some are never going to let it die. Once burnt, shy for the eternity.

    Everything has changed, some of those infractions from WAAAAY back may, or may not, even be relevant these days. Let’s not spend too much time drawing too much attention to things that others don’t seem to be too concerned about within their own programs. I don’t really like the idea of our own fans being the ones drawing all the targets on our own chests.

  23. redfred2 05/23/2007 at 10:51 AM #

    Gene, everything I’ve seen about recruiting class rankings has us around 19 nationally. Those are from a while back though, I don’t know how that ranking would change if they were to be updated now.

  24. Gene 05/23/2007 at 11:04 AM #

    I don’t really like the idea of our own fans being the ones drawing all the targets on our own chests.

    I haven’t been following things closely, but I don’t think anyone is too concerned about the academics of Smith or anyone else. But I may have missed something.

    I think the academic support infrastructure is well enough in place, that it’s not just up to the coach, to make sure players are pursuing degrees and going to class.

    So hopefully academics will no longer be an issue, irregardless of who is recruited.

  25. RedTerror29 05/23/2007 at 11:34 AM #

    I’d rather play Davidson than some crappy school from a BCS conference. It’s become clear in the last few years that the best mid-major schools are much better than the mediocre BCS schools.

    We should have a road game at Bobcats Arena at least once every other year. We have the opportunity to play a very favorable game RPI-wise, in front of a friendly crowd, and get exposure in the largest city in our state. I’m not as quick to write off Charlotte and everything west of it to the Tarheels like some Pack fans seem to want to do. As the largest university in the State, our footprint should be felt from Murphy to Manteo. Back to the games, with quality programs like Winthrop, UNCC, and Davidson in the metro-area, we should always be able to find a good RPI-matchup to play in Charlotte.

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