GarageGabs

What a win from the Wolfpack yesterday. Out-gunned and out-manned, NC State pulled off a 83-79 upset over #3 North Carolina in the RBC Center yesterday. Just an absolute brilliant performance to watch as State, who were up most of the game, held off UNC rallies on multiple occasions.

State, who played just 7 players (one a walkon) shot 60.5% from the field, out-rebounded the Heels (one of the best rebounding teams in the nation) 27-22, hit 14 of 17 second half shots, and basically just out played and out coached Carolina. A sweet win indeed for the entire Wolfpack Nation.

The win should put the entire fanbase behind new Head Coach Sidney Lowe as well as giving the Pack a chance to make some noise nationally. The feeling here is just SO HOPEFUL now….we have something to cheer for. The days of competing with our neighbors in the ACC aren’t that far off. If you let athletes be athletes, play with emotion, as well as running an offense…well, good things can happen. A new era has arrived at NCSU, and the future looks very good.

I’ve got the game DVR’d, but I’m waiting for someone to post some youtube videos of the highlights. (there were many) I’ll have some video up, hopefully later tonight.

The Pack went on the road tonight and ended Virginia Tech’s 10 game home winning streak with a 70-59 win. State put 4 players in double figures and got 35 minutes from Engin Atsur. Atsur was solid on the offensive end but still seemed to labor just a bit on defense. Here are a few highlights, check out the jam from Courtney Fells and the amazing commentary from Cliff Ellis.
*edit* Not sure why I put the wrong date in the video. Sorry about the quality.

 

 

Here is a much better look at the Fells dunk:

 

 

Found this over at ACCNOW.

Here is the respoonse from John Clougherty, the ACC’s coordinator of basketball officials:

“The league acknowledges that a timing error was made in not starting the game clock at the correct time, when the ball was stolen by Clemson’s Vernon Hamilton off the in-bounded pass from Duke’s Josh McRoberts.

“We came to this conclusion after completing a review of the game film as well as internal conversations with the crew of officials, both head coaches and conference office staff. At this point, as with most league officiating matters, this situation has been handled and resolved internally.”

This is wonderful if handling “internally” means a suspension of officials and scorekeepers involved.  Honestly, they should pick the game back up with 2.4 seconds left and the score tied.  Hey, I remember they did that once in baseball after the George Brett pine-tar incident.

Anyway, this is the way the ACC generally responds to officiating mistakes:  “Yeah, we did it.  Sorry, we’ll take care of it”.  Reaction is not that answer, they need to start being preactive on this.

I know this is going to be hard to believe but Duke received another gift wrapped win tonight vs. Clemson. The final score is gonna say Duke 68 Clemson 66, in regulation, but this game should have gone to Overtime. Clemson managed to get within 3 points, 66-63 with exactly 5 seconds remaining. Duke attempted to inbound the ball but it was stolen by Clemson’s Vernon Hamilton, just outside the 3 point line. Hamilton fired a 3 pointer and tied the game at 66. That’s where the problems come in. The clock did not start upon Hamilton touching the ball…in fact, it didn’t start until the ball was in the basket, running down to 1.8 seconds. Somehow, officials actually looked at a replay and put 4.4 seconds on the clock.

In essence, the officials were saying that Vernon Hamilton caught, set, and shot the ball, and the ball traveled over 20 feet in….SIX TENTHS OF A SECOND. I want you to say a word for me….seriously, I want you to speak this word: Say the word “Blue Devil”…Now, say it again. That’s about 1/2 a second. Hamilton did all that stuff….and the ball flew 21+ feet, on an arc…..in the time it takes you to say “Blue Devil”

So, back to the story. With a new found 4.4 seconds on the clock, Duke was able to inbounds the ball, get it to mid-court, make a pass, and hit the winning basket at the buzzer. Good lord how many more garbage wins can these guys get away with?

It’s become a bit of a tradition for those of us here in the ACC. We always know that Duke will get beneficial treatment from ACC refs. It happened so much last year that the national media even started to recognize it.

