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Did you know??? Emily Lou Harris is a UNC-G grad also. Was there at same time as Jane.
What I know about unc-G?
Well, a lass by the name of Lisa Jones from East Guilford HS went there as well and helped pay her way through school working at Rick’s Cabaret back in the day.
Stage name was Dixie.
I would always sing to her, “I wish I was in Dixie, HURRAY, HURRAY!!! In Dixie’s glands I’ll hold my stand”.
Fun, fun.
McCallum
Unlike football a single player often makes the difference. At times yes the same applies to football but not that often. Yesterday the Spartans were the better team. Maybe it is one of those loses that makes a difference in attitude or maybe foreshadowing. There we shall see.
I was there. I don’t know if it was as ugly as last year’s loss to William & Mary, but it sure wasn’t pretty.
I don’t know yet which direction this program’s headed, but games like this aren’t much to build on. I just don’t understand why, with a 20,000-seat arena, membership in America’s premiere college basketball conference, and a storied basketball history, why we can’t have a better non-conference schedule, especially at home. EVERY season, our OOC home schedule stinks. You simply can’t build a successful program at this level with cupcakes.
This game was so important to today’s Greensboro News & Record that it was on page SIX of their sports section.
Beating us isn’t a big deal anymore, not that it has for some time now. It’s what’s expected.
Our zone offense is offensive. I knew we would struggle against Syracuse, UVA, Clemson and the Pack it in stall ball teams, but I didn’t see this one coming. It is hard to play 4 around 1 when none of the four can really shoot. Hopefully help is on the way.
To salvage this season:
– Bang it inside
– No threes until a big man has touched it in the paint
– Green light needs to come off AF.
– Beverly should never throw another cross court pass against the pressOne seems to forget the out of conference preseason schedule that the Thompson teams played – Buffalo State? Of course they won those games. You don’t win consistently and you are fish wrap.
Nothing has changed my opinion of this team or coaching staff. Most good teams have a WTF game in out of conference, it happens. And we aren’t a good team. We have nights where we are good. But we are lucky to be average. We have no consistent 3 point shooters. We have one player that can create his own shot. We lose the rebounding war in almost every game. This isn’t a knock on the coaching staff as I think they have put these kids in the best position for them to succeed. Thats all you can ask of a coaching staff. Recruiting looks good for future years. Most of what is coming in can do the things we are lacking this year. Patience is what is required.
As for scheduling, we play in the toughest conference in the country. Why would we schedule more than or two tough opponent sin out of conference? Where is the benefit?
grey: I will tell you I haven’t given up on the Pack. If you look back at my preseason prediction, as well as my post game comments after the Arizona win, they are consistent. I’ve been pretty clear that I felt like this team was going to struggle against teams that pack it in around the basket and play zone. They’re going to surprise some teams that are willing to go up and down with them.
If our strategy against a zone is to stand around and chuck up the first open look from the perimeter, then we’re really going to struggle given our lack of shooting ability. If this is the philosophy of our coaches, then we had better be recruiting shooters (though we seemingly have at least one sitting on the bench). I think there’s hope that it gets fixed this year, but it’s got to get fixed by going inside out, driving the lane, etc.. It’s not going to be fixed passively tossing the ball back and forth between two guards standing around the hash lines and not even trying to score until about 13 seconds left in the shot clock. Saturday also wasn’t the first time that the offense has completely stalled out against a zone, and without some buckets, we seemingly can’t set up the press.
We’re also in big trouble if AF has the green light on every possession. Packi’s got the stats, but he’s currently one of the least efficient players in D1 basketball. Good kid, plays hard, always draws a tough defensive assignment, but just not a primary scoring option. He’s likely what we’ve got, but given that, we need to spread it out more.
Let’s not polish this thing too much. UNCG got their 3rd all time win against an ACC team on Saturday. They did it with a massive run that spanned 25+ minutes of live action. It was the reverse of the Penn State game. That was the definition of ugly. Step up, own it, and move on. I saw KK doing that in his refusal to make excuses due to Markell’s absence.
There’s a lot of basketball left to be played. Realistically, we’re picked near the bottom of the ACC, and that may just be where we finish (though I still think we’re going to do better than 12th).
Also, our non-conference scheduling has been odd to say the least. I appreciate the focus on academics during exam weeks, but between the game spacing and diet of cupcakes, we’re potentially in for a shock when league play starts. Our first opponent just got a win against Florida, and that should be one of the easier games on the schedule. We just lost to a SoCon team (which good ACC teams just don’t do). This needs to improve next year. It was one of the few bright spots of Gottfried.
I have not thrown in the towel either but yes there are issues. There are both pros and cons this year. I see a lot of good and some bad. Offense against a zone it in the bad category. Lack of focus at times on defense (but at least the team now actually plays some defense). I wonder if the disruption from the Johnson suspension started this downward spiral or if it is a product of oddly timed games coupled with the Johnson issue. Being year one I’m willing to ride the storm but I do see choppy waves ahead.
