yeah we got tracy smith next year. who needs mccauley?

i did feel bad for mccauley though. he never stops hustling. usually he just tries too hard though (and turns it over or takes bad shots in the post).

2/18/2009 10:24:53 PM

I wish he'd make some free throws because eventually, he'll start getting some of those calls where he gets hacked to shit and get to the line more

2/18/2009 10:25:18 PM

yeah Trace needs some more practice at the line, especially with how good he is at drawing fouls

i just dont get the hate on mccauley or fells and all the "next year" stuff...this year isnt over...we still have mccauley and fells...our only really really tough game remaining is at wake...we could make tournament noise...and since the NIT is the most likely postseason scenario if we finish fairly strong, we can win a few of those games too

maybe i'm just not as mad about this loss as some of you, i dunno, i guess i saw it coming and still saw positives about our play

2/18/2009 10:28:12 PM

since tracy has joined the starting lineup, hes been a beast. I look forward to his game for the next 2 years

2/18/2009 10:31:40 PM

Roy williams just said "fucking" on the radio

2/18/2009 10:36:22 PM

duh there's already a thread about that, don't you know you were supposed to create/post in a thread dedicated to it

2/18/2009 10:36:54 PM

Quote :

"yeah Trace needs some more practice at the line, especially with how good he is at drawing fouls i just dont get the hate on mccauley or fells and all the "next year" stuff...this year isnt over...we still have mccauley and fells...our only really really tough game remaining is at wake...we could make tournament noise...and since the NIT is the most likely postseason scenario if we finish fairly strong, we can win a few of those games too maybe i'm just not as mad about this loss as some of you, i dunno, i guess i saw it coming and still saw positives about our play"

wat?

the team is exactly where i thought it would be. i said last year that we would make the nit this year. does it mean i'm not upset? hell no, of course i'm upset.

but i'm actually seeing lots of positives. and those positives are that this team is continuing to improve and that lowe's recruits have show A LOT of improvement over the past year or two. that coupled with the recruits we have coming in next year and the year after that, i'm not going to be upset that we're losing mccauley and fells (who, in comparison to lowe's recruits, have the tendency to pout, sulk, and disappear).

[Edited on February 18, 2009 at 10:42 PM. Reason : ]

2/18/2009 10:40:37 PM

Quote :

"this team is continuing to improve and that lowe's recruits have show A LOT of improvement over the past year or two"

exactly, which is why i dont get the I HATE FELLS AND MCCAULEY stuff...we look a lot better than we did a couple weeks ago

[Edited on February 18, 2009 at 10:44 PM. Reason : .]

2/18/2009 10:43:47 PM

yeah i don't hate em. just won't miss em.

because of what sid is bringing in. but i am grateful for their time at nc state of course.

[Edited on February 18, 2009 at 10:47 PM. Reason : i don't mean to totally crap on them]

2/18/2009 10:46:56 PM

well i think this argument wouldn't even be taking place if you had left fells out of the statement. McCauley has gotten worse since his sophmore year. Fells has not. He's been injured and he's still one of our best defenders...he IS the best when he's healthy. He is also good on offense with the exception of his boneheaded passes which haven't been as bad lately.


I'm just saying that you're right about McCauley, you're wrong about Fells. Tracy has been damn good in the post the last 2 games and I'm most impressed with his decision making as far as when to drive and when to pass. He can be as good if not better than McCauley was at his best.

2/18/2009 10:52:03 PM

Quote :

"McCauley has gotten worse since his sophmore year"

if hickson were still here, mccauley would play only to give smith and hickson a breather.

2/18/2009 10:55:17 PM

just got back from the dean dome. our boys didn't make us look bad at least and i thought the first half we looked really good. (actually turning the ball over less than unc). it really is crazy how quiet the crowd when they're not cheering for a dunk or for tyler hansborough.

2/18/2009 10:55:27 PM

Quote :

"we look a lot better than we did a couple weeks ago"

Why do we look better? Contributions from CJ, Horner, Tracy and Javi

None the less, we need the 3 upperclassmen playing well to be a really good team, but im really liking what I'm seeing out of the young guys right now.

2/18/2009 10:55:50 PM

can't complain at all about how we played tonight. our underclassmen are really stepping up and horner is getting better every game. there is definitely room for improvement but its great to see us moving in the right direction.