Anyway, I’m sure some of you are going to say that the clock was set back to the appropriate time. For you, I offer video evidence complete with a built in timer.
Video Of Screwjob

After watching that, there is no way you can deny that Duke was granted a gift tonight. Yeah, Duke still might have won, but they would have had to go to overtime to do it.

Anyway, probably not much can be done about this, unless you want to sign this petition!! Clemson fans are upset enough to start a petition on the matter. Of course, signing this petition won’t matter, but it’ll be fun to see how many signatures they can get it up to.

Duke Clemson Recap (ESPN) [Jay Bilas (former dukie, go figure) wants you to know that a “legal basket” was still scored even though the officials did make a timing error. He also wants you to know that he was on the bench in 1992 when Duke overcame a similar situation.]

Video With Timer

Online “fed up with Duke” Petition

Gilbert Arenas Vows He Could Score 84 or 85 vs. Duke: Gilbert obviously isn’t taking into account referee bias.

*EDIT* Someone finally got a youtube video up-

I took in two games at the RBC Center this past Saturday. Honestly, I should have stayed at home. NC State lost to Duke, 79-56 and the Hurricanes lost to Tampa Bay, 6-5 in a shootout. Oh well. Figured I’d post a few photos of my day, and finish up with a quick video review of my 8 hour adventure in losing. I wanted to add that Martin St. Louis is perhaps the most pesky hockey player to every suit up. He is listed at 5′9″ but I really don’t think he’s a hair over 5′6″. He is super quick, and super deadly anytime he touches the puck. I wasn’t all that impressed with Duke overall, (State was just out manned and played BAD) but freshman guard Jon Scheyer seems awful smooth.

Here are some highlights lowlights.

First of all, you’re probably asking yourself what the relevance of that photo is to an ACC basketball game. I’ll tell ya. Folks in North Carolina know two things: How to panic in 1/4 inch of snow…..and the Clemson Tigers are not a threat to become a dominant force in College Basketball.

The only reason I’m even up this morning…..is that 1/4 inch of snow. I’m sitting here on the computer waiting for my fiance’ to make it to her destination. Once I get that “honey I made it” phone call….I can put my old bones back in the bed.

As for Clemson, the National media was calling last nights game vs. North Carolina a “statement game”. Clemson made a statement alright, but it was the same one they’ve been since Jimmy Carter was in office….they lost to UNC, 77-55. Is it just people outside of the ACC that think Clemson is about to become some sort of national power? Yeah, they were 17-1 coming into this game, but as I mentioned a day before Christmas, their schedule has been cupcake city. They’ve now played 2 ranked teams (Maryland is about to be unranked as well) and lost to both of them. They’ll be VERY lucky if they gain a split out of Boston College and Duke (their next 2 games). Lucky for Clemson, the ACC is shaping up to be a very up and down league…they’ll win 20 games (thanks to a patsy non-conference schedule) and they have an outside shot at finishing .500 in the ACC, which more than likely will get them an early exit from the Big Dance.

As for Carolina, last nights results weren’t all that surprising. Coming off an upset loss to Virginia Tech, everyone knew the Heels would be foaming at the mouth to do some Tiger stomping. Make no mistake about it…this UNC team is strong. Are they strong enough to win a national title? Honestly, I don’t think they are….to much youth. They are just young enough to put up that occasional clunker of a game, which will probably keep them from winning 6 straight in March. I do believe they will easily win the ACC regular season title, and probably the tournament title as well.

I wouldn’t have made that statement about UNC two days ago, but that was before Boston College showed Sean Williams and Akida McLain the door. If you’ve ever watched B.C. play, you know the importance of Sean Williams, the guy is a shot blocking machine. His dismissal only validates my opinion that the B.C. basketball team is Thug Central. Every time I have watched them play I see Jared Dudley pumping his chest and pointing at the opposing teams fans…this was going on last year as well. I know there is such a thing as playing with emotion, but when a large percent of your google image results are you celebrating, then something is up. Anyway, the loss of Williams in the middle is going to do a ton of damage to the Eagles win/loss record. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of guys.

