Quote :

"Benching washington should have nothing to do with louisville. He is just our worst big. Doesn't play defense and takes shots away from our guards."

made me look...washington shoots 45%. he's become much more consistent on those deep 2s. which are still not always good shots. sometimes they aren't within the flow of the offense, and many times he's one foot inside the arc. but he has improved his shot. i do agree though - we'd rather a guard be taking most of those shots. worst part of his game is that he's only attempted 28 FTs all year. he needs to have more of a post presence and get to the line.

2/14/2015 6:22:51 PM

Well, didn't expect this...even though I should have as a Wolfpack fan. I expect someone to quote my first page reply and give me hell.

2/14/2015 6:23:04 PM

This win is part of what's frustrating about this team. We have two wins against top 10 teams. Better than the majority of the top 10. I don't get how some of these top 10 teams are even ranked so high, to be honest, but I digress. Anyway, we have two wins that are more impressive than almost any other team in the country yet we lose to complete fucking nobodies on a regular basis.

[Edited on February 14, 2015 at 6:24 PM. Reason : ]

2/14/2015 6:24:25 PM

Quote :

"Now we have 3 RPI top 50 wins (maybe 4 if Pitt moves up after the UNC win?)"

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_Men.html

this has pitt as #50 right now. hasn't been updated for today, though.

2/14/2015 6:25:20 PM

We took Rozier and Harrell out. Huge win. Big ups to Freeman on that. How does this team win at Louisville and lose at home to Clemson?

[Edited on February 14, 2015 at 6:29 PM. Reason : Cat still keep in it going too]

2/14/2015 6:29:16 PM

Fun to look back at all those stupid stats they showed during the game.
Louisville lost after leading at half for the first time this season (second time in 3 seasons)
First time they've lost on a day that Kentucky and Louisville both play.

2/14/2015 6:35:19 PM

I tried to sign on to post that a loss by less than 20 pts would be a moral victory, but the site was down
You know why we won? Cause Turner wasn't in the game when it counted. He tried to blow it when we were up 11 but Gott finally took him out.

In a more positive light, gg Cat and Lacey making buckets when it mattered the most.

2/14/2015 6:40:03 PM

I was watching behind. We've been up on quite a few ranked teams this year--feels fantastic to finally win one.

And it was definitely amusing to see the look of defeat on our players' faces when we're leading by 8 and 10 points with just a few minutes to go. So many heartbreaking losses for those guys. I hope they can enjoy this one.

2/14/2015 6:47:55 PM

Just read through the thread. Great stuff in here, guys.

Probably my favorite thread of the year.

2/14/2015 6:55:22 PM

Nice to FINALLY win one of these games where we led in the 2nd half. Would've been nice not to drop those Clemson/Wake games, but whatever. Need to follow this up by beating the teams we should beat.

2/14/2015 6:55:34 PM

The fight for a 6th ACC seed is going to be nuts. State/Pitt/Miami have top ten RPI wins.

Miami has two potential top 10 RPI wins
Pitt has one and state has one.

Just based off winning the "must win" games, I say Pitt gets in.

2/14/2015 6:56:42 PM

Quote :

"How does this team win at Louisville and lose at home to Clemson?"

How does Miami blow out Duke in Cameron and lose at home to Georgia Tech by 20?

Basketball teams win some games they should lose and lose some games they should win. How is that surprising to you?

2/14/2015 7:03:37 PM

He mighta grown up a Duke fan or something. The adjustment can take a while.

2/14/2015 7:07:07 PM

Quote :

"How does Miami blow out Duke in Cameron and lose at home to Georgia Tech by 20? Basketball teams win some games they should lose and lose some games they should win. How is that surprising to you?"

exactly...it's what average teams do all over the country in every conference. and that's what we are...an average team.

