Virginia 70, NC State 62

i would like to make some comments based on points made at other blogs. at one blog, a writer said this State team is resilient and that they would bounce back. i think they are more likely to lose all of thier ACC games than bounce back because they are being resilient.

at another blog, a writer berated Dennis Horner. i don’t think Horner played that bad of a game. Horner just isn’t the player one wants to win the game when the game is on the line. in this instance he should be a role player.

most writers think the issue is with Coach Lowe although one writer thought he isn’t that bad of a coach. when i see players continuously getting free under the basket due to the play being run, or due to a good pick and role, i find myself thinking that Coach Lowe can coach. However, when i see what Harper has done with basically the same players that played so poorly under Coaches Yow and Glance, i wonder. I realize that Coach Yow’s illness played a part with the poor performance of the team last year; however, Harper runs a system more suited to the personnel the team has-Yow’s system required a dominant center, Harper’s doesn’t and is more up-tempo.
one writer thought that Tracy Smith played a great game. i thought he played poorly until i looked at the box score. he shot 50% from the field and 60% from the free throw line. not bad, but not good. he did miss some shots he should have made. Smith has not been dominant in the games against Wake, UVa, and Florida (the 2nd half).

SFN thought that the charge call on Horner led to a team collapse. i thought it was the continuation of poor free throw shooting. after Smith missed his two free throws on his next to the last trip to the line, i knew State would lose, and i feel the players did also.
Wolfonthehill has the opinion that this team does not know how to win. that has some merit. i have felt the same at times.
Havi had a bad game shooting 2 for 9. one can’t win in the ACC with top 200 or 300 guards. top 50 and better yet top 25 guards are needed. maybe that is where the issue lies.

i want to continue with some of the points i made in my earlier post. some spew venom at Lowe for his coaching, some spew venom at Fowler for his handling of the hiring of the basketball coach after Sendek left (and much more) and some spew venom at both. i find fault with Fowler because his hiring of Lowe put Lowe in a situation where it would be hard to be successful. the problem isn’t that Lowe can’t coach, the problem lies with recruiting. as Lowe mentioned in a Wolfpacker article, coaches need about four years to develop a relationship with todays high school players. with that in mind, it was amazing that Lowe was able to sign Hickson and Smith in his first year. Lowe’s first class, due to a late start, was very poor. His second with Hickson and Smith was very good, but Hickson was one and done. Lowe’s third was again poor, this year’s good, next years projects to be very good.

take a look at some of the current players and their high school rankings as based on my memory (ugh): Smith was top 50; Howell was top 75; Wood and Painter were top 100. Vandenberg being from Australia had no ranking.
now, look at the guards: Havi was over 300; Mays over 200 (?); Degand and Williams somewhat the same as the other guards. I was subscriping to Pack Pride when Williams committed and the site was very happy. i had reservations when i noticed he wasn’t even first team all state his senior year.
no matter how good of a coach one is, its hard to win in the ACC with a lack of talent at the guard positons. Harrow and Brown are both approximately top 25, Cotton is top 50 and Leslie is top 15. add those players and things will be better.

i have done my homework at Scouts. Degand in 2005 was a top 250. Gonzalez, Mays and Williams were all top 200.

so for now i am taking the position that we should stay with Lowe as long as his recruiting classes continue to improve and contain top 25 talent.

analyzing this team’s performance for me. I have no hope for any kind of respectable season with the complete lack of talent, lack of coaching, and lack of confidence that this team has.

Do you have any room in your quilting circle woth?