Quote :

"No one gets into a stance. Our help side D is atrocious...We don't rebound all that well and never get any loose balls"

This has been my biggest gripe with the team since Sidney took over. I'm not sure if I'd blame it all on coaching, but if a bunch of semi-athletic white boys from Dook can do all those things well, why the fuck can't we?

12/8/2008 2:53:54 PM

Quote :

"just look at the '05/'06 season if you're missing herb sendek. he was in his 10th season starting three seniors, a junior and a sophomore who was about to be a lottery pick (point)."

That isn't very fair. You can't just look at one season of a tenure and assume that is what will happen going forward. Especially considering the year before we were a Sweet 16 team.

Quote :

"all his guys, all played his system, and all played it well (point)."

His system was changing a lot. He was recruiting true big men and had a VERY HIGHLY RATED true, pass first, PG coming in.

Quote :

"he loses to iowa (point)"

They were the Big 10 champs that year.

Quote :

"gets blown at at home by seton hall (point)"

Bad loss score wise, but Seton Hall was a NCAAT 2nd round team, just like us.

Quote :

"and a unc team chock full of freshmen (point)"

Bad performance but you act like UNC wasn't talented. They beat the #1 team in the country on the road by double digits that year as well, if you remember. And did it on the Senior night of one of the most storied players Duke has ever had..

****

I guess my point is this. I don't think you'd find even the most ardent Sendek-hater disagree that RIGHT NOW, we'd be a better basketball program had Sendek stayed and we didn't hire Lowe. I don't think that ANYONE would dispute that. At least no one rationally.

The question we have now, is can Lowe improve and get us PAST the levels that Sendek brought us to? That is, can he win an ACC Championship? Get to Elite 8's and Final 4's? If not, it was a lateral move at best...

12/8/2008 3:03:46 PM

^And here's the kicker:

Even though we might have been better off right now with Herb, getting rid of him was still the right move.

It's the Lowe hiring that is really in question, and we'll have to see how his recruits pan out to make the final verdict.

There is little doubt, though, that Sendek had plateaued. In anything and not just coaching, if you want to get to the highest levels you have to take risks rather than standing pat.

(Perhaps the risk was made unnecessarily higher by Fowler's foolishness, but we're working on that as well. Gotta believe that if Lowe gets fired, Fowler goes with him.)

12/9/2008 12:14:50 AM

Quote :

"When was the last time someone from our team dove on the floor for a ball?"

happens a lot w/ this team, actually.

Quote :

"If we got Wall, this would change. But as of now he has not recruited one decent guard."

gotta give lorenzo brown a holler, mang.

Quote :

"Bad loss score wise, but Seton Hall was a NCAAT 2nd round team, just like us."

that's my point. most coaches will have down years when they're getting guys in, and then have up years when they have their guys in. this should have been a huge up year, and it ended up being totally mediocre.

12/9/2008 3:36:47 AM

Probably need to bump this thread up to get ready for another embarassing loss or just poor play against an inferior opponent.

12/17/2008 7:53:40 PM

^really necessary? right now? settle down.

[Edited on December 17, 2008 at 8:03 PM. Reason : ]

12/17/2008 7:56:21 PM

We don't sound so bad... lots of hustle; some defense. Our seniors playing well.

12/17/2008 8:30:14 PM

uhh the seniors havent played since we went up 16

and guess what that lead is now gone

12/17/2008 8:36:10 PM

you are wrong about that

12/17/2008 8:38:01 PM

Sid needs to find a mentor or something in the college game because there are some things he has not adjusted to, yet.

12/17/2008 8:49:55 PM

you could bttt just for the sole reason of sid's inexplicable substitution patterns

12/17/2008 8:50:38 PM

Quote :

"We don't sound so bad... lots of hustle; some defense. Our seniors playing well."

the offense i thought played well.

the defense was terrible. no way you should let ecu score like that.

and the sub patterns were much better this game, i thought. no four man subs or real headscratchers.