2/14/2015 7:13:15 PM

Quote :

"Miami has two potential top 10 RPI wins Pitt has one and state has one. "

Am I reading the RPI site linked above wrong? Looks like we have two (5 and 10), Miami has one (5 - next highest win is a 47), and Pitt has none (highest is an 11)

[Edited on February 14, 2015 at 7:18 PM. Reason : ]

2/14/2015 7:14:12 PM

^^It's also a big part of what makes basketball exciting and whatnot.

2/14/2015 7:15:45 PM

haven't read thr thread so not sure if its been mentioned but to me the clear turning point was breaking the press with 2 guards rather than a guard and a big

2/14/2015 7:16:31 PM

Excellent analysis.

I was hoping for some Papa John's/Cat Barber/Kentucky jokes though.

Also, I like it when y'all get upset and worked up and stuff. It's funny to me.

2/14/2015 7:21:18 PM

The only other teams to win in Louisville are UK & Duke. Hope this is the catalyst to make a strong finish to the season. Need to punish VT next weekend.

[Edited on February 14, 2015 at 7:26 PM. Reason : ]

2/14/2015 7:26:30 PM

ok, its kinda like when someones trying to take your delicious kfc breast and you keep slapping their hand away. but then you're like fuck that take my breast I'ma sneak in behind you and steal your whole plate of buffalo wings

2/14/2015 7:26:54 PM

Gotta admit, our bigs showed up today, played defense, and also had excellent rebounding. When we get good contribution from our bigs we can beat pretty much any team in the nation except maybe Kentucky. However, they only seemed to show up when we're playing good teams.

2/14/2015 7:38:07 PM

we were forced to call a timeout here...refs didn't see a foul, i guess

2/14/2015 8:03:11 PM

I wish that was even the slightest bit surprising

[Edited on February 14, 2015 at 8:05 PM. Reason : ]

2/14/2015 8:05:08 PM

Great win. Maybe Gott's most impressive to date?

Thing that impressed me most is we didn't even shoot great -- right around 44% and 38% from three. We didn't have a player play out of his mind either. We just played solid defense, crashed the glass, took care of the ball, and made enough big plays to win. We actually looked like the better-coached, better-prepared team.

2/14/2015 8:33:20 PM

Must have had a players only meeting or something. That's the only logical explanation given what we know about Gottfried.

2/14/2015 8:35:00 PM

Quote :

"Maybe Gott's most impressive to date?"

definitely up there. road win vs top 10 team...and our season seemed to be on the brink of disaster/collapse. like you said, just a great all around team performance. after the WV game i remember everybody dreading playing a pressure defense like Louisville...and we really handled their pressure fine. cat had one late turnover vs the press (i thought he was fouled, but whatever) and besides that, i can't recall a single turnover against the press. that's shocking after seeing how we struggled so much vs WV's press and Cincy's defense earlier in the year. rebounding was also great today.

2/14/2015 9:09:15 PM

Quote :

"exactly...it's what average teams do all over the country in every conference. and that's what we are...an average team."

Forgot you guys think it is okay for our team to be compared with Miami. We are average, but our talent is not.

2/14/2015 10:42:27 PM

jesus...nobody wants to settle for us being a middle of the pack ACC team. but that's exactly what we are right now.

2/14/2015 10:58:15 PM

Yeah, who wants to be compared to the team that won the ACC regular season and tournament just 2 seasons ago?

2/14/2015 10:59:38 PM

exactly. miami isn't exactly the laughing stock of the acc, if that's what boozie was implying.

2/14/2015 11:01:49 PM

2 years ago with a team full of 25 year olds. We are discussing 14-15 college basketball here. FSU won a ACC title too recently but we should still be better than them.

[Edited on February 14, 2015 at 11:07 PM. Reason : 2 schools that do not give a fuck about basketball winning titles ]

2/14/2015 11:06:22 PM

So Miami only won a title because they had 25 year olds, yet we're supposed to compete this year with a bunch of 18 and 19 year olds and Lacey just because they got some extra stars from some scouts? Can't have it both ways.

