why do the bother coming back if they're gonna blow it. i wonder why i invest so much of myself into NC State athletics, it just hurts. Just keep telling myself, when we start winning it'll all be worth it i guess?

2/16/2008 6:36:31 PM

just got back....

man that's a tough loss.. Clemson nailed those 3's when they needed to.

i was content with Gonzalez, McCauley, Fells, Grant, Hickson for the most part. Fergie wasn't bad either.

Costner sucked a nut.


we had some bad turn overs (like the time we just through the ball out of bounds b/c of the miscommunication/ lack of focus)

Refs sucked a nut.

Fans were great.

Sidney Lowe needs to toughen up on these guys and be more disciplined/strict/harsh.

i guess that's like my $.04

2/16/2008 6:51:43 PM

we went scoreless in the final 2:18 of the first half, and scoreless the final 2:03 of the 2nd half.

You do not win ballgames like that

2/16/2008 6:52:43 PM

We also went like 8+ minutes in the first half without a field goal. Notsogood.

2/16/2008 6:55:07 PM

it's a shame our 1983 team had to witness our lack of intensity, effort and emotion on the court today.

2/16/2008 6:58:43 PM

I really hate to point fingers, but this is all cosnters fault. I started checking the score when he comes in and enters the game and we were like -20 today with him in the game. He doesn't try on defense and doesn't give us any production, doesn't even make the "little" plays.

furg seems to be playing well. we needed to play him more against the zone. its 5-4 with javi in the game vs a zone defense.

nobody should be mad at the team about this game. we played decent clemson just made the big shots down the stretch and its not a bad loss. If you are mad you should have already been mad before this game (like me). This game should not have made you madder just because its the loss that pretty much pushes us into the hole we already dug. the lid goes onto the coffin wednesday and the wake/uva games the hammer will be swinging towards its nails.

2/16/2008 7:04:13 PM

if we hadn't played like shit in the first half, we could have won easily.

2/16/2008 7:05:54 PM

costner had like 5 good looks at the basket for a 3 and missed a good number of them


one where he was wide open for like 5 sec and came up short, that was pretty bad.

2/16/2008 7:08:14 PM

the solution to all of our problems:

2/16/2008 7:13:29 PM

turd to the rescue

2/16/2008 7:30:43 PM

Engin has jaundice

2/16/2008 7:36:08 PM

Costner has to score more than 1 point. He missed a huge three that could have tied the game in the second half.

2/16/2008 7:53:49 PM

i think there is no question or doubt about it, Costner is terrible.

2/16/2008 8:03:50 PM

which begs the question why does Sidney keep giving him so many chances to blow.......those games where Costner was out or barely played we did well, the team was clicking pretty well

Costner is always picking up all of these weird little fouls and he's always like wtf ref, it seems like it just deflates him and he starts to care/try even less

2/16/2008 8:08:23 PM

jesus, you guys get on costner for missing 3s. how many POINT BLANK shots did everyone's biggest hero miss tonight?

off the top of my head, four. and i am talking point fucking blank.

2/16/2008 9:24:11 PM

it's because he was he was still in shock of how shitty costner plays.

2/16/2008 9:55:14 PM

^^so you're still on here defending costner and sid's decision to play him even when it was obvious tonight that our improved play in the second half happened with him sitting on the bench and mccauley in his place? granted, mccauley had a pretty lackluster game, missing some point blank shots, but the fact that we alwaaays play better with him on the floor says a lot.

i would wager we wouldn't have trailed by ten or eleven points at the half had mccauley played more.

get a clue.

2/17/2008 1:34:41 AM

i'm not defending anyone. you're the one defending mccauley, who is playing like shit.

i'm only saying that EVERYONE is playing like shit.

costner misses a 3, he sucks take him out.
mccauley misses a layup, he's hustling and makes everyone around him better, give him more minutes.

it's all the fucking same.

2/17/2008 2:04:29 AM

final score?

2/17/2008 2:06:58 AM

clemson 3 : 1 nc state

2/17/2008 2:08:19 AM

if i were a mod i'd suspend you for that

2/17/2008 2:09:46 AM

Quote :

"BUT YOU AREN'T"

2/17/2008 2:12:06 AM

if only.

dnl for sportstalk mod.

2/17/2008 2:12:16 AM

hey people, just wait for basketball season! State is a bball school, not a football school!

oh wait, FUCK

2/17/2008 2:47:47 AM

^ state's more of a drinkin' school

2/17/2008 4:18:44 AM

i dont understand how we let wimps shoot. paulus oglesby ellington oats roach all weak 1 dimensional and those are the type of guys that always seem to give us fits. i could understand guys like rice lawson vaskwez that we can't relaly matchup against but staying with shooters is coaching

2/17/2008 4:46:47 AM

Courtney Fells has a playing defense problem sometimes.