2/18/2009 11:01:42 PM

Quote :

"I'm just saying that you're right about McCauley, you're wrong about Fells. Tracy has been damn good in the post the last 2 games and I'm most impressed with his decision making as far as when to drive and when to pass. He can be as good if not better than McCauley was at his best."

i acknowledge that i'm in the minority that won't miss fells that much next year. his offense won't be that sorely missed with the options we have coming in next year though (brown and wood for threes). his defense will be missed, but at the same time his boneheaded plays, his multiple turnovers, his inconsistency and disappearance acts, and generally lack of bball iq make his good defense a moot point imo.

2/18/2009 11:05:41 PM

we controlled the game at least..

we scored our points and basically gave them their's so... yea

2/18/2009 11:07:06 PM

r Grace
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http://www.wralsportsfan.com/ncsu/video/4549856/
i think we go with a zoneish defense and force them into shooting 3's

they have an off night shooting and we win by 9 (nice try but just reverse the teams)


tromboner950
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I predict that we will score at least 80 points, though probably not 90 (NCSU: 80-90).
I predict that Carolina will score 87 points (UNC: 87).
skokiaan
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We lose if fells doesn't find his way into the arena. We need that third guy to go off.


Lowe need to slap him around or something to get him angry
We still have a slight chance of victory. (exactly what was needed)



and man it sucks to be you.... jtmartin
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i was going to bet on this game until I saw the line on the VT-Virginia game and it has them as even. Too good not to take VT to beat Va

2/18/2009 11:07:49 PM

yep it sucked that i took VT over UVa and then that happened. Sucks even more that UVa is starting to get things together and they are our next game

2/19/2009 12:30:29 AM

Ben didn't play a great game but damn just think what he could do if he got the Hansbrough treatment. Or Costner for that matter. Someone tell me why ACC refs hate Costner. He cannot do anything.

Fells and Degand had WTF games.....Degand is so damn inconsistent.....never thought I would see Javi playing so well and Degand sucking so bad.

A couple of calls and Fells showing up and we might have pulled this one out. Overall I was pretty pleased with the effort.

2/19/2009 12:54:42 AM

State, tonight the way you guys came out and played even though it got rocky there in the second half...but tonight was the first time all season...where I thought "HELL YEAH this is the basketball team Ive been wanting to see all fucking season!!""


GO PACK..you guys dont have ANYTHING to hold your heads down about...yeah a few less turnovers..blah blah....but you guys played 150% all game long and I enjoyed it watching the game at a Sports Bar on Franklin St, and being the only State fan in the whole sports bar....

after the game numerous Carolina fans came up to me and stated you guys would of beat duke tonight and that if we play like that the rest of the season then we'll meet up again in the ACC Championship game.

GO PACK!

2/19/2009 12:59:47 AM

mccauley cant play D at all. thats his main problem...

2/19/2009 1:32:12 AM

I was at the nose dome

some things I noticed that I found interesting:

1. the fans are a lot less passionate as in years past, i didnt get near as much smack yelled at me.

2. Costner gets no love from the officials and it makes him mad/frustrated and he gets lazy and doesnt play.

3. The UNC fans were bitching all game about no calls...thats funny, UNC fans bitching about calls? really?

4. the absolutely most hilarious thing of the night, when that kid Zellar came into the game...the whole place stands up and gives him a standing ovation and claps...Ben takes him straight off the dribble to the hole. the tarhole faithful all sit down immediately. everytime he steps in the game, he gets a foul. funny stuff

5. UNC "fans" are absolutely terrible...they started piling out at the five minute mark. I bet half the place was empty.

on that note, we played decent...our turnovers cost us the game, we had a chance to win it but blew it in the second half. our guard play, or lack there of, cost us this game.

2/19/2009 5:54:44 AM

can't wait til next year. they won't have hardly any experience, and be pretty low on depth and trying to ride a bunch of freshmen/sophomores. Ed Davis, Zeller/Thompson, Graves, Drew... then a bunch of 4-5 star players coming in. Assuming Ellington and Lawson finally go pro, I'd say we should win next year.

2/19/2009 7:34:18 AM

In the end the fact remains that their two margins of victory over us in bball didnt match our margin of victory over them in football. that was my goal and it was reached.

2/19/2009 7:47:08 AM

^^God it seems like Lawson and Ellington should be seniors....



Least Hansdouche and Green have to go. And that badass Mike Copeland.