A lot of people have been jumping on the Virginia Tech bandwagon lately as well. Tech knocked off then #5 Duke (@ Duke) and #1 UNC in the space of one week. Ok, let me go ahead and kill this myth. Duke is not that good this year. Dick Vitale might tell you they are, but this really isn’t the finest entry Coach K has brought to the pageant. That being said, winning at Duke is a nice win, but Tech won’t be the only ACC team to do it this season. Now, the win at UNC was impressive, but as I mentioned earlier, UNC is gonna slip up from time to time….Tech caught them slipping. Tech validated my theory last night by going out and losing to FSU, 82-73.

It’s just gonna be one of those years in the ACC. Maryland, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Clemson, Boston College, Virginia, and Georgia Tech are all just good enough to beat up on eachother. Any of them could step up on any given night and knock off Duke, and a couple of them will beat UNC. State and Wake Forest are left on the outside looking in. Outside of Carolina, I don’t see any of these teams stepping up and becoming some sort of National force. Of course, that doesn’t mean an ACC team other than UNC won’t make a deep tourney run.

Not much going on in the ACC tonight other than Wake Forest picking up another loss at Duke. I can hear that “fire Prosser” machine starting to heat up, to think people thought only NCSU fans were crazy.

I’ve gotten my phone call, that’s my cue to get out of here.

Triangle Could See Up To 2 Inches Of Snow  (Seriously, it’s 8 am and drizzling rain…these fools act like we’re in a blizzard)

If you haven’t had a chance to watch Texas Freshman Kevin Durant play, you need to set your Tivo for Thursday night, 5 pm, ESPN Classic. That’s when they will replay last nights 3 Overtime thriller between Texas and Oklahoma State. If you haven’t seen the highlights yet, #14 Oklahoma State needed 37 points and a late desperation 3 pointer from Mario Boggan to subdue the #23 Longhorns 105-103.

Video Highlights Per ESPN

AP Recap Per Yahoo

The game was full of fantastic plays, but you’ve got to check out Kevin Durant. The kid is a Magic Johnson/Kevin Garnette hybrid on the court. He does it all; he drains 3’s, finishes with authority, dishes, rebounds, plays defense…and he’s just a FRESHMAN!! Long story short, the 6-9 Durant is the best freshman in the land this year….not Greg Oden.

The two make for an interesting comparison as they are both freshman, and both play on young teams….hence, they get plenty of opportunities to be “the man”.

Here’s a comparison of their statistics: I’ll remove some of my own personal bias by adding that Oden has been limited this year due to injury:

Kevin Durant 6-9 G-F Freshman Texas

PPG- 24.5

APG- 1.8

RPG- 11.1

BPG- 1.9

SPG- 1.6

.491 FG%, .850 FT%, .374 3PT.% (34-91) 11 double-doubles including last 6 games

Gren Oden 7-0 C Freshman Ohio State

PPG- 14.9

APG- 1.0
RPG- 9.8
BPG- 3.9
SPG- .4

.611 FG%, .591 FT%, 4 double/doubles: Missed 7 games due to injury

The Jury? I guess it depends on what you need. If you need a 7 footer to fill the paint,(what team doesn’t?) block shots, snag boards, give you 15-20 per night, but be somewhat of a liability from the charity stripe, then Oden is your man. However, if you want a versatile 6-9 presence with the ability to take over and dominate any perspective of the game, then your guy is Durant. Either way, there is no denying that both of these guys are mega-studs. I think teams could game-plan Oden out of a game…..so to speak. They could limit his offense. In Durant’s case, I think his plethora of offensive game makes him unstoppable on a college level.

I couldn’t be more pleased with what Sidney Lowe is doing with this years edition of Wolfpack basketball. Lowe got the Pack to 11-6, and notched his first career ACC victory in leading the Pack to an 88-74 win over Wake Forest.

