Vitale is covering our game against Duke

12/23/2012 4:27:41 PM

wonder for which team he'll be cheering

12/24/2012 8:54:52 AM

he'll mention Jimmy V at least 3 times and Bobby Knight twice

over/under on Coach K mentions?

12/24/2012 9:02:23 AM

oh yeah State #23, UNC dropped

12/24/2012 2:03:17 PM

AP #23
Coaches #25
Kenpom #23
Sagarin #22
RPI #5

12/24/2012 4:48:18 PM

Wow, that's a really impressive RPI, good job by gottfried/Debbie getting us a nice OOC schedule this year.

Again, I still think we are dramatically underestimated by kenpom right now. It's a combination of our low preseason ranking and our fluke games against OSU and UNCA. I just don't think that was really us.

If we even become a good defensive team (say top 40-50) this team COULD win a title. The offense is just filthy right now.

12/24/2012 9:59:40 PM

So is arizona and michigan and duke.

12/24/2012 11:14:03 PM

The Duke game on the 12th will be a great litmus test. If the Zoltan plays like he has the past 4 games and we step up on D, we have a great chance at knocking off the #1 team in the country. But we absolutely have to guard the perimeter and rebound the ball. I have faith that this team will be firing on all cylindars at home in that marquee matchup.

12/25/2012 1:35:32 AM

The GT game before Duke just reeks of a loss. They are decent.

12/25/2012 1:56:16 AM

^ completely agree with both statements. We almost always play up to big games , and we'll lose the GT or Maryland game in head scratching fashion

12/25/2012 8:57:33 PM

Saw Levi Watkins tweet this today:

Quote :

" Loving the NBA Christmas uniforms. Really similar to the ALL-RED uniforms we may wear this season. #wpn stay tuned."

12/26/2012 12:24:58 AM

Hey levi, send me one of those unis and ill give u a whataburger.

12/26/2012 12:35:29 AM

So, is there any hope in CJL winning the ACC POY now?

Zo has picked it up recently, but I didn't realize that he has only made three 3s so far. That can't be good for any guard.

Purvis needs to be more effective at hitting wide open threes. I don't think that needs to be a part of his game, but he should keep a defense honest by hitting the wide open shots.

[Edited on December 27, 2012 at 4:31 PM. Reason : q]

12/27/2012 4:31:36 PM

Unless he's injured the media have already crowned Plumlee. CJL's only chance would be if we won the league, and even then it he would probably come up short.

12/27/2012 4:38:03 PM

plumlee has put up numnbers, but he is their only down low presence.

12/27/2012 4:43:12 PM

Well we play Duke twice. If CJ dominates that match up in both games, it would definitely help his case, regardless of how their final numbers stack up.

12/27/2012 5:02:28 PM

you know CJL will get into foul trouble for at least one of those match ups. mark it zero.

12/27/2012 5:13:46 PM

OOOOOOOOH on the TLC TIP!



Presenting

T-JBoz

Lisa 'Left Eye' Zobes

&

CJilli


Hat 2 da back y'all







[Edited on December 29, 2012 at 6:02 PM. Reason : (Why cant i load the larger pic from my gallery, help me)]]

12/29/2012 5:53:29 PM

man if only face was as good at photoshop as he is at nicknames

12/29/2012 7:11:42 PM

that was my first one ever. was only willing to devote like 20 minutes to it. i like crappy shops haha. but feel free to do a better one, because those are their new nicks.


(just saved a tooshload more cash with a well placed 'brieve)

12/29/2012 8:01:50 PM

i could get the faces of the players to line up more on the TLC divas, and then what I would do would be change the hue/saturation/color levels to make them match up with the hot TLC ladies' bodies' skin tones

PM me the url's of the pics you used and i'll put something together and PM it back to you to give you all the glory

12/29/2012 8:21:53 PM

pm sent. You know that its dead. but its me instead

12/29/2012 8:47:21 PM

dont go chasing zobofalls

12/30/2012 12:17:15 PM

Just spent a lazy Sunday, couch-inspired Internet trip through how abysmal the Sidney Lowe years actually were and how it affected my inspiration to even give a damn about our team. Not sure how anybody can just take these GT and BC games coming up for granted.

[Edited on December 30, 2012 at 3:15 PM. Reason : l]

12/30/2012 3:15:30 PM

WHATCHU TALKIN BOUT PURVIS?

12/30/2012 3:35:28 PM

Quote :

"Not sure how anybody can just take these GT and BC games coming up for granted"

Georgia Tech is not a walkover. They actually rate decently.

I worry as much about Boston College as much as I would worry if we played New Hampshire or Boston University. They are terrible. A tournament team simply doesn't lose to bottom half of the country teams.

12/30/2012 9:00:27 PM

ahahaha

12/30/2012 11:46:49 PM

my bro beejay anya just retweeted that shit so hopefully our bros on the team see those 'shops.




(saved another Tooshload of cash with another well placed 'brieve)

12/31/2012 12:28:11 AM

Remember Trevor Ferguson? I just revisited him today on the Internet.

I think it would have been better if we just sat out the Sidney Lowe years and focused on Air Rifle competition or something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AthULZscXTc

[Edited on December 31, 2012 at 12:33 AM. Reason : k]

12/31/2012 12:31:23 AM

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_128_Men.html

really? 10-8 in conference with losses to BC, UVa, and GT?

1/1/2013 11:09:44 AM

theyve got us losing almost every away game

1/1/2013 11:43:33 AM

it's not as if someone sat down and made those predictions.

1/1/2013 11:50:49 AM

I think 10 wins is our base in the ACC..we really have no ceiling, but based on play so far I'd say 14 wins is our ceiling.

Besides WF/BC, the ACC schedule will definitely be a fight each game, and it'll be interesting to see who ends up in the top half.

