Quote :

"same thing people said about Vandy before this year and he had several solid games (and also several bad ones)."

Not exactly the same situation. I am happy for Vandy, but he went from being a complete non-contributor to an ok inside presence on defense (largely an effort/position thing). Even then, the OT highlight reel from last night watched like a Vandenburg fuckup film.

Some are expecting Lee to make a jump offensively and that just ain't gonna happen. He may a handful of hot nights, but IMO the best we can hope for is that he calms down on the reckless drives and continues to play good D.

3/21/2014 10:17:50 AM

hopefully lee's role decreases with lacey in the mix. i'm sick of the dribble drive turnovers and the one point possessions with him at the foul line.

3/21/2014 10:24:13 AM

Quote :

"one point possessions with him at the foul line"

he was our second best free-throw shooter behind Tyler Lewis. He went 12 of 14 from the line in the last 5 games.

3/21/2014 10:32:02 AM

I realize it's not the same situation, but saying his game can't grow or he can't make adjustments because he's a senior is hardly accurate. It was his first year in D1 and he played a completely different role than he did on his juco team, where he mostly started and usually put up 14-18 shots per game. That probably had a lot to do with his tendency to drive at every opportunity in several games this year. He also probably got away with a lot sloppier play with the ball due to lesser competition. Obviously those two habits didn't really work out too well for him this year and hopefully he'll be able to improve in those areas. I don't expect him to become a 40% three point shooter or hit floaters at TJW rates or anything.

[Edited on March 21, 2014 at 10:32 AM. Reason : a]

3/21/2014 10:32:32 AM

I just want it to be over. Can TJ just declare now, whoever is transferring announce it now and we move on? I don't want to read about NC State basketball until next fall.

3/21/2014 10:38:01 AM

agreed

3/21/2014 10:43:27 AM

Quote :

"hopefully lee's role decreases with lacey in the mix."

I hope he can just embrace and stick to his "role" a little more next year of being our best perimeter defender who's only goal is to lock up the other team's best guard.

He can be very valuable there, especially with all you fuckes who scream we never play defense constantly.

3/21/2014 10:50:48 AM

everyone thinks tj is gone but i think we have a slim chance of him staying. about the same as the slim chance we had to make the tournament. he has to realize the supporting cast will be much better next year.

its not just free throw shooting he needs to work on. if he can also become a decent 3 point threat to make people close him out, he will be a 20ppg scorer in the nba. if not, it will be difficult for him to score and he won't see the court because of his ft%. slashers are a dime a dozen in the nba.

3/21/2014 10:56:33 AM

If TJ comes back, I'll cringe at the predictions that will be made. We've been here before, people!

[Edited on March 21, 2014 at 11:48 AM. Reason : and we know how it ends]

3/21/2014 11:48:39 AM

Yeah, even if he comes back that doesn't mean next year will be fun. We have a lot of guys who sacrificed shots this year that accepted it because they sucked this season. I don't know if they'd be cool with doing that for another year. Especially when you add in 3 freshmen and Lacey

3/21/2014 12:03:46 PM

That's something I did consider but i still rather have TJ back next year. We'll have more depth and he wont have to work as hard as we'll have more guys that can score. TJ will still get his points regardless with steals, putt-backs, transition, etc, so you can pretty much plug him into any type of offense without no issues. However, if TJ leaves then hopefully that will motivate the young guys to amp up their game as they wont have a workhorse to carry into NCAA next season so maybe that will be better for this team 2 years from now? Not sure, time will tell.

3/21/2014 12:10:13 PM

The one guy that legitimately scares me when he gets the ball is Desmond Lee. He shot the 3 considerably worse than he did in JUCO, he has the quickness to get into the paint, but he doesn't have the basketball IQ to pick his spots and realize that shooting the ball over the other team's bigs under the basket is going to result in getting his shot thrown 5 rows back. After Purvis transferred we needed him, and his minutes dwindled as the season progressed, but I'm literally never comfortable when he has the ball in his hands.

3/21/2014 2:03:48 PM

Everyone just needs to calm down. Trying to worry about next season this close to a devastating loss is going to turn up some stupid conversations.

