Monday, October 5, 2015

Things looking optimistic for NC State basketball fans. 

Embedded image permalink

This is a picture of 5 star NC State commit Dennis Smith Jr. with 5 star SG Rawle Alkins and 5 star Center Tim Udoka. Just Imagine what this team would be like if we got all of them. And don't forget that 5 star Center Edrice "Bam" Adebayo is still in the mix for State. Rawle Alkins posted this picture on his twitter.  

Friday, September 11, 2015

#1 Point Guard Dennis Smith Jr. Commits to NC State

2016 recruit commits to the NC State Wolfpack. He is the #1 rated point guard and #4 overall player in the ESPN top 100. He is currently recovering from an ACL injury and is probably going to miss his senior season of high school. To help Mark Gottfried recruit Dennis, the coach and his assistant, Orlando Early, flew down to Dennis's high school in a helicopter for a visit. A few days later Dennis commits to NC State. 

The Wolfpack Coaches have similar plans to visit Edrice Adebayo, a member of Dennis's AAU Team. He is also a Top Ten recruit. Right now he is the #6 player in the ESPN top 100. If NC State can get both of these players they will be contenders for the ACC Title.




See More at fayobserver.com

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

ACC Basketball Schedule Best Games


> Duke vs. Carolina - This is always going to be one of the best games of the year in the ACC. They are both one of the best teams in the country and it should be a great game.

>Duke at NC State - Duke has not played very well in PNC Arena the last 2 times Duke has played NC State there, they were # 1 and #2 team in the country, but they lost both times. Duke also lost to Mercer, a # 15 seed in the NCAA tournament, when they were a # 2 seed. 

> Louisville vs. Florida St. - Florida St. and Louisville have 2 of the best recruiting classes in the ACC. They both will be inexperienced, but with a lot of talent.

>NC State at Carolina - Last year the Wolfpack beat the Tar Heels at home for the first time in the Roy Williams Era. The Tar Heels are looking for revenge. 

>  Notre Dame at Virginia - Both of these teams had promising seasons last year. Notre Dame made it to the Elite 8, but Virginia only made it to the round of 32. These 2 teams hope to have good seasons again this year.

> Syracuse at Louisville - Both of these teams are former Big East Members. The Cardinals had a pretty good season last year, making it to the elite 8. The Orange had a more average season except for all of the NCAA violations. They had a self imposed NCAA tourney ban, they would have been on the bubble otherwise. 


Thursday, August 27, 2015

Could Russell Wilson be a nut?

I'm one of the biggest Russell Wilson fans there is, but his latest comments about Recovery Water is pretty peculiar. Russell Wilson says that Recovery water saved him from getting a concussion in the NFC Championship game against the Green Bay Packers. This is his tweet "I believe @Recovery_Water helped prevent me from getting a concussion based on a bad hit!



Saturday, August 22, 2015

Eric Kramer Suicide Attempt

Kramer's ex-wife told NBC that she believes Kramer was suffering from depression because of his years playing in the NFL. Kramer reportedly shot himself but the wound was not fatal.

More at NBC.

Monday, August 17, 2015

NC State Football!

Offense:

The offense for the Wolfpack is led by QB Jacoby Brissett. Brissett was a transfer player from Florida. In his junior year, Brissett did excellent work throwing for over 2,500 yards, 23 touchdowns, and only five interceptions. The only bad part for Brissett is that his two top receivers transferred at the end of the season. The departure of two great pass catchers leaves the Wolfpack receiving corps looking rather thin heading into 2015. The rushing game for NC State was rather impressive last season with the Pack averaging 204.5 rushing yards per game. The running back that was responsible for the majority of those yards was Shadrach Thornton. Thornton rushed for almost a thousand yards last season and rushed for 9 TDs. Having such a great ground game kept their turnovers down to only 15 the whole season. Thornton is heading into his senior season this year and is looking to increase his draft stock. This season, the O-line is bringing back three starters who will hope to open plenty of holes. The line will also hope to protect their QB a lot better, seeing as they allowed over thirty sacks.

