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To say there has been no improvement is factually incorrect. To say there has not been sufficient progress is most likely true in all aspects. Areas that really need more work of course are free throw shooting and offensive rebounding with defense to a lesser degree.
Sorry, anyone that thinks this team is bad hasn’t been watching. Sure, we go through stretches in every game where we don’t play particularly well, but we are not bad. Not by any stretch of the imagination. With only two exceptions, there has not been a game this year that we didn’t have a chance to win. Learning to win is something a young team has to do.
I also feel that some fans are WAY too caught up in the playing time area. Every player in our rotation is important. They all get important minutes, and we need every one of them. We have the longest bench of any State team I can ever remember, under any coaching regime. Our guys all cheer each other on, and I feel that they genuinely enjoy playing with each other. Yes, I’m sure there are players that would like to play more, but that happens on every team. The important thing is that the players get in there and play hard when asked. Lewis certainly made an impact with his time in the game. Vandy could have sulked about being on the bench during the second half, but he came in at the end and made at least two great plays. That’s what you want in good team basketball. Yes it was GT, and yes we should have won in regulation, but none of that really matters does it?
The key to this team is movement. When we move on offense, good things happen. The high-post UCLA offense is predicated on movement to get the screens and rubs that allow guys to get open. Too often this year when we have struggled on offense, it is because the guys are just standing around. Even if the other team is in zone, you still have to move. And on defense, guys have to move. Whether it be man or zone. We got burned many times yesterday when someone failed to shift after another guy went to help on a scorer. But late in the game, we went to the zone, and were actually aggressive and moving in the zone, and it worked great. Hopefully the guys learn these lessons and we continue to improve.
I enjoy watching these guys play together. I said it the first game of the year, and I will continue to say it. Reasonable folks knew there would be growing pains this year. We’ll lose some we should win, and vice versa. But these guys are fun to watch, and I’m excited for the future.
Buckets, BSW, KW, and KH should all be excellent free throw shooters. But they’re all awful.
Warren is shooting 71.8% on the season. He should be better, but I wouldn’t call that awful. Agree on Turner and Washington, given that they appear to be good jump shooters.
We just suck real bad it’s awful to watch. Not Sidney Lowe awful however. Silver lining.
“New Noah” has spoken.
Good to get a win. Good to see some 2-3 matchup zone. Good to see Lewis step up and play some ball. And I agree with others re: Turner. I called him a chucker earlier this year and meant what I said. But he has greatly improved his shot selection.
I can’t help but look at this team a little differently than simply ‘you win and you’re good; you lose and you’re bad’. I think they are getting better. I also think they are going to be on the receiving end of more (hopefully not too many) drillings this season – particularly considering the road-heavy February. But as long as noone totally hits the Freshman wall, this team could be a dangerous team in the ACCT (and beyond…?). I would take that for this season, and expect better next season.
Sorry, anyone that thinks this team is bad hasn’t been watching….With only two exceptions, there has not been a game this year that we didn’t have a chance to win.
Les Robinson and Sidney Lowe have pretty much defined “bad” for State fans. And by those standards, this team is not bad. However, there is a long way between that level of “bad” and any reasonable definition of “good”.
My definition of “no chance of winning” is a little different than yours.
74-62
95-60
76-45
68-57Combine those scores with no Top-50 wins and a loss to NC-Central, and there is no reason to think that this team is good.
There is bad, and then there is BAD (awful). This team is not awful. In previous years, it has been hard to identify why we couldn’t play up to expectations; last year for example. This year, our areas of deficiency are much more identifiable, and hopefully, fixable at some level. The GT game (which we did WIN by the way) showed that we can play good zone defense up until the point where we need to rebound, we continue to shoot free throws poorly, and our freshman point guard does not need to be shooting 3’s right now. If we just “fix” those three problems, or improve a little bit, we win that game by ten points easily.
Last year, we all complained about some hard-to-define lack of chemistry. I think this year’s squad works well together. They are just young. Yesterday they were two points better than GT, and that’s good enough for me right now.
We were picked to finish 10th, and we’re holding at 8th, with close wins at over bad teams and embarrassingly bad defeats at the hands of better teams. Should I feel pleasantly surprised at our standing in the league? Or should I feel like the bottom is about to drop out?
^ I fell in love with this team watching them play Tenn. It has been a long time since I saw NCSU players that involved, that dedicated, that together, going for one goal. It was like watching a V team as they scrapped and then huddled up. There was love and fire in those huddles.
These boys will get better because they want to. Coaching or not that fire will make them better.
And you saw one other key, Cuz was the man when it counted. Keep doing that and he could be POY.
Count me among the VaWolf and Choppack camp. This team may not be terrible, but it’s a long way from good. GT and ND are not good basketball teams. That zone you saw on Sunday will get carved to pieces by good basketball teams. Gottfried needs great offense to offset poor defense. This team isn’t as skilled right now 1-5 on offense as his previous two. And I’m not sure he plays to its strength. They desperately need to play in transition more, which is dependent on getting stops and rebounding. Or they need to speed up the tempo with pressure, generate turnovers, or force teams to take quick, bad shots.
State was also 13-7 in 1983, the ultimate WTF is this season. The fan base at the time would have had this same conversation. We aren’t dead yet and won’t be until the ACCT is over. Tip of the hat to TJ Warren. 42 out of 45 minutes, 7 of 12, 1-1 from 3 and game winner. More bad -ss than bad ankle.