I’m with ’97 and Rye on this one. We’ll definitely struggle this year. We are clearly trying to make lemonade this season and Coach KK has done an admirable job of cobbling together a decent line-up out of transfers and the leftovers from last year. For my money only Abu and L. Freeman are ACC-caliber players right now (and maybe A. Freeman on his good nights). The rest will (hopefully) grow up and get coached-up as the year goes along. (Braxton Beverly, I believe, IS definitely an ACC-ready guy but he’s a true freshman and will need time to grow into the job.) I will give Torin Dorn an “A” for effort pretty much every day, but he’s probably not truly an ACC-calibre player either – yet hustle can still make a huge difference for the team. Y7 is improved over last year and he may be a dominant player eventually, but as Rye observed above we’ve GOT (with only one “T”) to get the ball inside and take advantage of our size – especially over a team like UNCG. It is clear that we will likely win the games where we shoot the three well and lose those where we do not. Hopefully, this will not be KK’s whole offensive philosophy in the future, but for this year, I’m willing to give him and the team a pass and look forward to the future.
I don’t think live and die by the 3 should be our offensive philosophy this year – unless maybe Y7 is shooting them. He should be getting a lot of the shots that go to Freeman either way. Hopefully, KK recognizes that and is just trying to get the guys to buy in – but the limited minutes for Y7 in the last game concern me. Wasn’t able to watch it, but didn’t somebody say he only got 16 minutes?
I understand going small to defend their short guys, but we could have gone big and forced them to adjust. Y7 is likely just as good as our guards and chasing a small guy outside and having him run right around the defense to the hole.
Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy. Mao Zedong
44 I disagree with Y7 comments. I believe he is a decent player, but he still has a long way to go. He misses wide open shots under the basket, and has a tough time with putting the ball on the floor.
Pack1997 – do you even watch games this year?
He had made 25 of his last 30 shots. He is shooting 65% for the year.
He was 3 for 3 Saturday.
I don’t know why he didn’t see more minutes vs UNCG.
To be honest, I found his lack of playing time coupled with some others abundance of it more disturbing than the results of the game.
Chop: I agree regarding Yurt. It seemed like the staff was really focus on getting abu worked back in, thinking it wouldn’t matter too much because we were going to win that game. Better to win closer than we otherwise would and have Abu more ready for ACC play. Fine if it works, but you’ve got to win the game.
Abu in there took minutes away from Yurt (who is scoring at will every time he gets a real touch), moved Dorn off the four (where he’s been stuffing the stat sheet) and really actually hurt us on offense (Abu loves that 18 footer), defense (that big Euro kid went crazy with 3s), and rebounding (despite our size advantage and shooting woes we lost the board battle). It is a situation where the +/- doesn’t reflect the flow of the game.
Hey, so far this year has been better than anticipated. Wins against Psu and Arizona. Could we have beat Tennessee or Ni or Uncg, yes. But still better than anyone thought before season. Look at what other teams are doing. Almost every team outside the top 10 has a Wtf loss. Archie had one last night…fort Wayne? College this year has been crazy with no names beating name programs. Our biggest problem right now is that we didn’t schedule enough games the last 4 weeks of the year. That’s not on Keats.
I have not watched the last 2 games. 18 month old twins keep me from watching ever game. However I can break down Mickey Mouse Clubhouse like a champ. My biggest co ain’t against Yurt has been him missing open shots around the basket. If he is making those, then that’s great. But he won’t be a stud for us when we hit ACC play. Heck he will most likely be in foul trouble every game along with most of our bigs.
1997: Yurt’s been better in every single game this year than he was last year IMHO. Whether that translates to the physicality of ACC play remains to be seen. Right now he’s playing better ball than Abu probably ever has in a NC State uniform, and the team is definitely playing better ball around him. I get that Abu is a freakish athlete, but I don’t think that he has the basketball skills that Yurt does.
The huge surprise for me has been Nard. He looks like a man playing among boys, is taking it to the rack with assertiveness, and is shooting around 75% from the free throw line. KK’s system allows the big men to put up some ridiculously good numbers, and Nard’s been the primary benefactor. Of course a lot of that is due to all the hard work he’s put in. It’s great to see a Senior break out this way, particularly one that has been injured.
If you and Chop and say he is playing better then I am sure he is. The games I have watched this year, and it has been quite a few just none recent, Yurt was noticeably better. I just didn’t think he was someone you try to get the ball to. That was mainly due to the missed baskets around the rim. As a big man, you have to finish around the rim, period. If he is doing that now then thats great. My comments about fouls were mainly about the change in how games are played and ref’d when we hit ACC play. It’s night and day compared to out of conference. For example, UVA is allowed to foul at will and it is called good defense. But hey thats what you get when you ref according to tendencies.
Rye – Y7 has played better than Abu ever did? Prove that with stats from conference play. Yes he has improved greatly but I think you have been drinking a bit much here.
I appreciate how long some of us held out before we gave up on the Pack.
Come on. Discussing the game and the issues we see are hardly ‘giving up’.
I agree with Rick. Discussing issues is not throwing in the towel. I personally am heartened by what I have seen overall but it isn’t perfect yet.
^THIS…
It’s ALL good as long as there’s no micro-analysis in December…
One game at a time… we’LL know what we got THIS SEASON by February…
for now… it’s just…LET’S GO WOLFPACK!!!
POP!!!
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Yesterday I was looking at a ’72-’73 Pack BB media guide. It seems the pre conference season opponents are on the same level today. So the meme of not playing anyone tough pre conference is not a new thing. What is different is that team won all – and in fact all other than Guthridge and the NCAA. This year’s team is not the equal of course but I do see promise. I also see losses if they don’t come ready to play.
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