VA tech - NC state

[RedStickHusky]

No game threads -- chat?

 

[Bigboote]

Tech pretty much had their way with NCState. I only saw the first half, but the outcome never seemed in doubt.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Tech pretty much had their way with NCState. I only saw the first half, but the outcome never seemed in doubt.

St got within 2 but vt had an answering run. VT's Aussie point guard was close to 30 pts...

 

[LETTERL]

NC State is a hot mess right now. We are getting very little leadership on the floor from seniors who should be showing leadership. Jakia Brown-Turner had 7 points but continued her season-long fade; she seems a tad slower this year, although she was productive the one time she actually drove to the basket last night. Then, that was the last we heard from her.

Jada Boyd had a second consecutive game with little output. Against GT, she had 2 points and was scoreless last night against Virginia Tech.

These are players, starters, who we have counted on to produce and it's not happening. Boyd has had some injury issues but she had a really solid game against Louisville but has done little else since then. In past seasons, she has kept us in the game with defense and rebounding but she only grabbed 4 rebounds last night in a game where NC State was -18 on the boards.

I don't know what Coach Moore is going to do with these two players. Especially in the case of Jakia Brown-Turner, she has shown loyalty to the program and Moore believes in seniority when it comes to who starts the game. I don't know what's going on with Boyd, who actually left the program for a few weeks in the off-season before deciding to return. There might be more going on than just injuries...but that is all speculation on my part.

I feel really bad about pointing out these things regarding individual players and don't want it to come across as bashing them, because these two have played a major role in the high levels of success for this storied program over the last few years. And I'm not them and have never played a minute of WCBB for NC State...so I guess it's easy to Tuesday morning quarterback and pontificate but it is frustrating to see our season come apart at the seams.

Our problems go beyond JBT and Boyd. Our ladies are having trouble just shooting the basketball. Last night, 7 of 15 from THREE, which was decent but we were only 14 of 45 from TWO and that isn't going to get it done. It wasn't just Kitley preventing close in shots to the basket. Last Thursday in Atlanta, it was airball city...I mean, at least 10 balls shot never even touching the rim.

And at times, the ladies seem careless with the basketball, leading to steals from opposing teams or just turning the ball over on silly plays. Last week, as we were attempting a comeback against Georgia Tech, we stepped on the inbounds line on two consecutive inbounds plays. I wonder if some of the players haven't just mentally checked out on this grind of a season and are contemplating other things. I can not recall an NC State team that had a -18 rebounding margin...even in the pre-Cunane days.

Okay...I hadn't planned to type that much but once I got started, I couldn't stop. This has been cathartic! But it won't help NC State, a team that needs to look deep inside itself right now and decide what it wants to be and what identity it wants to assume. Whatever they found in wins over Miami, Louisville and Notre Dame is long gone.

Maybe a month from now, we'll all sit back and laugh as NC State prepares to cut down the nets again at the ACCT. But right now, that prospect seems like a dream.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Maybe a month from now, we'll all sit back and laugh as NC State prepares to cut down the nets again at the ACCT. But right now, that prospect seems like a dream.

Must be frustrating. I really thought Wes had things going in a good direction.

 

[Bone Dog]

The veterans do seem demoralized. I wonder if it could be cumulative. They took a hard loss to UConn last year, and then another one this year in what could have been a more satisfying game. JBT in particular has a history of losing to Azzi — not a bad history, but maybe frustrating. And their seniors from last year flopped in the W. I wonder if all that was emotionally draining.

 

[DefenseBB]

To me, the more interesting aspect is what does this loss at home do to their AP ranking? The have the 4th longest consecutive week streak behind UConn, SC and Maryland. They are at #22 this week. At least they have a 135 point lead over #26 and play Wake and UVA later this week, so "nevermind"...nothing to see here....

 

[RedStickHusky]

To me, the more interesting aspect is what does this loss at home do to their AP ranking? The have the 4th longest consecutive week streak behind UConn, SC and Maryland. They are at #22 this week. At least they have a 135 point lead over #26 and play Wake and UVA later this week, so "nevermind"...nothing to see here....

And VT was #11... Shouldn't hurt them too much. I was just at surprised at how good VT looked against them.