#23 NC State holds VA Tech to 47 points and LOST BY 23!?
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/25907746/no-23-nc-state-wolfpack-score-just-24-points-loss-no-12-virginia-tech-hokies
Pretty crazy stuff.
February 2nd, 2019 at 3:09 PM ^
College basketball is more exciting than NBA, but the product is just so much worse
February 2nd, 2019 at 3:21 PM ^
College basketball has largely become 1990s-era NBA-style slogfests with far worse players.
February 2nd, 2019 at 3:41 PM ^
Sometimes it's almost unwatchable. Our own team is guilty of this too.
I think some people underestimate just how good the players in the NBA are, and how hard it is to make it in that league
February 2nd, 2019 at 4:04 PM ^
It's even worse now because kids try to emulate Steph Curry without actually being Steph Curry. When it does not go well; It really does not go well: see Jordan Poole.
February 2nd, 2019 at 6:24 PM ^
Are NBA players that good, or is defense de-emphasized that much?
Not critiquing necessarily, just asking. I don’t follow the NBA that much, but when final scores are now in the range of 135-120, I have to wonder if teams even care about defense anymore. Those scores would make sense if it was, say, the Warriors vs. the Rockets, where you have two teams stock piled with superstars. But it seems like almost every game ends with both teams scoring 100+ points these days.
February 2nd, 2019 at 6:51 PM ^
The scoring across the league is higher partially because teams have realized the power of 3 pointers.
Hence, nearly every team is taking 35+ 3s in a game.
And more and more teams are hitting at a 40% clip or higher. (It's no longer just the Warriors.)
A few weeks ago, 5 different teams won by big margins on a single night. All of them hit a lot of 3s.
- Atlanta Hawks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 142-126 in Atlanta.
- Indiana Pacers beat the Phoenix Suns 131-97 in Indianapolis.
- Philadelphia 76ers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 149-107 in Philly.
- Milwaukee Bucks beat the Miami Heat 124-86 in Milwaukee.
- Golden State Warriors beat the Denver Nuggets 142-111 in Denver.
Common Theme: The winners all shot very well from deep on high(er) volume. 3 of the 5 teams shot 48% from 3 . Warriors shot 53.8% from 3 on 39 attempts.
February 2nd, 2019 at 9:20 PM ^
Pace of play is also way up. The Grizzlies, as is custom, are last in the league in pace at 95.7 possessions per game. That mark would have led the league in 2012. Scoring still is a bit lower than the 1980s era that people tend to hold up as the time that teams "played real defense."
February 2nd, 2019 at 7:53 PM ^
Wait til the one and dones are allowed to go straight to the g league or whatever.
February 2nd, 2019 at 3:23 PM ^
This is impossible. I have it on good authority that you can't win a basketball game unless you can score 65 points.
BTW, here's the link: http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/25907746/no-23-nc-state-wolfpack-score-just-24-points-loss-no-12-virginia-tech-hokies
My favorite part of the story is the reference to the '68 ACC tournament, where NC State scored 12 points in a game. And won.
February 2nd, 2019 at 3:44 PM ^
I wouldn't use an anomaly of a game between VT/NC State and a game from the pre shot clock era as evidence that our offensive woes are nothing to worry about (at least that's what it seemed like you were implying)
February 2nd, 2019 at 6:43 PM ^
The team is 20-2, and there are multiple fans on here who act as though they're lucky not to be 0-22. Would it be better if the offense clicked? Of course. But, is it possible for them to win games, including against top teams, with a poor offense performance?
It clearly is.
Is that a stress-inducing way to win? Of course. I'd rather see them win every game by 30 points too. But I refuse to panic because they're not perfect.
Furthermore -- I'm not sure what good it does for any of us to worry about something we obviously can't control anyway.
February 2nd, 2019 at 7:03 PM ^
There is reason to be concerned about our offense.
We're now 44th in adjusted efficiency on Ken Pom and 34th on Bart Torvik.
Here are the teams with a sub-35 offense getting to the Final Four in the last 11 years:
- 2017 South Carolina
- 2016 Syracuse
- 2014 UConN
- 2012 Louisville
- 2011 Butler
- 2011 VCU
- 2010 Butler
That's 7 out of 44 teams or 15.9%. Not great odds.
I'm hopeful the team hits its stride and the offense improves to around top-20.) (It was hovering around top-25 before the awful performance against a bad Iowa defense on the road.)
February 2nd, 2019 at 3:27 PM ^
Not a great outcome for NC State. But maybe they hit harder than Va Tech.
February 2nd, 2019 at 4:44 PM ^
I bet they won the time of possession
February 2nd, 2019 at 4:47 PM ^
February 2nd, 2019 at 3:28 PM ^
Somewhere... Frank Beamer is having an erection possibly lasting more than 4hrs.
February 2nd, 2019 at 3:33 PM ^
Looks like a score from a junior high game
February 2nd, 2019 at 4:12 PM ^
I “coach” my nephew’s 7&8 year old team. We won 24-18 today. I guess we’re ready for the Wolfpack!
February 2nd, 2019 at 4:28 PM ^
My son's 7th/8th grade team won 67-31 last week. They average about 45 points a game. There isn't a shot clock.
February 2nd, 2019 at 3:44 PM ^
Holy Hell. I went to a high school girls basketball game today and both teams scored at least 30.
February 2nd, 2019 at 4:23 PM ^
NC Stare had 3 field goals the entire second half. They had 5 points in the final 18:35 of the game. NC State was a ranked team before this game!
February 2nd, 2019 at 7:22 PM ^
If I was a voter I would not let them back in the Top 25 even if they ran the rest of ACC. The shooting percentages were so rough.
February 2nd, 2019 at 4:31 PM ^
This is basically what a Michigan-Texas Tech game would look like.
February 2nd, 2019 at 4:46 PM ^
I still have faith the offense can get better. Basically is presaged on Mathews getting off the snide. It’s possible.
February 2nd, 2019 at 4:53 PM ^
I think if the number of baskets and free throws increase from our players, we should see our offense improve...
February 2nd, 2019 at 4:50 PM ^
For some reason the title of this post cracked me up. Just seems ridiculous
February 2nd, 2019 at 5:23 PM ^
24 points? If I were a player for the Wolfpack, I would just own that and walk home, I guess. Yikes.
February 2nd, 2019 at 7:25 PM ^
It was a home game.
February 2nd, 2019 at 5:51 PM ^
Penn State 36 - Wisconsin 33.
And no, that’s not a football total.
February 2nd, 2019 at 7:33 PM ^
2011 Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal and about as BIG TEHN as one can get.
February 2nd, 2019 at 6:02 PM ^
What????!????
February 2nd, 2019 at 7:20 PM ^
That may be the worst game of the last 20 years. Jeebus.
February 2nd, 2019 at 7:52 PM ^
Is comically overrating NC State a new sports tradition or something? They were rated all year in football and they were trash, and now they score 24 points in an entire basketball game. Are you kidding me?
February 2nd, 2019 at 7:55 PM ^
They also just took UVa to overtime in the previous game. This is sports. Things happen.
February 3rd, 2019 at 7:58 AM ^
They are clearly a Women’s basketball school 21-0 (beat M and MSU) and play arch-rival UNC today (UNC just beat ND)....
February 3rd, 2019 at 8:54 AM ^