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NC State has already defeated South Florida on the gridiron this year…so it is kind of fun to have the opportunity to take the Bulls on at PNC Arena
[See the full post at: South Florida @ NC State]Nard does a great job on the boards. What I liked about today’s game was that we won a lot of the 50/50 balls. I think the offense will improve. If the foul shooting doesn’t we stand a good chance of missing the dance.
Foul shooting will probably improve marginally at best. Those of us who played the game realize foul shooting is part mental and part mechanical – you either have it or you don’t. Unfortunately, this team does not have it and I agree that the lack of good free throw shooting will keep us from being anything but mediocre.
It was an interesting game. We never were able to put them away. We struggled a bit in the first 3 games….but always had a good margin.
Tonight, we were up by 10 or so about 5 minutes into the 2nd half and we barely pulled it off. That final 3 looked awful good. Listening to the post game coaches comments…..
I would say that the SF coach (he and assistants are NO slouches….Cal trained them) was fairly upbeat. Gott was disgusted. It was like the losing coach was more upbeat than the winning coach.
In the last 3 minutes or so, I had horrible flashbacks to Central….
When all cylinders are NOT clicking (as in Turner pulls a “Scott” and goes cold) and Cat really TRIES too hard, we have issues.
The “friendly competition” between Cat and Tyler was MORE obvious. When Lacy got a really big “edge”, Cat looked like his old out of control and desperate self tonight. NOW, he had made GREAT strides, but he got out played (and out faked) at the end and turned over the ball.
Anya was a surprise start. And he did well….but he still does not have the stamina to run up and down the court….for 35 minutes.
Caleb Martin was a blessing. Des Lee has been in the dog house….or maybe he just got “outplayed”. I do not think that he played in the last game. He came in tonight and energized the defense. He missed a critical 3, but Gott game him one of the warmest “Atta Boys” that I have seen Gott give anyone when he shut down SF’s offense at the end. His 5 or so minutes were the difference.
My opinion…..it is OVER. We dodged a bullet….we need to improve….we got another opportunity to play against a zone….something that we will get almost every game….
Free throws…..Shmeee throws….I think that everyone is stressing way too much over it. It is now our own personal “albatross”. Gott has commented that if he keeps beating it….it will become a huge negative. We need a shrink to fix it. From what the announcers and the coaches and the players say, we can shoot them WELL in practice and Gott has “penalties” for missing such as running laps. We just need to get our head on straight. If we had put SF away, ala ORW and Mikey, then there would be NO mental pressure on making critical FT’s…
I disagree. We’re showing far more signs of being a mediocre team than a good team. Can’t see us beating Purdue on the road. I’m sure Alpha tires of hearing this. Making the tourney is our ceiling. Hope I’m wrong. Next year and beyond look promising though.
^ and you’re ready to make that call 4 games into a season in which 1st year players and 2nd year players (at least 2 of which have transformed their game) account for almost every meaningful minute of playing time?
How many pity parties do you attend annually?
Yesterday was a real grind, but they fought through it and survived. I can live with that. Still like this team very much.
Missed the game thread b/c I dvr’d the game so I could watch Denver give me several heart attacks against the f-ing Dolphins.
Missed the game thread b/c I dvr’d the game so I could watch Denver give me several heart attacks against the f-ing Dolphins.
… this is messed up in more ways than one…
and worse than trying to discuss whether is it more true that Gott’s kids can’t or won’t pass OR whether they cannot get in position and catch the pass that’s not been made….
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!I did not get to see the game. I was spending time with my father and brother which is a lot more important IMO.
I kept an eye on it on my phone. If we do not get the FT shooting fixed prepare for many games like the NCAA tournament game last year. It will be “hack a pack” at the end of every game.
I agree the FT misses can get out of control mentally and take on a life of their own. It’s not something that needs to override the entire performance, or the outcome of the game.
But, it’s something you have to keep hammering in practice/personal time. It’s simple muscle memory and keeping your head clear. The only way you do either of those is through massive repetition.
