Pack Gets Pivotal, Ugly Win

06-07 Basketball General67

It wasn’t a thing of beauty (aside from the storybook night for Senior walk-on Justin Clark), but it was crucial. NC State will not suffer the indignity of being seeded 12th in the ACC tournament. Sidney Lowe will not start his college coaching career with a losing record, unless post-season is involved. NC State 73, Wake Forest 66.

5 ACC wins in what is, by the numbers, clearly the best conference in the land, is a solid accomplishment, given our roster limitations. Congratulations to the coaches and players. And thank you, Engin Atsur.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

06-07 Basketball General

67 Responses to Pack Gets Pivotal, Ugly Win

  1. Dan 03/01/2007 at 12:10 AM #

    You look back on this season, and there were a few games there that the Pack failed to show up and play.

    Four more conference wins isnt going to take that big of a jump.

    The PG puzzle needs to be solved. Preferably by competition. Still, we have a solid chance at getting back into the dance next year.

  2. coppertop 03/01/2007 at 12:20 AM #

    Absolutlely! We have alot to build on and a great foundation for the future. The Pack exceed my expectations for this year and am glad to see a possible post season. I am proud of the team and am looking forward to seeing what happens next year and in the upcoming tournament. Not sure who we will face but if we play like we did against UNC at home, we at least should be able to put ourselves into a position to win at least 1 more game!

    Good luck and thanks to all the seniors!

  3. SuperStuff 03/01/2007 at 7:05 AM #

    Those 12 games Engin Atsur was missing from the line-up and coming back at half speed really made it difficult for Coach Lowe. A sweep of Wake this year is great. Go Pack!

  4. wufpaxno1 03/01/2007 at 7:48 AM #

    Wow! Where did Justin Clark come from? If he can finish out the rest of his career, what little remains, with solid perormances like he had last night he may give us what we are sorely missing going into the post season…more depth!

  5. CaptainCraptacular 03/01/2007 at 8:12 AM #

    Great win, I’m glad for the guys and especially Atsur. But on a down note I’m still not convinced we have an NIT berth wrapped up. With Dean Smith on the selection committee and only 32 slots available..theoretically RPI 66 through 102, I don’t have a total warm fuzzy about that. Yes I know, RPI means little or nothing in NIT selection.

    Just sayin… Dean is only one vote.. but I wouldn’t rule out any shenanigans.

  6. wufpaxno1 03/01/2007 at 8:24 AM #

    Don’t kid yourselves. The NIT needs revenue to keep itself going. Selecting NC State will bring revenue. The NIT bid was locked up last night, no question about it. My hope is that locking up a post season berth will ease the pressure on this team and that will allow them to play well at Maryland and in the ACC tournament. I like what Engin said about not being satisfied with an NIT bid. It would be nice to see a win at Maryland and a deep run into the ACC putting us on the NCAA bubble. This may be only a dream, but we had to dream in ’83 and that turned out pretty good.
    The NCAA does look at strong finishes.

  7. RickJ 03/01/2007 at 8:28 AM #

    Justin Clark > Ralph Kitley

  8. zahadum 03/01/2007 at 8:40 AM #

    Good points, Dan. Just for speculation fun, imagine if next year we do these 4 very achievable things:

    a) average 2 less turnovers per game
    b) force 2 more turnovers per game
    c) average 2 more offensive rebounds per game
    d) give up 2 less off. bounds

    That’s a difference of probably 8 to 12 points per game right there.

  9. Rick 03/01/2007 at 8:44 AM #

    As good a year as could have been hoped for given the personel left and the injury.

  10. jwrenn29 03/01/2007 at 8:46 AM #

    Or even a 16 point difference, as each of those represents a possible 2 point swing. 2x2x4=16.

    Great job NSCU. Great job Coach Lowe. I don’t think I’ve been so happy or excited about NCSU basketball since the mid-80s! Sorry Engin ended his career on such a year, but then again big men kept leaving early from our program…

  11. redfred2 03/01/2007 at 8:56 AM #

    You can’t help but admire Sidney for the minutes that the seniors got last night. Hey, and how about that Fletch (Justin Clarke) what a gritty kid. He’s 6’6″…6’9″ with the afro…

    Seriously though, Engin Atsur’s name will stay with me as one of the most solid four year performers we’ve ever had. He’s been rock solid through out and I hate to see him go.