1/1/2013 12:23:23 PM

This is a better prediction:

http://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/team/nc-state-wolfpack/projections

11-6


They've been fairly accurate on box score simulations. They have our rebounding problem pegged, too, even against these crap opponents.

If we can play a first half as bad as we did yesterday against one of the easiest opponents in division I, we can certainly lose to some of these inferior ACC teams.

[Edited on January 1, 2013 at 12:52 PM. Reason : Don't really have a good chance to make the sweet 16 -- would have to be another lucky run]

1/1/2013 12:46:55 PM

I think it may be a slight advantage that with teams we play twice, we play most of them at home first and then away, which I would think, allow us to have more confidence against them when we play them for the second time, especially if we win the home game.

[Edited on January 1, 2013 at 1:53 PM. Reason : k]

1/1/2013 1:53:18 PM

I'll be placated with at least 10 wins

1/1/2013 2:26:03 PM

i think that an 11-6 is a virtual impossibility for this team

[Edited on January 1, 2013 at 2:29 PM. Reason : ]

1/1/2013 2:29:52 PM

Check the Jevoni Robinson interview. Another Jamaican, moved to the States in '07, sounds like he transferred from NCCentral, but he's listed as a freshman.
http://www.gopack.com/allaccess/

1/1/2013 4:21:07 PM

You can't really work on getting loose balls, but we need to do something about all the tipped rebounds and loose balls we don't get.

I thought we'd be a lot better aapt rebounding. The guys look like they are husseling it just gets tipped or knocked to the other team or has a bad bounce.

It's mainly on the Offensive boards.

1/1/2013 4:27:22 PM

Getting to the sweet 16 is all about matchups and luck of the draw. If an epic upset happens in the first round then you get to play two cupcakes and make the sweet 16. big woop.

1/1/2013 4:28:12 PM

Joran & Tyler Benedict




This has been another treetwista & face collab

1/1/2013 5:49:56 PM

Joran?

like van der Sloot?

1/1/2013 6:08:32 PM

I rewatched that UNCG games, and here's a summary of the 15 offensive rebounds we gave up:

7 rebounds -- Ball watching as shot goes up -> losing track of man -> no box out
3 rebounds -- Not setting up at good rebounding spot/allowing opponent to setup at good rebound spot
3 rebounds -- Allowing dribble penetration, leading to missed assignments on rotations or complete breakdowns
2 rebounds -- Turnovers leading to 3-1 fast breaks for UNCG

Assigning direct blame:

Leslie - 5
Howell - 4.5 (.5 because it was a fairly long rebound)
Purvis - 1 solo, 3 as part of ball screen fuckup
Warren - 1
Turnovers - 2

Only 1 of these was off of a long rebound that we really couldn't get.

So, We can significantly improve our rebounding if we can convince mainly Howell and Leslie to find their man when the shot goes up instead of ball-watching. 66% of the offensive boards we gave up were because UNCG acted before we did to get the rebound.

To me, it looks like Leslie is not even thinking about rebounding until it is too late. He gets pushed around like a rag doll because his man always acts first. When you are skinny, you have to be the one to get to the spot first.

The next biggest thing to fix is penetration on the ball screen, which I have harped on previously. We only hedge screens at the top of the key, and we do that poorly because we don't actually stop the dribbler. On wing screens, instead of hedging or trapping, it looks like we let the guard penetrate to try to funnel everything to the big man (Leslie or Howell) for a shot block. This just causes Howell to get fouls and the opponent to get offensive rebounds. Goes without saying that bad ball screen defense also leads to layups.


Long story short: Our guys need to be aware of their man and the ball at all times on defense. We are getting killed by ball watching.

1/1/2013 6:29:52 PM

You really re watched the game to take notes on all the rebounds we gave up?

1/1/2013 6:32:45 PM

I just made all that up.


Anyway, my hypothesis was that we suck at rebounding because Leslie sucks at rebounding. Since I actually like to base my arguments on evidence, I went to the tape. The play-by-play on ESPN tells you what time to jump to, which is very helpful.

The hypothesis was only partially supported. The whole team just has bad rebounding technique.


v You'd think so, but we don't do it too many times.

[Edited on January 1, 2013 at 6:46 PM. Reason : .]

1/1/2013 6:34:50 PM

Quote :

"Our guys need to be aware of their man and the ball at all times on defense."

TREES FOUND IN FOREST

1/1/2013 6:45:07 PM

This team has been not as bad on my heart health as in years past.

1/1/2013 6:50:16 PM

ugh please don't read too much into the UNCG game...new year's eve game, 2nd game in 3 days, 100 people in the crowd, ACC play beginning next week, worst team on the schedule...

It was a game we could sleepwalk through and still win by 15+...which is exactly what happened. They can probably do the same on Saturday, though they may have to show up in the last 7-8 minutes if BC gets hot at home.

GT is obvious trap game...If they don't start playing hard from the Duke game on, then its time to worry about the team's motivation.

1/1/2013 7:12:43 PM

Nonsense. We gave up 20 ORB to Western Michigan, too. We gave up 13 to the bonnies.

All the predictors consistently and accurately predict us to give up a lot of offensive rebounds (more than their average) to far less talented teams.

That means it's a real, consistent problem that can be modeled, not a product of exceptional circumstances.


No one is arguing that we can't beat these teams without playing good basketball. I'm saying that the best way to prepare yourself to play good basketball late in the season is to play good basketball as often as possible early in the season.

Purposely dogging it is a wasted opportunity to improve, and I'm not sure these is strong evidence of teams being able to improve a lot over conference play.

1/1/2013 7:31:27 PM

Quote :

"100 people in the crowd"

What? It was a great crowd given the time/day.

Quiet but big.

1/1/2013 7:38:30 PM