Defense:

The rushing defense for the Wolfpack last season was average at best, allowing around 168 rush yards per game. The last five games of the season, the run protection became stouter by not allowing more than 85 yards in four out of five games. Sadly, for NC State, they lost three starters on their defensive line. This will be hard to replace, but there is some young talent to fill their shoes. The anchor of the line will likely be DT B.J. Hill, who had 40 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss last season. The pass defense for the Pack did an excellent job last season of preventing a lot of air travel. They allowed, on average, 204.7 pass yards per game, which ranked 30 in the nation. The secondary still has all of its members on the team and are looking to fly under a lot of their opponents radars and surprise them.

 

Sunday, August 16, 2015

                                  Top 5 ACC QB! 

1. Deshaun Watson 

He threw for 1,466 yards and 14 touchdowns in eight appearances. 

2. Brad Kaaya 

He started all 13 games for Miami as a true freshman and threw for 3,198 yards and 26 scores.

3. Justin Thomas

Thomas led the team with 1,086 rushing yards and eight scores.

4. Marquise Williams

Last year Williams passed for 2,021 yards and 14 scores to just five interceptions.

5. Jacoby Brisset 

Brissett threw for 2,606 yards and 23 scores and rushed for 529 yards and three touchdowns. He can easily be higher on the list by the end of the season.


Saturday, August 15, 2015

What ACC team has the best chance to make CFB playoffs?

As of right now it looks like clemson has the best chance of making the college football playoffs, but the are many concerns for tiger fans. Such as Deshaun Watson's ability to stay healthy. Last year the clemson QB did not stay healthy. The clemson offensive line only returns one starter from last season. I think that they still are the team to beat in the ACC because they are loaded at other positions especially WR.


Another team that i think might be able to do it is virginia tech. I think that the hokies defense is the best in the ACC. If there offense improves then i think they could be one of the best teams in the ACC.


We are Back!

I'm going to start this blog back up. My name is Jeremy, the person who started this blog is my dad. I'm 14 years old and I love college sports (especially NC State). I know that nothing has been posted in 3 years but I want to get it started again.

And now who is ready for some football!!!


Friday, February 17, 2012

NC State at Duke


It's Disappointing and Makes Me Want to CRY!

For most Wolfpack fans, the glass is half full. The team has been transformed, the players have been transformed, and to some extent expectations have been transformed. Under the leadership of Mark Gottfried and staff, what was a pathetically run, out of shape and emotionally absent team has become a factor in the ACC and for sure a bubble team for the NCAA tournament. What we've seen this year is pretty much the most any state fan dared to hope for. And we won't even talk about next year, at least not quite yet.

But you can't be a real State fan without being in some pain today after the way things unfolded last night in Cameron. I just couldn't let this one go by without a few comments.

Domination

I can't imagine anything more fun that the way we played for 30 minutes last night. The style that Gottfried has them playing, the 11-0 fast break advantage in the first half, the athleticism Calvin exhibited making every Dookie look slow and lazy, the confidence of our mid-range shooters, the fact that even when we gave up a basket we simply pushed back harder and faster, ALL give us great joy and hope and pride. After watching 30 minutes of that it is hard to understand why any recruit wouldn't want to be part of it and our bright future (
Amile Jefferson).

Officiating

No, there isn't a conspiracy among ACC Officials to favor Duke or Carolina or anything even bordering on that. BUT, officials are human, and officiating during a game is an active organism with a life of its own. For the most part the officials played no major role in the 1st half. CJ Williams picked up 3 early, but every now and then that will happen, even to one of the best defenders in the league.

But what took place in the first few minutes of the 2nd half was unfortunate for NC State. In the early minutes of the half, CJ is called for his 4th foul on an off the ball play that wasn't a foul in the first half. The first half of the game had been called pretty loose. If you could get an honest answer from the ref that called that foul, I'd be willing to bet 10 seconds after making the call, he wished he hadn't. They are human, things happen. All 3 refs recognized the fact that NC State had just been very disadvantaged by a call of something that probably wasn't the type of thing they had called the entire first half. So, the next time down the court, a Duke defender makes the exact same type of contact, a small hold that had been going on all game, but had just been called on State in a huge play, so it had to be called on Duke.

