Rivals ranks NCSU class of 2009 at #13

From Rivals.com:

13. N.C. State
2009 commits (National rank)
PG Lorenzo Brown (43)
PF Richard Howell (51)
SG Scott Wood (126)

The Wolfpack love the I-85 pipeline down to Atlanta. After securing J.J. Hickson two years ago, Sidney Lowe and staff have mined Georgia hard for talent. The results have been positive in 2009 with Brown and Howell. Both should help from Day One. A mini Indiana connection is also growing. Last year, the team landed Julius Mays. This year, Wood is the latest Hoosier State player to head south to Raleigh.

When hate overrides logic

We are NC State fans, Wolfpack Nation, the good ol’ boys, and we HATE CAROLINA.

I think more than that though, we hate Carolina fans. Those ungrateful, arrogant pricks take any and every opportunity to open their face holes and vomit some line their parents taught them or they overheard at Wal-Mart while picking up some gear on clearance.
If we take an objective look at the recent state of, well, State, I think we should reevaluate our enemies. When it comes to loathing a team and fan base the past 5 years, it is a toss up between Duke and Maryland. Between Duke’s dumb luck and Maryland’s inmates fans, no one has caused us more misery on the hardwood or football field respectively.

This isn’t really even my point though, my point is this: Even though we hate them, we should quietly cheer UNC success in the NCAA Tournament. They are the ONLY remaining ACC team, do we really want the conference to have NO TEAMS in the Elite Eight? Final Four? After the dismal season we had as a conference, it would almost surely knock us down a rung on the dominance ladder of recent history. Carolina losing does not benefit us in any way right now. For the greater good, it makes no sense to wish UNC to fail at this point.

Preview of ACC Tourney (Updated 3/10)

First of all, you guys have had some great banter going on in the threads below. I very much enjoy reading your perspectives, inputs, and recollections. I am indeed very honoured to know that such well informed fans visit my humble little blog.

Second, we had a medical emergency at my house yesterday, thus my absence from the blog this weekend. Last I heard we sucked it up against WF and the baseball team split with UVa (not sure how they faired today).

Here’s a breakdown of the ACCT teams, times, and tv availability. I hate to say UNC looks like the favorite. I have Clemson and Miami as my dark horses. Well, Clemson isn’t really a dark horse this year statistically, but don’t tell me you wouldn’t be surprised to see them playing next Sunday.

And let’s not forget about our Pack. Honestly, they have a pretty easy road considering they are the 12 seed! I mean, finish last and have to play Miami and then VaTech to reach the semi’s? I would say this year it’s better to be the 12 seed than the 8 or 9.

UPDATE: This from Canes Rising

This is a tough draw for the Canes. Not only does NC State have a history of deep runs in the ACC Tournament when little is expected of them (like last season for example, and who can forget 1997?) but they also have recent history working in their favor: Since the ACC expanded in 2004-05 the last place team HAS ALWAYS upset the highest seeded team playing on the opening day. Miami was twice part of this scenario: being upset by Virginia in 2005 and upsetting Maryland last year.

First Round – Thursday, March 13

Game 1- No. 8 Wake Forest vs. No. 9 Florida State, noon, Raycom

Game 2 – No. 5 Miami vs. No. 12 N.C. State, 2:30 p.m., Raycom

Game 3 – No. 7 Georgia Tech vs. No. 10 Virginia, 7 p.m., ESPN2

Game 4 – No. 6 Maryland vs. No. 11 Boston College, 9:30 p.m., Raycom

A stranger reminiscing over David Thompson

When the present is forgettable, let’s remember the past. I honestly have no idea who this guy is, don’t even know where he’s from, but the entry recalls his most memorable hoops experiences growing up. I’m not sure if the order means anything, but number one on his list…

1974 – N.C. State, led by David Thompson, ending UCLA’s stranglehold on the NCAA title with a pulsating 2 OT win in the National Semis in the Greensboro Coliseum. Thompson was 6-4…and he blocked Bill Walton’s shot with ease. Thompson was the greatest player I ever saw play in person. If you’re not old enough to remember him, please take a moment this month and look him up. Absolutely one of the toughest, most determined guys I ever saw play the game. Talk about playing above the rim. I then saw the Wolfpack finish the deal against Al McGuire’s spunky yet out manned Marquette Warriors. Al got a technical in the game. Al ALWAYS got a technical, now that I think of it. We miss you, Al.