Lee will get better, Cat will get better, will have a deeper team next year, and regardless of whether TJ stays (which I doubt he will) we will be a force in the conference. I absolutely believe that.

3/21/2014 2:06:34 PM

i don't know what you mean by force but without warren, we have no chance of a 2 game bye.

3/21/2014 2:10:28 PM

If Anya starts eating right and running in the offseason we'll be top 5 without TJ. With TJ, no reason we can't compete for 1.

3/21/2014 2:12:38 PM

Absolutely not going to bother watching this season in either sport. Would rather skin my dick with a potato peeler than watch us suck dick in both sports again.

Cellar Dwelling for sure.

3/21/2014 6:06:21 PM

iop2

3/21/2014 6:11:48 PM

I'm fully confident in NC State putting the meltdown behind them & possibly even rallying around it next season as we fight our way to a 1 seed in next season's NCAA Tourney, only to lose to a 16 seed

3/21/2014 6:17:45 PM

by missing ft's down the stretch

3/21/2014 6:21:56 PM

3/21/2014 6:28:45 PM

That look says everything that's in my heart.

3/21/2014 6:37:04 PM

1: Lewis or Cat
2: Lacey
3: Turner
4: Washington
5: Anya

6: Freeman
7: Lee
8: Abu
9, 10: Martins

That's not a bad lineup. Decent depth and a nice mix of seniors and youngsters. Solid outside shooting from both wings, good size in the post and (hopefully) improved point guard play. Solid perimeter defenders in Lee and Lacey and a couple of rim protectors in Anya & Washington.

I'm optimistic that we'll once again be in the top half of the conference next year. Scoring could be an issue, but Turner and Washington have shown the ability to create their own shot. We should be a good rebounding team. Lacey is supposed to be solid on offense as well. If we retain both Lewis and Cat, we'll be in better position. If Abu surprises and Gottfried has the team playing cohesive help & transition defense (pipe dream), they could contend for a top 5 conference spot.

[Edited on March 24, 2014 at 1:42 PM. Reason : 2]

3/24/2014 1:40:06 PM

don't completely count out Warren

I haven't heard him officially say he's not coming back

3/24/2014 1:41:36 PM

I just don't see it happening. Warren would be stupid to come back, and he's not a stupid guy. Likewise, I don't see us retaining both Lewis and Cat next year. Both those guys want to be starting point guards.

3/24/2014 1:45:14 PM

My least favorite part about the offseason, the speculatin'.

Yeah, I really think it's almost a foregone conclusion that Warren is gone, but we'll see.

Cat came in knowing that there was already a McD pg on the roster. And Lewis just doesn't seem like the type to transfer. But who knows. We'll see.

3/24/2014 1:49:56 PM

What I don't believe is that Lewis or Barber are bball divas who cry and leave when their playing time is threatened.

3/24/2014 1:56:53 PM

transferring would be stupid. wasting a year of eligibility just to go start from some random team in a shittier conference. the ACC is the place to be.

3/24/2014 2:07:43 PM

Quote :

"#AsExpected RT @WojYahooNBA: T.J. Warren has decided to enter NBA Draft, sources tell Yahoo. Formal announcement will come early this week."

https://twitter.com/joeovies/status/448159994232717312

3/24/2014 2:12:17 PM

I can see Cat transferring, but not Lewis. Cat can go a lot of places and start right away. Lewis would still have to fight for minutes if he went to a high major school. IF Cat were to transfer...I would hope we could get Graham from ASU/Brewster. He's a quick little point guard who can actually shoot and play a little PG. I know Cat has a higher ceiling and can be a great point guard...but I like the way Lewis runs a team and I also think he plays better when he's the main man (like he was towards the end of the season when he was putting up the ridiculous A/T numbers).

I think its possible that a team with Lewis at the point and Graham as the backup might be better than a team where Lewis and Barber are still fighting it out and being upset if one is playing more than the other.

That's just my opinion...

3/24/2014 2:15:37 PM

Quote :

" Retweeted by The Wolfpacker Adrian Wojnarowski ?@WojYahooNBA · 10m N.C. State sophomore T.J. Warren has decided to enter the NBA Draft, sources tell Yahoo. Formal announcement will come early this week. Retweeted by The Wolfpacker"

Nooooooooooooo TJ!!!