2/17/2008 6:19:47 AM

We played great the second half -- started attacking the press instead of waiting for it to come to us (and getting fucked)

Late in the game, Clemson hit two 3's that were insane -- both tightly guarded, and both miracles. Ballgame. If anything, this game should show just how far we've come as a team. Sucks that we're just not that talented.

2/17/2008 7:41:22 AM

season of inches

2/17/2008 9:12:20 AM

^^ you can say that all you want....but the fact is...it wasnt luck....they have gaurds that want the ball and know how to shoot it. Our gaurds look lost...no instinct whatsoever

2/17/2008 9:57:12 AM

Quote :

"Having guards who can't manage the game or hit a wide open jumper from the top of the key is like having a Quarterback who can just toss the option and throw a screen pass. "

I seem to remember State having the very quarterback you're describing a couple of times over

2/17/2008 9:57:30 AM

I really think that Javi had a very good game yesterday. I would say that Hickson and Javi were the two players showing the most effort out there.

One thing that I absolutely HATE about this team, and might not have been mentioned yet, is the fact that we dont not move at all on offense. There is the ballhandler at the top of the key, Hickson under the basket, and 3 other guys just standing around not even trying to get open.

Then you watch Clemson on offense and their entire team is rotating, screening and making passing lanes. Hammonds was running Javi/Marques/Ferg ragged out there, and all he was doing was running a big loop around the defense picking up screens along the way until he got open for a jumper.

I dont know why we dont try doing that with Fells or even Grant on offense.

2/17/2008 10:32:30 AM

Costner doesnt defend, and he sucks at offense. Sure, McCauley sucked ballsacks yesterday, but at least he missed shots and defended after the miss. Costner misses 5 wide open 3 pointers or whatever and pouts, gets 3 or 4 stupid ass fouls called on him, then watches people dunk on his sorry ass. No I'm not saying McCauley is fucking my hero, but he's a hell of a lot better than the alternative right now.



And for the love of god, why the fuck can Costner not hold onto the ball in the low post? I've never in my life seen someone get ripped as easy as he does time after time after time. He doesn't even need to be double teamed. I swear he's TA McLendon in a #33 basketball jersey. He's so fucking bad.

2/17/2008 10:57:19 AM

McCauley missed shots because he was actually defended, there was at least someone between him and basket trying to force him away. He missed shots some wouldn't, but it's not like he was alone on a break and clanked a layup. Costner missed SEVERAL WIDE OPEN 3s that most kids that shoot that shot in the ACC make. There was one where you saw him shuffle to get SET, like 2 seconds, and he bricked the shit out of it. His shots look horrible coming out of his hand. They did even in pregame warm ups. He didn't hit shit out there either.

2/17/2008 11:11:41 AM

McCauley actually does shit tho.

when someone puts up a shot and it rims out, McCauley runs through their defense and tries to dunk/put it back up.


Costner on the other hand get the ball at the 3pt line, then

A) goes for the 3 (and like yesterday, misses alot of them)

or

B) dribbles it in under the basket and gets it stripped, then gives the ref a bad look and drags ass back to defense.


the guy needs to realize that he's the Catalyst of the team. if he plays well the team would be a force to be reckoned with.

[Edited on February 17, 2008 at 12:15 PM. Reason : ]

2/17/2008 12:15:20 PM

so did we win the game yesterday?

2/17/2008 12:17:03 PM

Quote :

"And for the love of god, why the fuck can Costner Hickson not hold onto the ball in the low post? I've never in my life seen someone get ripped as easy as he does time after time after time."

2/17/2008 12:19:59 PM

And I know this isn't limited to just Costner, but it happens to him at least several times per game where he/they fail to box out and the opposing team grabs the offensive rebound/putback right over our guys who seem to just stand there and don't even have their hands up.

Sometimes it seems like Hickson is the only one who really scraps and fights hard for rebounds, but the effort is there with McCauley as well.

Hickson still needs to have better judgement on which shots to just play defense on and which shots to try and go for a block, sometimes he's so busy jumping and swiping he loses position and gives up an easy rebound off the missed shot.

2/17/2008 12:25:16 PM

i forgot to mention this was a uncgame type atmosphere

2/17/2008 1:14:49 PM

Hickson gets ripped in the low post because he's double teamed and he's a god damn freshman on top of that.


Costner doesn't need a double team in the low post because A) he cant fucking score and B) he gets ripped by one defender anyway.

2/17/2008 1:32:04 PM

being doubleteamed makes you drop passes that hit your hands.