If you look at yesterday’s line objectively, we’re only four misses away from shooting 80%, and you can’t ask more than that. Certainly still a problem, but it’s not the end of anybody’s season! Four points at the end of any game, is a BIG margin.
If Freeman and Anya had made one more, and Cat made two more, we’d be talking about how good our FT shooting was. We’re close.
^charger.. I like the way you think…. we’re that close…
crunching your concept another way shows this…
for the season.. we have made 79 out of 121 free throws = 65.3% as a Team
if we had made just 6 more in those 4 games (1.5 more each game)… we would be shooting 70.2% as a Team
and if we had made just 12 more in those 4 games (3 more each game). .. we would be shooting 75.2% as a Team70% Team shooting is the minimum….
75% is what Top 20 Teams do….Now when you look at the individual numbers…
You can’t really point your finger at any one guy and say he’s the problem…
Not saying that some don’t better than others…
Just everybody is real close to that 70% minimum….
We just don’t have that 95% guy and I don’t think we have a below 60% guy this season…Finally… it’s too early to tell where we really are…
…you really need 15-20 total attempts to start to get a statistically valid percentage….
and after four games… only Lacy, Barber and Lee have taken that many free throws..#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!And if Harrison Barnes had hit one more shot a game…
No reason to play the “if only” game. We had better improve FT shooting or it will be a long and very frustrating year. It is still early so no need to panic but it is concerning.
I watched the game on replay. There were lots of positives:
– 4-0: Eyes on the prize. The record matters more than anything else and we got another W. Look at what Clemson, BC, Syracuse and FSU are doing non-conference, and we’re going to need every one we can get.
– Defense on USF’s Perry. The kid was averaging 20 a game coming in, and our waves of defenders held him to 1/2 that while fouling him out.
– Anya with a good all around game.
– Lacey carrying the load.
– Des coming in cold off of the bench with 5 minutes left and providing a key defensive spark. The original post here kind of blasts him, but I felt like we wouldn’t have won without him.
– Spurt-ability of this team. It felt like every time USF would get close, the Pack would go on a little run.
– Caleb Martin: Looks game ready to me.There were some issues:
– I would agree with Rick, there’s no reason to do what our fans deride UNC fans for (so called “Curry math”). The FT shooting is what the FT shooting is — not that good. That’s been consistent under Gott, so I don’t see it changing.
– Cat: This is the type of game where he should have been the dominant guard, and that just wasn’t the case. He’s also got to make clutch free throws because the ball will be in the PG’s hands.
– Killer instinct: As with FT shooting, the other issue that seems consistent with Gott’s teams year in and year out is a general lack of killer instinct. We had several chances to just blow this game open and didn’t do it. The same thing happened against Hofstra.
– I love Anya and his spirit, but he’s going to get T’d up in ACC play. This will happen against UNC and Duke.
– Breaking a press: Again we struggle despite effectively playing 2 PGs and putting 2 other guards (Turner and Des) on the court. You wouldn’t think that this is a team that could be easily pressed, but we were rattled again. We’re going to have to clean this up.
– 3 Point shooting and zone offense: We saw a zone and settled for just chucking shots up over it. The results were atrocious.
– Perimeter defense: It looked like USF was playing a variation of Calipari’s dribble drive offense (which to be fair is really a High School coach’s offense). Our big men bailed us out time and again, but the guards are going to have to move their feet better.The Purdue and West Virginia games are going to be huge. We can’t go 0-2 in those.
I know it is ridiculously early, but our RPI after yesterday’s game sits at 29. We have some teams on the horizon who also currently have a very good RPI (Boise 13, WVU 24, Richmond 46). By way of comparison, last year we were sitting at 3-1 with an RPI somewhere in the 90s. Like I said, its crazy early, but where we are is much better than where we have been.
ryebread,
Interesting take on the weaknesses. You would not expect a guard heavy team to have those problems.I must have missed it, but I’m glad that KW did some scoring for us for a stretch. Somehow he’s been struggling to find his role before that. I agree that more of his shots should come closer to the basket; somehow he thinks he’s a deep jumper shooter and he’s more effective further in. We need his offense.