12/17/2008 9:37:35 PM

Quote :

"the offense i thought played well."

How often have we scored 87?

12/17/2008 10:54:41 PM

Maybe we're better than the team is letting on. If that's the case, and Sid is doing these substitution patterns to get everyone playing time before ACC play starts, cool.

If not, I scratch my head.

12/17/2008 11:01:52 PM

agreed

We were rolling with our front line and then he took out ben and costner


once they went back in we started pulling away again

definately a head scratcher

12/17/2008 11:03:30 PM

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/unusual-rotation-working-for-nc-state

some interesting info regarding substitutions and such in this acc now article, looks like Sid likes the effort of the "second team" but is not sure he will keep up the substitution patterns in conference play

12/18/2008 12:03:33 AM

^k I can kinda understand that but I feel he kept them in for too long. Hopefully they can gel better so that they dont become the liability that they are right now.....or he doesnt leave them in as long when ACC play starts.


but thats me, I know nothing

12/18/2008 12:14:53 AM

It makes total sense to develop the bench (something Herbie didn't do), but you need to keep a reasonable balance. We are still playing college ball, so even our starters need a lot of game time to improve and develop team chemistry.

We need something in between UNC running 2 completely different units and Duke wearing our their starters.

Lowe's unusual rotation cost us the Davidson game and made this ECU game uncomfortably close. I guess we'll just have to trust him and see if it pays dividends in conference play.

[Edited on December 18, 2008 at 12:33 AM. Reason : .]

12/18/2008 12:30:45 AM

Shit other than the substitutions I thought Sid did pretty well tonight....

Costner/McCauley should not have came out when they were dominating but Tracy/Horner did well so I guess it's ok.

We boxed out and got loose balls really well. We are hustling I will give Sid that. We actually give a shit now!

12/18/2008 1:57:11 AM

go ahead and move this to the top,

we have to have some threat to shoot or we will have a losing record this year.


here we go

[Edited on December 22, 2008 at 8:51 PM. Reason : ]

12/22/2008 8:44:23 PM

called it 15 sec before the shot

12/22/2008 8:52:07 PM

Nothing really to complain about here. Marquette picked to finish 5th in the Big East.

I didn't see the whole game, but I got back from work w/ about 7:00 left and Fells, Costner and McCauley were all on the bench?

12/22/2008 8:54:44 PM

This is the second game Lowe has lost with his asinine substitutions.


We could have easily won this fucking game. That's the worst part. Just like davidson.

[Edited on December 22, 2008 at 8:55 PM. Reason : ,]

12/22/2008 8:55:03 PM

5th in the big east?

hahaha, that's pretty weak

to lose at home to that shit is unacceptable

to lose to anything other than 1st or 2nd in a lesser conference is unacceptable after 3 years of coaching

12/22/2008 8:55:59 PM

A lesser conference? Yeah, I guess the Big East is on par with the SWAC.

Marquette was a preseason Top 15 team... they must blow.

^^ Were the 3 4th year players in foul trouble? Why were they ALL out in a tie game with 7:00 left?

[Edited on December 22, 2008 at 8:58 PM. Reason : I didn't see a lot of the game]

12/22/2008 8:58:19 PM

How the fuck are we supposed to score points with a lineup of Javi, Fergie, Horner, Harris, and Smith?

12/22/2008 8:58:31 PM

no credibility watch increase necessary here.

12/22/2008 8:58:46 PM

^^Bingo Bango Bongo

12/22/2008 8:59:59 PM

big east is a dying star

they are fucked in football and basketball will follow if the ACC can improve and re-establish itself as the premier conference.

football drives the revenue and the conference membership, we should beat a mid tier big east team by 10+ at home

em fucking barassing

12/22/2008 9:00:09 PM

^^^^^ they were not. Lowe did the same idiotic shit people have been complaining about -- putting in scrubs when the game is close.