2/17/2008 2:02:06 PM

hahaha it's true sometimes Hickson does have terrible hands, but he's getting better about that

2/17/2008 2:22:02 PM

I don't get your point.


I'm trying to argue that Costner is worse than last year and thats the reason we're losing. JJ dropping a few balls here and there doesn't take away from his dominance. Costner can't do anything good, IDK why you're trying to throw JJ under the bus when he's probably the best player on the floor and you KNOW he's going to make freshman mistakes. Costner has shown us that he can be great, thats why it is significant that he sucks balls this year.


and like ^ says, JJ is getting better as the season goes on. Costner just keeps getting worse, which I didnt think was possible but its happening. Even if JJ does have bad hands, they're not nearly as bad as Costners.



[Edited on February 17, 2008 at 2:36 PM. Reason : ]

2/17/2008 2:34:26 PM

i'm trying to argue that both costner and mccauley are worse than last year, fells is streaky and grant makes bad decisions.

hickson is playing well, but not as well as his stats indicate. he routinely drops passes and gets blocked way more than he should.

javi's a freshman pg, and that's just that. johnson is a pg who is a liability w/ the ball. horner doesn't even want to score it seems.

this is on EVERYONE. but throw just costner under the bus if you want to. whatever.

2/17/2008 2:49:41 PM

Why not throw Costner under the bus? So fucking what if JJ plays like a freshman. If he had some damn help down low maybe he would have more time to adjust. Instead, the guy who should be the team leader and arguably the best player from last year (especially at the end of the year) is playing like a pouty 5 year old that doesn't give a fuck about winning. JJ is making freshman mistakes. Costner is making high school mistakes and he's been on campus for 3 years. You do the math. I'm not saying JJ is the second coming, I'm saying costner sucks. JJ needs work, and I for one realize that he makes mistakes...so I still fail to see your point.

You edited my original post about Costner. Maybe put an "and" in there and I'll shutup, but you act like Costner is just as good as JJ or that Costner is even close to being good.

I've never seen a player get regress as much as Costner has. / of story.

2/17/2008 3:21:39 PM

i have. ben mccauley.

CLEARLY costner has regressed a fucking ton, there is no arguing this. but this team has problems up and down, issues don't stop and start w/ costner.

you people act like we'd be a lock for the final four if only costner didn't get minutes.

that's fair though, they both have weak hands.

Quote :

"And for the love of god, why the fuck can Costner and Hickson not hold onto the ball in the low post? I've never in my life seen someone get ripped as easy as he does time after time after time."

[Edited on February 17, 2008 at 3:43 PM. Reason : q]

2/17/2008 3:36:29 PM

And I would have simply replied with "well Hickson is a freshman and gets more double teams than costner, but you have a point"

Personally, I think our whole team needs to hit the weight room. And on McCauley, I think its more shooting than anything else. With Costner, his whole game is worse.


But don't get me wrong here. I don't think we'd be a great team if Costner sat down. I'm in the camp bitching about why he cant play as good or close to as good as he could last year(in which case, I think we'd be like 7-4 rather than 4-7. Still not final 4 material)

That said, if he's going to play as bad and pouty as he has since december, I wouldn't mind it one bit if he sat down. If we're going to lose, I want us to at least look like we're trying...like we did most of the day yesterday.

2/17/2008 4:16:12 PM

I'm just saying our team appeared to play better in general when Costner was out with the mcrib injury. While Ben is not nearly as productive as he used to be either, he at least plays with a little more effort and intensity. Ben has gotten some good defensive stops and loose ball hustle plays and he still is able to work his man in the post for one of his fadeaway hook shots like he used to.

If one of our five players out there is good for nothing but on one side either sluggish defense and cheap fouls or no defense at all, and on the other side only good for getting stripped, driving clumsily, and airballing 3 ptrs we are really handicapping ourselves, wouldn't you think?

2/17/2008 4:40:51 PM

i think we have an issue where people are assuming that b/c mccauley appears to hustle, he plays good defense. he doesn't.

2/17/2008 5:14:54 PM

McCauley pisses me off because he plays like a pussy sometimes. There are occasions where it looks like he has perfect position for a rebound but somehow he's out-muscled and ends up not getting the rebound.

He also plays like a pussy on the offensive side sometimes. Always trying fancy passes, layups, and hook shots -- they work sometimes and when they do, they're great. But lately, it seems like he never finishes around the basket. How about taking the ball up strong and dunking it? Or at least draw some kind of contact and go to the line...

I'm not blaming him for the losing lately but people get on Javi and Costner and whoever else, and rightfully so, but damn, this guy should not be given a free pass either.

2/17/2008 5:16:22 PM