Now at this point, both teams are pissed off, the crowd is getting more vocal, and both coaches are screaming at the refs. The emotional level cranked up another level, and without the intention of intervening in such a way, the officials had imposed a completely new interpretation of what is isn't a foul. Having done this, they pretty much had to stick with it. What followed was a flurry of fouls that likely in the first half would have been no-calls. The calls were pretty much evenly distributed, causing players on both sides foul-trouble and causing both coaches to have to adjust. I think you can make a strong argument that if that ticky-tack foul against CJ Williams hadn't been called, this game plays out completely differently.

Depth

NC State doesn't have it. NC State may have the best starting 5 in the ACC. Not the most talented, but with the exception of the UNC game, NC State's starters have beaten the starters of every team they have played this year. State starters beat Syracuse, beat Stanford, beat Indiana, and beat Duke. But state has no depth. You can argue whether Gottfried could have developed depth by this point, or whether the cupboard is just bare, but we don't have it. Between the fact that key players couldn't participate for much of the 2nd half, and the high number of minutes being played by those who did play left open a door for Duke that couldn't easily be closed.

Duke

Coach K was bold in orchestrating this comeback. I think you'd have a hard time finding another coach in the country that would have used timeouts the way he did to help keep that comeback going. It goes against all conventional wisdom to put so much effort and resources (timeouts) into a run with 7+ minutes left in the game. But K masterfully recognized that if he could make a big run while State had key players on the bench, and that if he could get it below 8 or so, the game would completely change. By pulling his levers when he did, he took advantage of a window that wouldn't be open later and I believe that was a huge factor in the comeback. I also can't say enough about the performance of Seth Curry. With State unable to play great defense because of fatigue and foul trouble, Curry took advantage of the high screen to perfection.

The Scars of Losing

I texted a Duke friend at half-time "Don't worry. We forgot who we were because of the black uniforms. State will show up in the 2nd half. Collapse to follow".

NC State fans "expect" to lose games like this. We have been through hell as fans for way too long, and this is just how we are. It is going to take time to change that. As much as we feel pain for loses, it has to be far worse for players. These players have had years of disappointment. I believe that re-wires your brain to some extent. That cannot help but mess with your confidence. Along with fatigue, I believe that is a key part to why NC State couldn't close the door on Duke, and couldn't respond with plays in the last few minutes of the game. Getting your body in shape, learning a real offense, learning to trust your teammates and coaches are things you can learn in 6 months. Learning how to win the big game is going to take longer.

I'm really confident we will earn how to win big games like this. The future looks bright and whether or not we ever become on par with Duke and Carolina every year or not, games like this will start going our way occasionally in the future. I'm really looking forward to that.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

A Bad Afternoon

For the last 35+ years I have been following Carolina Basketball and yesterday at the Leon Civic Center in Tallahasee Florida something happened that I have never seen in all these years is, not only did a basketball team give up,but its coach did too. Getting blown out is one thing. But giving up and walking off the floor to avoid the storm.(But "he was protecting his players", so he says)) Why would he leave those walkons on the floor to fend for themselves? That was only part of it.
I remember Dean Smith teams getting blown out,but never giving up! One I distinctly remember in 1990 when they were crushed by Lethal Weapon 3(DennisScott,KennyAnderson@BrianOliver) Georgia Tech couldnt miss that night winning by 27. Carolina kept playing even though they had no chance. Yesterday Tyler Zeller was the only one who kept playing hard. Cold shooting days do happen but someone else picks up the slack. Barnes,Marshall,Hensen, and Strickland looked like they did at the beginning of last year.But they fought through it and became an elite 8 team. They looked frightened and their coach DID NOT HAVE AN ANSWER. How do u not have an answer? Thats what time outs are for. But u prefer to let the players play through the mess. Please call timeout to atleast stop the bleeding for that moment. If they continue staying hot. Well at least u tried to stop the carnage. Its very annoying to hear Dukie V talking about Carolina getting blown out like this. The only positive I see in all this is. The season is not over yet. Another thing is. These are kids. Yelling and screaming at them constantly is not going to get better results. Also John Henson needs to quit shooting jumpshots and his poor freethrow shooting is going to be a problem. Justin Watts should not be in rotation unless there is foul trouble or someones hurt. Robert McAdoo and P.J. Hairston need to be more aggressive and get faster on defense. It would also help Marshall(needs serious work on D) and Barnes. Florida State was benefited by hot shooting great hustle and Carolinas poor play. Still a long way to go!