3/24/2014 2:20:25 PM

not really a surprise

thanks for everything you did, TJ

3/24/2014 2:21:48 PM

well duh

3/24/2014 2:22:23 PM

Good for TJ. He's borderline lottery pick now. If some of the guys ahead of him decide to come back, he could very well end up in the Top 12 or so.

^^^Exactly right about Lewis. He seems to thrive when he knows he's the only real option at PG. We saw it last year when Zo went down and this year when Cat got sick.

If Cat leaves (and I really hope he doesn't) we have to find a backup quick ... or else Dez is going to end up playing some spot PG duty. That's frightening.

[Edited on March 24, 2014 at 2:23 PM. Reason : ]

3/24/2014 2:22:44 PM

Good for him. wish nothing but good things for him.

3/24/2014 2:23:16 PM

at least TJ isn't dragging this out and getting my hopes up

3/24/2014 2:23:25 PM

We'd have lacey as a back-up pg too (although I know he supposedly left Alabama because he didn't want to play pg).

But like I said, Cat joined the team knowing that we already had a McD pg... and I'm not sure he'd want to lose a year of eligibility. All this speculation of him being mad about not starting and not getting enough PT is... speculation. I think there's a good chance they both stay. But we'll see.

3/24/2014 2:26:14 PM

You know you can sit out a year without losing eligibility, right?

3/24/2014 2:27:49 PM

V Ok, gotcha. I'd like to think that he wouldn't want to redshirt at this point. Although he had an up-and-down season, it's obvious that he could be an impact player, and might break-out his sophomore year...

[Edited on March 24, 2014 at 2:35 PM. Reason : ]

3/24/2014 2:28:47 PM

I'm talking about redshirting. Every transfer that doesn't get a waiver to play immediately uses a redshirt. If Cat transfers, he'll sit out a year and still have 3 years of eligibility.

3/24/2014 2:31:36 PM

Yeah, he won't lose a year of eligibility, the issue revolves around basically wasting a year in terms of getting to the NBA. If you're a former 4*/5* player, guessing you have aspirations of making it to the NBA. Not a ton of RS-SRs being taken in the first round.

3/24/2014 2:34:08 PM

I agree Lewis does best when he knows he's our only option. Leads me to believe that he is too paranoid of making a mistake and getting pulled. That was his problem through 3/4 of the season. But the last quarter, he did his best by being confident and even making riskier plays (dribbling through half court sets, needling passes through multiple defenders, etc). Of course that means there would be a TO here or there, but that's the cost of a playmaker. And the TOs are still very minimal, obviously as evidenced by his great assist to TO ratio...until the last game). He shines when he plays the riskiest, and sucks when he just tries to be a game manager.

3/24/2014 2:43:50 PM

Quote :

"But like I said, Cat joined the team knowing that we already had a McD pg"

that he probably thought he could beat out...and did for a portion of the season.

3/24/2014 2:45:11 PM

Quote :

"@T24Warren: Undecided"

https://twitter.com/T24Warren/status/448170280092196865

What is this? I don't even

3/24/2014 2:56:47 PM

Dude is gone, probably wants to tell the coaches first and make the announcement himself

3/24/2014 3:49:11 PM

dude, he just doesn't know where he is going to eat dinner.

3/24/2014 3:50:32 PM

Quote :

"@T24Warren: Undecided"

https://twitter.com/T24Warren/status/448170280092196865

Oh LAWD!




[Edited on March 24, 2014 at 4:01 PM. Reason : !]

3/24/2014 3:59:57 PM

Quote :

"I've been out at pro day and have heard there was a report for him declaring for the draft which we all sort of expect...but I don't believe he's told anybody at NC State that and he was at today's team meeting. He also tweeted "undecided"."

take it with a grain of salt.

3/24/2014 4:19:53 PM

Quote :

"All this speculation of him being mad about not starting and not getting enough PT is... speculation. I think there's a good chance they both stay. But we'll see."

Perhaps some would say that this is speculation.

3/24/2014 4:24:47 PM

well, yeah, that's my point. i'm just speculatin'. we'll all see.

3/24/2014 4:26:03 PM

Don't leave us!

3/24/2014 5:32:22 PM