Liveblog Is A Go, Plus Other Items

-- Liveblog. 7 PM.  Rathbun/Bonner provide the narration.  I was thinking about a drinking game where we take a drink every time we miss a free throw or have a shot blocked, but I don't want anybody dyin' on me.

-- Speaking of free throws, both the N&O and Technician ran stories about our woes from the stripe.  N&O:

Senior forward Dennis Horner, who is shooting 76.9 percent, said he has seen the team consistently hit free throws in practice.

"It might be mental," Horner said. "I don't know, we shoot them every day in practice. I don't know what it is, to tell you the truth."

Lowe says, "it’s hard to simulate the atmosphere of a game and pressure, real pressure."  The other day, one of my friends suggested they get a bunch of students to heckle the players while they shoot free throws in practice.  Line everybody up, make each guy hit two in a row, and if he doesn't he's gotta run until it's his turn again.  I was ready to endorse that idea but then I realized half the team would probably collapse from exhaustion.  We got enough problems.

Alternatively, we have a couple of free throw experts on campus.  Perhaps our guys don't know they need precisely three hertz of backspin on every attempt.

Technician:

Junior forward Tracy Smith said he and his teammates need to avoid fading away, something he believes is playing a role in the late misses at the free throw line.

"We just have to keep practicing our free throws," Smith said. "We have to keep on working at it, concentrating on staying at the line and stop falling back. We fall back too much at the line instead of staying at the line and concentrating on the free throw. We’re kind of running back on the second one like we know it’s going to go in, then we miss it."

The other thing I've noticed--and this is an epidemic, not just an NC State problem--is that the guys track the flight of the ball with their eyes rather than keeping them fixed on the rim.  BEEF, baby. BEEF.

-- From this story about the campout for UNC tickets:

Taylor Edmonds, a sophomore in environmental science, said she liked having Campout by Reynolds because of the increase in food options.

"Last year all we had was the Bragaw C-Store so this year it's much better with pizza and hot chocolate and chips and other stuff," she said.

They had campout on west campus last year?

-- This has nothing to do with anything, but check out Denver's weird profile.

-- I love this headline so much.