Come on guys….
Let’s take a little walk over to Winston Hall… ya’ll remember Winston Hall don’t you?
Are the words… “Team” and “Record” (as in Wins & Losses) synonymous ???
Last year’s squad of veterans, was by all accounts and any measurable standard, not ‘a good team’ that finished with good record and a dance ticket…
This year’s squad of kids is already a whole lot better TEAM than last year’s… but their record may not end up with as many ‘W’s or a dance ticket.
Us beachboys think alike… too many ‘fans’ are focusing on the wrong things…
If you want to build a championship program…. build the best Teams….
The ‘W&L’s will take care of themselves.If you just want to make some noise… just settle for and be satisfied with some Wins.
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!I’m excited by what we are seeing.
In the pre-game Sunday, the GT coach said (paraphasing) “They are a good team, just very young and inconsistent. They need to work on consistency.”
Before the Duke game Coach K said in the pre-game, “They are a really good team. They’re just very young and need experience.”
Back in pre-season the Pack press generally said, “The team has a lot of talent, but they are young and will have some bad nights.”
Gott told us before the season began, “This is a very young team. We are building the foundation for the future. But they are going to be fun to watch”
Guess what? On the nose, four for four.
^ wow, snark much?
We’ve won two conference games in a row. Man, you must be really miserable after a loss.
Hate the coach?
Hate the some or all of the Players?
Hate the refs?Hate basketball?
If someone told me before the season that this team would be 13-7 at this point, I wouldn’t have argued with them. The “hows” and “whys” of that record may not have been clear before the season started, but watching the team play, I stick by my opinion that on any given night, we are capable of winning without playing “perfect” ball.
Also, look at the landscape of college ball right now. Aside from a handful of teams, there aren’t any world-beaters right now. I would make the argument that if you hopped in the way-back machine and turned two of our WTF losses into wins, a 15-5 Pack team would be creeping on to the top 25 radar right now in the “others receiving votes” category. Of course, we can’t do that, and our record is what it is. But it just shows the razor fine line that exists between pretty good and middle of the road.
There is still a long season left fellas. The important thing is that the team continues to learn and build on what has happened so far.
By all means, finish your thought VaWolf82. 13-7 in 1983 or 13-7 in 2014 is the only comparison I made. The game itself, the coaching staffs and the players are vastly different. Nobody then or now has any idea how this team turns out. If they did, they could have stuck it to every book in Vegas then or now.
And VAWolf, you can’t just look at final scores to determine if a game was winnable. We were up double digits on Pitt. That was a very winnable game. We also had a chance in the Cinci game, there were 12 ties and 8 lead changes in that one, they only pulled away late. The only two games where we flat out tanked were Duke and UVA, but neither of those was really a surprise.
The thing that’s “bad” about this team is the fact that we’re a long way from being good and are blowing a great opportunity to rise above many if not most of the other ACC teams.
Right now, Virginia Tech is THE bad team in the ACC, but Boston College and Wake Forest will eventually join them. Notre Dame and Clemson are also likely candidates for Wednesday at the ACCT, and that 6th team may be us.
The NIT should not be this team’s goal. No Tobacco Road ACC team’s goal should ever be the NIT. That’s like saying that our goal should be simply a bowl, which requires only a 6-6 record.
RE: willwolf80’s “razor fine line”…
For this year’s Team… that simply boils down to this…
Five less turnovers…
Five more rebounds…
Five more free made throws..and a little bit of luck….
EVERY game for the rest of the season….
Or as Mr. Dog or Crash Davis would say…
” a gaper, a tweener, a dying quail or a groundball with eyes… once a week..” by each one of our kids….#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!I’m just amazed at the rosy-red view after beating one of the worst teams in the conference. It’s certainly way better than a loss…but it doesn’t feel me with confidence for the remainder of the year.
Different Subject:
For those that haven’t seen the new ACC tourney format:“Five less turnovers…
Five more rebounds…
Five more free made throws..”I said practically the same thing earlier, so of course I agree. 🙂 For instance, if Turner makes one FT at the end of OT, we don’t sweat the last shot so much. (I still have nightmares about Florida’s Hail Mary winner in ’10). If he makes both, State wins.
Those are attainable mini-goals that can add up and pay off big. It’s similar to “win the first 5 minutes of the second half”, etc. Break the game down to smaller chunks, especially for the young guys.
^Yep… Break the game down to smaller chunks, especially for ….
Rick.
:>}
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!I don’t think anyone is feeling rosy red VA, just not all of us think the sky is falling all the time. I sat next to a guy in the PNC, and thirty seconds after tipoff he starts talking about how we are going to lose,Gott can’t coach, etc. I mean damn, that must be a miserable way to go through life. I root for the team hoping for the best, but knowing that even on the worst day, it’s just a game.
One of the downfalls of being a young team is that you can lose to anyone. One of the advantages of being a young, talented team is that you there is room for growth over the course of a season and you know its about peaking at the right time. I think both “factions” will agree with these statements. I agree that surviving GT at home, is not a great indicator of future success, but they will have opportunities to turn some kind of corner, while they’ll continue to gut these games out until each closing bell. Alex Johnson (two years ago) going from bricking every shot to being a key cog of offensive production was such a small but pivotal thing.
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