[Edited on February 19, 2009 at 7:59 AM. Reason : Danny Green is the one that kills us every game]

2/19/2009 7:58:11 AM

Quote :

"2. Costner gets no love from the officials and it makes him mad/frustrated and he gets lazy and doesnt play. "

understatement of the year. He not only gets no love, he gets straight up disrespected.

2/19/2009 8:03:18 AM

Quote :

"mccauley cant play D at all. thats his main problem..."

Sometimes I wonder if you people even watch the games at all.

2/19/2009 8:04:27 AM

hey! psycho t is the greatest player ever

2/19/2009 8:15:31 AM

I'm just waiting for tyler to choke on his own spit.

2/19/2009 8:37:43 AM

Quote :

"mccauley cant play D at all. thats his main problem..."

I totally agree. Opposing players blow right by him and shoot over him. He's tall and can grab rebounds, but his defense is pretty poor.

I'm about ready to move on without Herb's players. McCaully and Fells have had their time here, and I'm tired of the inconsistent and sloppy play as of late.

2/19/2009 9:41:39 AM

Quote :

"Sometimes I wonder if you people even watch the games at all."

sure he hustles and gets rebounds, but if i see someone pull off the same spin move on him one more time i'm gonna run on the court and start playing.

2/19/2009 9:45:28 AM

This place is infested with retards.

McCauley played one-on-one against the national player of the year the entire night. If you want to place blame on someone for Hansbrough's 27 points, then blame Lowe for not giving him any help with a double team.

2/19/2009 9:47:24 AM

Don't just call people retards for nothing - your argument is weak sauce.

It's not just Hansbrough posting 27 points on McCaully. It's every game that players blow by him and score easily. A simple baseline spin move or a floater near the basket. I do wonder though why Lowe didn't double team Hansbrough more often. He knows that no one on our team can stop him 1-on-1.

2/19/2009 10:08:40 AM

i agree that hansbrough is a really solid player. I also ^ agree with that. There were several times were i found myself annoyed that he let tyler elevate way over him on the juke right turn left goofy jump shot.

2/19/2009 10:30:44 AM

If you take out the two games against Hansbrough, over the last 7 games the opposing team's big men have averaged 6.4 pts/game. I'm sure I would see similar stats (if not better since alot of the schedule was against lame competition) if i went back further, but I'm lazy. Now, obviously we have played some zone in those games, so it's hard to give Ben all the credit, but overall our frontline defensive play has been pretty solid---including McCauley.

I'm not saying the guy is gonna be on the all ACC defense team, but it's not a stretch to say that he is one of the better defenders on the team. And it is complete bullshit to say he can't defend at all.

Again, do you guys watch any games besides the UNC games?

2/19/2009 10:48:22 AM

Quote :

"It's every game that players blow by him and score easily."

Ben McCauley wears #34 not #31.

2/19/2009 11:17:53 AM

the player i notice the most is McCauley - he just can't hang

Degand doesn't have much experience so I can't hate on him as much as McCauley out there

he takes shots off balance all the time and just can't defend all the bigger men out there

Fells always plays great defense

[Edited on February 19, 2009 at 11:18 AM. Reason : .]

2/19/2009 11:18:12 AM

i think mccauley still isnt as good as he was soph. year

it seems like everytime we play a good team, he shits the bed.

Marquette 8 pts, 4 reb 2-5 shooting
Clemson, 4 pts, 1-3 shooting
UNC @ home, 5 pts - 2-8 shooting
Wake - 5 pts - 1-4 shooting
Last night 9 pts - 4-11 shooting

The only games he showed up against were Duke & Fla. So out of the 7 good teams we have played, his sorry ass has been non existent on the offensive end for 5 of them.

Fells catches all the slack for being inconsistent but McCauley is just as bad if not worse

2/19/2009 11:56:16 AM

I never noticed until tonight that they have "carolina" written across the ass of their jerseys--- wonder if it is a target???

2/19/2009 1:04:32 PM

^^yup.

2/19/2009 1:09:54 PM

Carolina and Clemson have premier big men guarding him. He had the stomach Flu the day before the Wake game.

Not that any of that matters, because he was still able to affect the game by rebounding and defense. in fact, against Wake he had two game changing blocks that stopped their comeback and secured us the win.

Why is it that when Hansbrough scores 8 against Miami and Florida State, it is just other players stepping up and they didn't need him, but when McCauley has an off night offensively, he is an inconsistent piece of shit? You people need to get over your hate of Herb players. They are the best we have and I will be surprised as hell if we are able to replace their production next year.