Monday, September 19, 2011

ACC is first Super Conference

The Atlantic Coast Conference Council of Presidents has unanimously voted to accept the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University as new members. The invitation followed the submission of letters of application from both universities.

"The ACC is a strong united conference that is only going to get better with the addition of the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University," said Duke University President Richard Brodhead, chair of the ACC Council of Presidents. "Both schools are committed to competing at the highest level of academics and athletics. We welcome them as full partners in the ACC."

"The ACC has enjoyed a rich tradition by balancing academics and athletics and the addition of Pitt and Syracuse further strengthens the ACC culture in this regard," said Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford. "Pittsburgh and Syracuse also serve to enhance the ACC's reach into the states of New York and Pennsylvania and geographically bridges our footprint between Maryland and Massachusetts. With the addition of Pitt and Syracuse, the ACC will cover virtually the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States."

"This is an exciting day for the University of Pittsburgh. We have a long history of competing and collaborating with the distinguished universities that already are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, and have enormous respect for both their academic strengths and their athletic accomplishments," said University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. "In looking to our own future, we could not envision a better conference home for Pitt and are grateful to the Council of Presidents for extending an invitation to join the ACC community."

"We are very excited to be joining the ACC. This is a tremendous opportunity for Syracuse, and with its outstanding academic quality and athletic excellence, the ACC is a perfect fit for us," said Nancy Cantor, Chancellor and President of Syracuse University. "The ACC is home to excellent national research universities with very strong academic quality, and is a group that Syracuse will contribute to significantly and benefit from considerably. As a comprehensive, all-sports conference, the ACC provides Syracuse tremendous opportunities for quality competition and growth in all sports, while also renewing some of our historic rivalries. This move will also bolster our continued efforts to look outward, engage, and extend Syracuse's reach to key areas of the country, including the southeast, as we grow and expand our national connections to alumni, partners and the students of the future. We are pleased that Syracuse adds a New York City dimension to the ACC, a region in which we have built strong identity and affinity, and we look forward to bringing ACC games to the Big Apple. Overall, for Syracuse, this opportunity provides long-term conference stability in what is an uncertain, evolving, and rapidly shifting national landscape."

"This is a very significant day for all of our student-athletes, coaches and staff at the University of Pittsburgh," said Steve Pederson, University of Pittsburgh Director of Athletics. "The strength and quality of the ACC is highly regarded by everyone at Pitt. When we set high expectations for our student-athletes in their academic, athletic and personal goals, it is important to provide every opportunity and resource to enable that success. Joining the ACC and the outstanding institutions in this conference will give every Pitt student-athlete the chance to achieve their highest aspirations."

Daryl Gross, Syracuse University Director of Athletics said, "Today is a day that we will remember for years to come. We are truly excited that academically and athletically we will be a member of the ACC, one of the nation's premier collegiate athletic conferences. As New York's College Team, we plan to compete at the highest level across all of our sports and help to enhance this great conference."

About the Atlantic Coast Conference:
Now in its 59th year of competition, the ACC has long enjoyed the reputation as one of the strongest and most competitive intercollegiate conferences in the nation. Since the league's inception in 1953, ACC schools have captured 122 national championships, including 65 in women's competition and 57 in men's. In addition, NCAA individual titles have gone to ACC student-athletes 140 times in men's competition and 99 times in women's action.