Mull this over for a second….The Pack lost Cedrick Simmons to an early exit to the NBA, Andrew Brackman to baseball, Ilian Evtimov, Tony Bethel, and Cameron Bennerman to graduation, and have basically been without Engin Atsur due to injury. To make matters worse, they lost 2 incoming recruits in Dan Werner and Larry Davis. That didn’t leave Lowe with much. Atsur, mentioned early, was the lone returning senior, and was depended on to run the point. Things haven’t worked out that way as Atsur has missed several games due to injury, thrusting most of the ball handling duties on junior small forward Gavin Grant. Grant was the only other returning player that picked up any minutes that one would call “significant”…..Courtney Fells, a sophomore, was highly regarded but saw little action last year. Starting Center Ben McCauley, played sparingly as well last year while backing up Cedrick Simmons. Now he’s a poor mans version of Tyler Hansborough. Brandon Costner missed nearly all of last year to injury, so he retained his freshman status. Freshman Dennis Horner and former walk on Bryan Nieman picked up what playing time was left, and transfer Trevor Ferguson came on after the first semester to help with ball handling duties. 1 Junior, 2 sophomores, 2 freshmen, and a walk-on haved logged the majority of minutes……I’m DAMN PROUD OF THIS TEAM.

Anyway, check out Courtney Fells and Brandon Costner showing off vs. Wake Forest:

Notre Dame continues to be the most over-hyped team in college football as they were clobbered by LSU tonight in the Who Cares Bowl, 41-14. Notre Dame has now lost 9 consecutive bowl games, not to mention 3 of 4 games they played vs. ranked teams this season. Over-hyped Brady Quinn gave us a good preview of how he’ll look in a Raiders uniform next year going 15 of 35 for just 148 yards, 2 TD’s and 2 picks.

How long until the Golden Domers are calling for Charlie Wies to be fired? During the now 9 game bowl streak, Notre Dame has had 5 coaches….They can’t let Wies have too long a leash. He won’t have Brady Quinn to pull him out of fires vs. patsy schedules next year. Honestly, I don’t have anything against Notre Dame I just get sick of hearing them discussed by the national media so much. Why were they even in a BCS bowl?

Anyway, something good did come out of the game; The world got another look at JaMarcus Russell. Russell, a junior, threw for 332 yards and 2 TD, and ran for a TD as well. He hasn’t decided on the NFL as of yet, here’s to hoping he stays at LSU.

As you might have noticed, I haven’t had much to say about this years batch of bowl games…..other than the Fiesta, and who could withstand talking about that?  There is a reason I haven’t mentioned them…..I haven’t watched and I really don’t care.  Honestly, these games really don’t have a shred of meaning.  Yeah, some of them are good football, and everyone loves good football, but does the winner or loser really matter?  Are these games any more meaningful than Sunday’s Browns/Texans game?

So, Boise State won, and finishes undefeated.  Will that elevate them a few spots in the polls?  USC?  Did they “prove” something by pounding Michigan yesterday?  Blah, blah blah.  It’s all pointless to discuss until Florida and Ohio State square off.  That is what we have been given…a one game playoff.

Anyway, with all that being said, here’s my take on what I’ve heard about this years bowl games.  I heard West Virginia came back on Georgia Tech and beat them.  I heard USC stomped a mud hole in Michigan.  I heard Rutgers won, that’s cool.  I know Florida State (who SUCKS) beat UCLA, who also beat USC…..that tells me a lot.  With all these “great” bowl games on tv everyday I haven’t watched a single one.  Sad huh?  I probably will watch Ohio State and Florida…I wish I had watched the Fiesta, just for the drama.  As for all the others….I REALLY, HONESTLY, don’t care.  Also, believe it or not, I really do enjoy and like college football.  It’s just gotten to a point with me….where the bowl season is just very insignificant.  Maybe next year huh?
For those that do care (if you do care, I’m sure you don’t need this information) here is the full scoreboard with all 28 of the great bowl games that have already been played.