2/19/2009 1:26:38 PM

let's all watch the game against UVA on Saturday. We'll compare the number of times that McCaulley makes a defensive stop (block, force the opposing player to kick the ball back outside, steal, etc.) to the times that someone blows by him or gets an easy basket over him.

2/19/2009 1:44:08 PM

also note how many times mccauley lowers his shoulder determined to make a basket at all costs and throws up a terribly contested shot that's not even close. or gets no shot off because he turns it over.

although really mccauley will probably have a good game saturday, because as already mentioned, he seems to play well against inferior front court competition and disappears against anyone challenging.

2/19/2009 3:45:36 PM

^ ohmy++

ive noticed that as well for years now. At some point its like McCauley says to himself: "i need to do something". Which is good, except you can see that he's thinking that and it usually ends up bad. I liken that to a pretty good white kid who thinks he's got skills and McCauley has a different skill set. I wish he would learn how to duck when someone is driving and get open for a 15ft baseline shot because he makes a ton of those. But him driving and dribbling and passing to the other team for layups isn't part of McCauley's skillset.

2/19/2009 4:41:35 PM

Yeah his shots are a little goofy looking and especially old school. But that's just his style, it works a lot but sometimes he gets shut down.

2/19/2009 5:12:51 PM

Quote :

"tromboner950 All American 5222 Posts user info edit post I predict that we will score at least 80 points, though probably not 90 (NCSU: 80-90). I predict that Carolina will score 87 points (UNC: 87). "

Oh shit, I didn't even remember that I'd called that. heh.

2/19/2009 7:08:48 PM

that deserves a gg!

how about predicting our next game.

2/19/2009 8:01:52 PM

Maybe if we'd won...

I'll let Panthro cover all mojo-related activities.

2/19/2009 8:02:43 PM

^^^ i thought i remembered reading that somewhere

2/19/2009 8:31:45 PM

Ken Tysiac is alright!

Quote :

"Pack aiming for postseason Submitted by kentysiac on 02/19/2009 - 06:19 The scoreboard showed that N.C. State lost 89-80 on Wednesday night in what might have been senior Ben McCauley’s last game against rival North Carolina, but McCauley wasn’t discouraged. N.C. State trailed just 39-36 at halftime and played well except for an early second-half defensive lapse against the nation's No. 3-ranked team at the Smith Center. Consecutive wins over Wake Forest and Georgia Tech preceded the loss to the Tar Heels, and McCauley still had the sense that the Wolfpack (14-10, 4-7 ACC) is playing well. "We would have loved to have gotten this one," McCauley said, "but we're not going to sell ourselves short. We're going to play hard these last five games and hopefully give ourselves a shot at postseason play." The postseason is something McCauley said N.C. State players are talking about among themselves now that they’re playing perhaps their best basketball of the season. It probably would take five straight wins plus a couple more in the ACC Tournament for the Wolfpack to gain an NCAA bid, but McCauley said the players haven't given up on that. Two more wins would make N.C. State a strong candidate for the NIT after the team missed the postseason with a 15-16 record last season. "The option of playing in the postseason is definitely still there," McCauley said. "I think guys kind of realize that. And that helps us. If you feel as though you’re done with the season after the season is over, then you're not going to win any games. But I think guys are still pretty confident. Unfortunately we came up a little short today, but we've got five games left to finish strong, and I think we will." Coach Sidney Lowe said he'd rather focus on each of the remaining games individually than the postseason, but there's no doubt that he believes the team is playing better than at the end of last season, when N.C. State lost its final nine games. It won't be easy to continue that strong finish. Virginia (9-13, 3-8), which didn't seem to have a pulse a week ago, is Saturday's opponent at the RBC Center and is coming off back-to-back wins over Clemson and Virginia Tech. The Wolfpack's other two home opponents, Maryland and Boston College, are fighting for consideration for the NCAA Tournament. Nonetheless, with point guard Javi Gonzalez improving and center Tracy Smith averaging 15 points and 10 rebounds over the last three gamesr, Lowe sounded encouraged despite the loss Wednesday. "I’m happy with the way we’re playing," he said. "If we continue to play the way we’re playing now, and sometimes better, we’ll be fine." "

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/pack-aiming-for-postseason

2/20/2009 9:37:40 AM