  12. TNCSU 03/01/2007 at 9:07 AM #

    I admire Coach Lowe for starting Clarke and Neiman. I also liked his post-game comments about their play and preparation – esp. Clarke, who we hadn’t seen.

    Was the PG from FL, Javi Gonzalez, at the game? What was the crowd like last night? Was the RBC filled?? I couldn’t get a feel from reading everything what the atmosphere was like.

  13. noah 03/01/2007 at 9:11 AM #

    Five conference wins…that’s five more than I thought we’d win after seeing the exhibition game against that DII team from South Dakota.

    I honestly thought this would be the worst NC State team ever and would compete with the 1980-81 Ga. Tech team for the worst ACC team in history. That GT team won four games…Newberry, College of the South, Flagler, and Presbyterian. That’s it.

    And yes, I thought we were that bad in November.

  14. highonlowe 03/01/2007 at 9:16 AM #

    Let’s wait for an official announcement before we congratulate ourselves on an NIT berth. GT, FSU, and Clemson are all at 6 wins so if the NCAA invites only 6 ACC teams into the 64, leaving these guys out, then our chances are pretty slim.

  15. CaptainCraptacular 03/01/2007 at 9:25 AM #

    *The NIT needs revenue to keep itself going. Selecting NC State will bring revenue. The NIT bid was locked up last night, no question about it.*

    Still not convinced. I’ll just sit back and let things play out, to keep from setting myself up for disappointment.

  16. Mr O 03/01/2007 at 9:29 AM #

    Noah: I thought the same thing. I wondered if we would win a single ACC game. Then McCauley and Costner turned themselves into borderline all-ACC players If someone would have told me would win five games this year in the ACC with Atsur suffering a major injury and other players having minor injuries, then I would have told them they were crazy.

    3-2 vs. Tobacco Road this year. A sweep of Wake Forest is big in terms of pushing their program into further turmoil while separating us from them a bit for in-state recruits over the next few years.

  17. Texpack 03/01/2007 at 9:35 AM #

    I’d feel a lot better about the NIT bid if we could win at least one game in the tournament. Looks to me like FSU in the first round.

  18. noah 03/01/2007 at 9:38 AM #

    McCauley got DOMINATED in that game against that church league team from S. Dakota. He got pushed around by a skinny albino kid who looked like a good candidate for a lunch-money mugging.

    Costner was totally lost. The only ACC-caliber player we had that night was Grant. I think we were down eight or 10 points in that game before coming back.

  19. BJD95 03/01/2007 at 9:41 AM #

    To be fair, we started Braxton Albritton, right?

  20. highonlowe 03/01/2007 at 9:43 AM #

    I just hope Wake doesn’t wise up and dismiss Prosser for a couple more years.

  21. TNCSU 03/01/2007 at 9:44 AM #

    I think someone got mixed up yesterday. Albritton is a junior, so didn’t they honor, Atsur, Neiman, and Clarke — and not Albritton?

  22. TNCSU 03/01/2007 at 9:44 AM #

    DID honor those three, not didn’t…..

  23. BJD95 03/01/2007 at 9:45 AM #

    Clarification – we started Albritton against that SD rec-league team that almost beat us.

    We started Clark and Nieman, along with usual starters Grant, McCauley, and Atsur last night.

  24. GoldenChain 03/01/2007 at 9:46 AM #

    I must be the only one that feels this was but heck, we barely beat the #123RPI team, despite Wake’s A player playing only 12 minutes.
    And what was that on the offensive glass?! Wake had 22 offensive boards! They only shot 34% to our 51% and yet we had to sweat bullets toward the end.
    I for one will take what we got and be thankful that Sid was able to rally his think ranks for a few huge wins to reinvigorate the faithful for things to come. The kids are tired, don’t put them through the extra work just so they lose an NIT opening game.
    How can you not be happy for Clark, 3/3 and 4 assists. Makes you wonder why he hadn’t received some chances earlier.
    Atsur was one classy and rock solid player and a credit to the university.

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