Pack baseball travels to SC

Today at 12 noon the Pack take the field against Louisville (unranked, ranked #22 last week). The Cardinals top 3 pitchers have allowed zero earned runs in 12.1 innings. Wow. Those 3 also have 16 K and only 3 BB. I foresee the Pack getting the best from UL, the Cards play The Citadel on Saturday and NC A&T on Sunday.

GoPack is reporting that NC State will send junior lefthander Eric Surkamp (1-0, 0.00) to the mound to face Louisville, which will counter with Big East preseason pitcher of the year Zach Pitts (1-0, 0.00).

Zach Pitts was/is: ‘08 Preseason BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year, ‘08 Preseason Louisville Slugger All-American, ‘07 BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year, ‘07 First team All-BIG EAST.
2007 stats for Pitts: 10-3, 2.52 ERA, 121.2 inn, 105 H, 24 BB , 91 SO, 4 HR, .231 BA against

2007 stats for Surkamp: 4-5, 3.47 ERA, 96 inn, 92 H, 27 BB, 84 K, 8 HR, .254 BA against

Surkamp coulda shoulda been 10-5 last season. 6 of his 7 no decisions he left with a lead or tied. He’s only a sophomore, but really matured and showed great potential last season.

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State loses pitching battle 3-1.

Thoughts:
Could have had a big inning when we scored that one run.
Surkamp made one mistake.
We only drew one walk. |
2-3-4 went 0-12
I’m still excited about Pitching /DEF performance
nobody K’d more than 1 time (trying to find something positive)

Fergie goes Steve Kerr on FSU

FSU goes up 12-0. State doesn’t score for the first 5 minutes of the game. Then, we only make one more bucket over the next six minutes, scoreboard: 25-6.

Down 19, a frustrated Lowe calls in the reserves: Ferguson, Smith, Johnson and Horner.

“I thought our starters were just awful,” Lowe said after the game.

Fergie had apparently been watching some old Chicago Bulls or San Antonio Spurs footage of Steve Kerr draining threes. Fergie hit a three 3-pointers in the last seven minutes of the half. (the Pack reserves outscored FSU 15-0 in the half)

And another reason we call them CaroWHINA

The Chapel Hill News sports writer Eddy Landreth (send him an email) pridefully climbed upon his soap box (I’m sure the editor has a loaner that gets passed around the ‘news’ room) Sunday morning and proceeded to inform the public of how ashamed NC State ought to be of the now infamous Hansbrough bloody nose poster hoisted up by a member of the NCState baseball team at the State – Carolina game.

In the article, Landreth demands that the State player be suspended from the baseball team, and in his words, “so should Wolfpack baseball coach Elliott Avent for allowing it”! HAHAHAHA What a loser!

What really gets me is this line: “Mocking a serious injury, one that could have been even worse had Hansbrough been knocked unconscious and hit his head on the floor, should not be acceptable.” What kind of failed logic is this?

‘You shouldn’t be so mean, he coulda been really hurt, whaaaa!’

And if my Aunt had a beard, she’d be my Uncle. The fact is that he wasn’t hurt that bad, so get over it. If he would have been really hurt no one would be making fun of him. But since he plays mad as a hatter (hence the nickname Psycho T) he places himself in a position to get physically injured.

Oh, and here’s where he gets down to the brass tacks: “And before all you Duke and State fans bother writing hate mail, just save your fingers. If you have an ounce of human decency, you know that baseball player acted wrongly.” HAHAHAHAHA. Oh my gosh, this guy must be one over the eight.

I implore each one of you who reads this post to send this guy an email, be sure to read his article first though so you can make your own informed response. I don’t want to be responsible for anything I may have unintentionally misrepresented.

A picture says a thousand, ugly words

State sucks again

What can I say? I didn’t see the game (stupid FSNY had on hockey even though the listings said they’d have the NCSU and UNC games on today), but I think that was a blessing in disguise. It looks like Grant, Hickson, and Fells all had bad shooting nights (a combined 8-22 from the floor) and Fells and Grant had ZERO free throw attempts!

Hey, the baseball team won 14-4 today! 2-1 record.

Why a winning conference record is important

I posted yesterday on how now 7 ACC teams have .500 or above records. Why is this important? I searched around for the stats (I knew the general idea, almost all ACC teams with winning conference records make the NCAA Tournament).  Alas, I found the proof I needed.

From 1985-2007…

10-6 / 9-5 Or Better = 100 Percent
The ACC had 68 teams finish four or more games over .500 in regular-season conference play. All 68 of these teams made the NCAA Tournament. NCAA bid rate: 100 percent (68/68).

9-7 Or 8-6 = 91.3 Percent
Of the 23 teams in this group all but two, 2000 Virginia (9-7) and 2006 Florida State (9-7), made the NCAA Tournament. The record of the other 21 is pretty darn impressive. Three of the teams — Georgia Tech (8-6) in 1990, UNC (9-7) in 2000 and Georgia Tech (9-7) again in 2004 — went all the way to the Final Four. Six others made the Sweet 16. Only four of the 23 lost in the first round. Those are pretty amazing numbers for teams that finished barely above .500 in ACC play, and that’s a huge endorsement for the quality of play in the conference over the years. NCAA bid rate: 91.3 percent (21/23).

8-8 Or 7-7 = 80 Percent
20 teams. Sixteen of those teams made the NCAAT. Another, 1992 Virginia (8-8), captured the NIT championship. Georgia Tech (8-8) declined an NIT bid in 1995. The 2005 Virginia Tech (8-8) team had only 15 overall wins on Selection Sunday, and no 15-win team ever has received an at-large NCAA slot. The 2006 Maryland team (8-8), which was 19-12 on Selection Sunday, lost in the first round of the NIT. Overall, only three of the ACC’s last five 8-8 teams made it. NCAA bid rate: 80 percent (16/20).

Thanks to Dave Glenn for the stats and analysis.

ACC hoops Saturday notes

OK, what an interesting day in league play today. Here’s the aftermath.

Entering today, the ACC was as follows:
1 – North Carolina
1 – Duke
3 – Clemson
3 – Maryland
5 – Wake Forest
6 – Virginia Tech
7 – Miami (FL)
8 – Georgia Tech
9 – Boston Coll.
10 – Florida St.
10 – N.C. State
12 – Virginia

Here are the movers of the day.
Maryland falls one place from 3rd to 4th.
VaTech moves up 2 spaces from 6th to 4th.
Wake Forest falls from 5th to 6th without even playing.
Miami wins, but stays in 7th place.
FSU moves up 2 spots from 10th to 8th.
GT falls from 8th to 9th.
BC falls from 9th to a tie for 10th.

So, with only 6 teams playing, 6 teams moved.
Two up two, four down 1.

SEVEN teams are at .500 or above in conference play.
This cannot be effected by tomorrow’s games.