Save that shit for Lipscomb, not Marquette. Jesus christ

[Edited on December 22, 2008 at 9:01 PM. Reason : /]

12/22/2008 9:00:54 PM

Hm yes 2 minutes left don't put your starting PG in good plan that's how you win ballgames

12/22/2008 9:00:55 PM

Our backcourt ain't there yet.

Let the circus begin:


[Edited on December 22, 2008 at 9:05 PM. Reason : especially @ the point]

12/22/2008 9:01:32 PM

Literally, as soon as he put the starters back in, we got the ball to them and they scored immediately. You have to have a learning disability to not see the difference in skills.

12/22/2008 9:02:11 PM

haha, whatever dude, the Big East is on par with the ACC this year

they have 8 teams in the top 25, the acc has 4

12/22/2008 9:02:24 PM

fuck the big east

this year doesnt fucking matter

it's about history - the big east will become a MAC soon due to football, it takes time for lack of football talent destroys a conference.

12/22/2008 9:03:45 PM

some of you assholes are just batshit crazy

did you see how good their three guards are?

shit i was surprised we kept it close and feel even better about the direction this season is headed.

Big East has 8 teams in the Top 25 and if you don't think they are the best conference in the country, you are nuts

But continue on, a loss to a good marquette team MUST be unacceptable

12/22/2008 9:04:09 PM

Seriously, wtf. All tied up and under like, 3 or 4 minutes we had

Quote :

"mays, ferg, horner, AND smith? fells was in, but damn, way to pull all the other good players"

We went down by 4-6 points. Put in costner and mccauley and we were back.

12/22/2008 9:04:31 PM

I assume he's just trying to troll me because I like a team in the Big East, too.

Other wise, he's just a fucking moron who really shouldn't be paid attention to.

12/22/2008 9:04:54 PM

okay well mccauley also missed two free throws and turned the ball over on our last two possessions.

12/22/2008 9:05:13 PM

I also don't like this apparent trend of Turd getting the most minutes of anyone on the team

12/22/2008 9:07:12 PM

Yeah, so technically he lost the game when he turned the ball over, but when he and costner were in they made up the differential and forced turn overs to bring the pack back up from 6 under. Bad coaching put the Pack in a very bad situation with little time remaining.

^Yeah, Ferg has GOT to be under the desk to be getting that much play time and while not contributing very much to the game at all. Its probably linked to some bullshit reward system with good behavior, as opposed to missing play time from bad behavior.

[Edited on December 22, 2008 at 9:09 PM. Reason : ferg]

12/22/2008 9:08:03 PM

there are only about 10 white guys in the country that don't suck

furd isn't one of them

BLACK PEOPLE ON THE COURT = WINS

12/22/2008 9:08:36 PM

We're winning, better sub in the second team.

12/22/2008 9:09:16 PM

So, that's two games against ranked opponents that Lowe when we were in control of the game and would have won with our starters. He is either betting on the games or trying to get fired on purpose.

12/22/2008 9:09:33 PM

Quote :

"But continue on, a loss to a good marquette team MUST be unacceptable"

It's not losing to them that's unacceptable.

It's the fact that we would have won if we hadn't played like 12 deep again, and used our players who are actually worth a damn.

12/22/2008 9:11:08 PM

erice85 is just one of those people who doesn't know basketball. Can't really reason with that.

12/22/2008 9:13:24 PM

Quote :

"So, that's two games against ranked opponents that Lowe when we were in control of the game and would have won with our starters. He is either betting on the games or trying to get fired on purpose."

you're 100% sure we would have won? speculation.

12/22/2008 9:21:13 PM

Perhaps Costner and McCauley wouldn't have been able to bring us back if they hadn't been fresh.

12/22/2008 9:22:27 PM

^^Yep, just as I am 100% sure that you have learned helplessness

[Edited on December 22, 2008 at 9:22 PM. Reason : .]

12/22/2008 9:22:31 PM

12/22/2008 9:22:48 PM