I don’t expect we’ll see too many games where combined Turner, Lacy, and Cat will all shoot that poorly from beyond the arc; yet we won. They should attack the zone, and that’s where our interior players incl. KW come in.
I’m interested in historical shooting percentages stats on Sundays. at 4pm. Doesn’t seem like a good time to be energetic. We’re also expecting our sophomores to play like upperclassmen, and that’s not how it works. See where they are midseason though. The Lacey and Lee turnovers gave USF the chance at the end, combined with the free throw shooting. More practice against the press.
Caleb Martin and his brother add another dimension to our team. Maybe Caleb can be included in the all-guard style lineup? 6-6 is an optimal basketball player height (happens to be Kobe Bryant’s height), as it creates matchup problems for either guards (shoot over) or forwards (drive around).
Good things:
1) KW hit some REALLY big shots in the second half. Such a throwback offensive player.
2) In the first 30 minutes, we were great from the charity stripe. This tells me it’s in our heads, and once we break through that mental barrier, we will be at least adequate closing out games.
3) Trevor Lacey. He good.
4) Twin A. He also good.Bad things:
1) Duh, the last 3 minutes.
2) Did not adjust to dribble penetration. Like, at all.
3) Using Frenchie with 4 guards at the end. He’s the worst FT shooter, and we need ALMKH to alter shots in the lane, or else it’s easy bucket central (and we will need 100% FT shooting to keep up).
4) Only 5 blocked shots? WTF, ALMKH??*remind me what the ALM means, please
KH took a charge! Did everyone see that? And he played like 28 minutes! One possession, when he had the ball at the high post, he held the ball securely over his head and made a great bullet pass to Caleb for a made 3. He is our best big right now, no question, and he should be because he was rated higher by the gurus. When the guards and wing players get him more involved offensively (not just scoring, but touches), we’ll be a nasty team.
That was a pretty good USF team we played. Better than what Vegas thought at +15/16 points.
But we also underperformed, although only slightly. It will be a frustrating ride with Gott…we know from experience that he’s never going to out-coach the Tier 1 coaches and he’s never going to optimize our talent. He’s a poor man’s Calipari/Roy where he wants to have the best talent. Not happening here but he’s the best we had since V.
Anyways my prognostication puts this at a 15-25 ranked team by year-end. We have a grade A back-court with serviceable big men and a defensive gem in Anya (though despite his wingpsan he may get served by Tier 1 centers).
A gutless team is what we learned Gott can field but by virtue of normally distributed outcomes we could still get lucky and make a run in the dance.
2) In the first 30 minutes, we were great from the charity stripe. This tells me it’s in our heads, and once we break through that mental barrier, we will be at least adequate closing out games.
Concur. You can see it’s mental. It was written all over their faces.
I am pleased with the win and with the start to the season. I did not watch as I am an NFL junkie and have family in town that are the same. I did record and might get to it later this evening.
Hopefully your recording ends with about three minutes to play. If it doesn’t, make sure you have a stiff drink in your hand.
*remind me what the ALM means, please
“A Leaner, Meaner …”
FT shooting can improve with hard work but more problematic imo is shot selection and defense. Our adjusted defensive efficiency is still not very good so far. It’s about par for the course for Gottfried’s teams. I think we rank in the 80s nationally. Our RPI is good, so maybe that number improves as the season progresses.
Shot selection, however, has really got to improve if this team is going to be as efficient as Gottfried’s past teams. I think we’re in the 50s right now, and we’re not turning it over much, just shooting a much lower percentage. There has to better role recognition among the guys on the court, a more concerted effort to get the ball inside, and better all around shot selection. We have 2-3 guys who generally don’t force the issue, but there are some others with a quick trigger. I think we’ll see more and more of Twin 1 at the 3 as the season progresses.
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