Oh my goodness! I had never seen that video before. I know there are much more visually impressive David Thompson videos, but I have never seen one displaying his raw ability to go vertical before. Unbelievable. It impressed upon me how we may truly never see athleticism like that ever again. It also reminds me how far we have fallen. Oh to be in State fan in the 70’s and early-mid 80’s. My first basketball memory was a State – Carolina game in ‘84. I honestly don’t remember a thing about it. I remember where I was, which house we were living in, even the tv. And I remember something deep down in my soul assuring me that UNC was evil and NC State was the good guys. In this time of despair, let’s remember why we are State fans.

Looking ahead by looking back

Do we have a chance? History shows a hot point guard, a strong athletic big, and a slashing 2/3 can give us a chance.

Rewind to 1997… (I mean, the current team has more talent right? Let’s compare.)
Damon Thornton = JJ Hickson
CC Harrison = Courtney Fells
Oshua Benjamin = Gavin Grant
Justin Gainey = Javier Gonzalez

Plus, we have Big Ben, Fergie, MJ, Costner, Tracy Smith.

I’m sure some of you older guys can help with my analysis and comparisons (I was a Sophomore at Garnder-Webb Univ that season, and didn’t have cable!). Of course this does not measure the intangibles. I seem to remember Gainey being cool as a cucumber. Thornton played aggressively and intimidated opposing players with his physical style. Plus he was a good rebounder. Osh was more like Juluis Hodge than GG, a slashing creator who took care of the ball. CC brought the dagger, I just seem to remember him making big shots.

In 97 we were eighth-seeded (out of nine teams) and won the play-in game vs FSU. From there, the Pack upset regular season champion (and #1) Duke and 4th seed (#5) Maryland to make the final. Unfortunately we run out of gas and lose to #3 Carolina.Justin Gainey played well during N.C. State’s 1997 run — so well that Herb never took him off the floor. Gainey played all 160 minutes of State’s four games.

The increased media exposure in college basketball has given the players more breaks. There are eight scheduled timeouts for television and/or radio commercials. Throw in five timeouts for each team and there can be — and often are — 18 stoppages during a 40-minute game. Not to mention a 15-minute halftime.

Anyways, I’m just saying, it’s possible for a run in the ACCT. Especially with the stepped up play of JG. But like then, it would only get us to the NIT.

The enigma we call the ACC schedule (UPDATED!)

Update: The site VegasWatch.net has a nice article observing the idiosyncrasies of in-conference scheduling, mainly the imbalances of every big conference minus the Pac-10 (which is still a round robin). They highlight 5 teams in all: VaTech, Wisconsin, WV, NCSU, and Illinois.

I don’t think this gets enough attention; people compare teams’ records within the conference, and don’t look at the context of these records. So I thought I’d look at the teams who have played the easiest and most difficult schedules, relative to the other teams in their conference.

Virginia Tech
The Hokies are on the bubble, mostly on the strength of their 9-6 ACC record. Do not be fooled by this. With 12 teams and an a 16 game schedule, they have played two games against five of the other 11 ACC teams. As we all know, there are only three good teams in the ACC- Duke, UNC and Clemson. Virginia Tech has been lucky enough to play each of those teams only once. If the Hokies had doubled up against those teams instead of BC, Wake, and UVa, I doubt we’d be talking about them sneaking into the tourney.

NC State
This team is terrible, and obviously their schedule is not hindering their tournament chances, which are non-existent. But they sure have had it rough. As mentioned previously, in the ACC you double up against five teams. NC State is the anti-Va Tech; they’ve played Clemson, Duke and UNC twice each. This doesn’t really effect anything, but it really sucks for them.

Anyways, point is, it isn’t just us State fans the recognize how we got the short straw this season. I am starting to believe that the ACC should go to a divisional system in basketball too. Of course, even if it’s not beneficial for us we WANT to play UNC and Duke home and away (well, just home if we could) each season. Unfortunately, that recently results in 3-4 losses.