2/14/2015 11:10:59 PM

The point is that will not happen again nor will FSU winning. And please stop saying our team is young. We are not even close to young. I know you get off on being the devil's advocate in everything but Jesus Christ.

2/14/2015 11:12:35 PM

All the players that you cite as being highly ranked All Americans and burger boys ARE young. Your whole argument is that our coaching is bad but our talent is elite. But you won't recognize that that elite talent are freshmen and sophomores. Have you liked a single NC State coach in any sport in the last 20 years?

I'm not trying to play devil's advocate, I'm trying to give you some perspective so you can back off of the sports ledge.

[Edited on February 14, 2015 at 11:17 PM. Reason : .]

2/14/2015 11:14:17 PM

Our big three are redshirt senior, redshirt junior, and a sophomore.

I like Gottfried but he is severely under-perfoming this year. By my count he's had 2 good years (1&3) , 1 bad year (2), and this year with incomplete. Sorry for being realistic.

2/14/2015 11:18:06 PM

recruiting rankings aside - is our roster/talent really that great? lacey is obviously great. but, a couple weeks ago people were saying cat was a complete bum and were wishing lewis was here. people are begging for turner to benched. our post men have absolutely no offensive prowess. the martins are remarkably inconsistent, although they have shown brief flashes. and i continually forget that lee is even on the team.

we are basically performing to expectations this season. if you were expecting us to make a big leap from where we were last year then that's on you for being stupid...not on the coaching staff.

at the beginning of the season, i think most realistic folks looked at 15/16 as the season we'd have the potential to really have a big year. this year there may have been cautious optimism...but nobody was projecting us to be top 3 or 4 ACC team this year. if you were, then you have nobody to blame but yourself for unrealistic expectations.

[Edited on February 14, 2015 at 11:23 PM. Reason : d]

2/14/2015 11:19:27 PM

Quote :

"we are basically performing to expectations this season."

Which were way too low for a 4th year coach and a good roster at NCSU. I predicted 11-7. So did you predict for us to be an under .500 ACC squad?

Go look at the rosters of the teams we are competing with (Clemson, Pitt, FSU, Miami) and you are lying if you do not think ours is head and shoulders above those.

[Edited on February 14, 2015 at 11:24 PM. Reason : Hell if we are going by expectations Gott should have been shitcanned after year 2]

2/14/2015 11:23:24 PM

^^^Our big 3 (minus Cat) are the only upperclassmen on the team that get minutes, and are not the players that you constantly reference when referring to 7 top 100 players or whatever should make us be competing for a conference title this year. The only two "old" players on our team are our best player (to be fair), and a one dimensional shooter. The bulk of our talented roster are teenagers. I don't see how you can say we are severely underperforming. We might have had some wtf losses, but we've had some great wins too.

boozie, what are your expectations for our program? I'd like us to be a perennial top-25 team who can recruit great talent and convince some of them to stay 3+ years, compete with Duke and UNC each year, make the NCAA tourney and every now and then make a deep run. Aside from some of the transfers, I don't see how we aren't currently on that path. But as you said this season is still an incomplete

let alone 7 top 100 players in multiple classes does not equal 7 of the best 100 players in the country

[Edited on February 14, 2015 at 11:28 PM. Reason : .]

2/14/2015 11:24:52 PM

i don't fucking know what i predicted our record to be. i think i expected us to be competing for #5 in the ACC in the absolute best case scenario...but realistically expected a 6th or 7th place finish. which is certainly still on the table. i'm sure you can look back in the season thread and find me say something along those lines.

2/14/2015 11:25:58 PM

Quote :

"Which were way too low for a 4th year coach and a good roster at NCSU."

last season we squeaked into the tourney and lost the best player in the ACC to the NBA in the offseason..by your own words that was a "good" season. and you expected this year to be significantly better?

2/14/2015 11:29:37 PM

Scout and Rivals insinuated it should be a better season, so it should've been a much better season

[Edited on February 14, 2015 at 11:42 PM. Reason : I think you're expecting too much from the FR/SO]

2/14/2015 11:32:01 PM

i was shitting all over cat because he obviously has the talent to be really good, not because he's a scrub. he came here with a 16 foot jump shot and the ability not only to get to the rim but score like 70% of the time he gets there as a point guard. thats insane in college.

to compare that look at the guards we just played on top 10 teams. none of them are more talented than him. brogdon is a better college player but doesnt truly excel at any one thing like cat does at getting to the rim.

also other teams have bust recruits too. isaiah hicks sucks. all of louisvilles non-harrell big men except for the egyptian were top 100 players and their fans hate them all. etc

now look at the teams near us on the bubble

texas a&m - alex caruso and jordan green? who the fuck are these guys? their SF danuel house was a high 4* who transferred in
illinois - jaylon tate the pg is a no name. kendrick nunn and malcolm hill were 50=60ish ranked recruits and are sophomores. probably the closest comparison except their 3* is a soph pg and ours is a 5th year senior 3 point specialist who rarely handles the ball
iowa - a bunch of white donks. at least they have an excuse to suck at defense
lsu - their guards are named josh gray, keith hornsby and tim quaterman. come on

[Edited on February 14, 2015 at 11:50 PM. Reason : c]

2/14/2015 11:49:47 PM

It is not about expectations, talent, rankings, any of that really. It is about what this group is capable of. This group could easily be in the top 6 in the ACC and make the Sweet Sixteen especially with Cat playing the way he is. We have been in almost every game of the year. Only WVU and Cincy were bad. All ACC games were close and many we SHOULD have won. 7/11 losses by 5 or less.

2/15/2015 12:07:11 AM

im trying to think of programs who waste more talent than we do and the only ones i can come up with are ucla and other teams coached by former jim harrick assistants (st johns and washington)

2/15/2015 12:13:22 AM

^^I agree with all of that, and the close losses are frustrating. From a W-L standpoint I guess we have been underperforming. But unfortunately a lot of the very close losses were to very good teams, and it's hard to beat them. The losses to Wofford, Clemson and Wake hurt, but those type games can happen during a 40 game season. Luckily we got the win today to help offset that, and combined with the Duke win, we helped ourselves a lot tonight. But Gott has pulled things out of his ass at the end of the year since he's been here. No reason to call for his head at this point.

^,^^ do you guys think a top 100 ranking out of high school means if the old NBA rules were in effect, guys like Barber, Abu, whatever other high-star guys would be lottery picks? Get real.

[Edited on February 15, 2015 at 12:18 AM. Reason : .]

2/15/2015 12:16:16 AM

Quote :

"packboozie: And please stop saying our team is young. We are not even close to young."

We put the youngest team on the court in the ACC. We haven't played a team younger than us in the ACC all season and we won't for the rest of it.

You're either willfully ignorant, or the worst troll ever.

2/15/2015 7:51:47 AM

Quote :

"to compare that look at the guards we just played on top 10 teams. none of them are more talented than him. brogdon is a better college player but doesnt truly excel at any one thing like cat does at getting to the rim. "

Jerian grant?

2/15/2015 8:07:54 AM

Median Grant excels at throwing his body into players between him and the rim, like a D Wade lite.

2/15/2015 9:02:41 AM

Quote :

"This group could easily be in the top 6 in the ACC "

we're 1.5 games out of 6th, without a somewhat favorable schedule left. we could certainly finish 6th in the conference, if that's what we're using as a measure of this team living up to their potential or not.

2/15/2015 10:14:13 AM

I see packboozie and skooiann (and tower) are back to be the most insufferable complainers who use any anecdote to try to prove that "our" coach is the worst ever, and ignore anything that proves otherwise. i didn't miss you.

2/15/2015 10:41:22 AM