NC State Dispatches Greensboro, 89-68

Box Score

NC State beat Greensboro by 21 points on Monday but it's hard not to be annoyed on some level about it, and maybe I should feel good about that. If I'm bothered by a 21-point victory, then things obviously can't be that bad. Also the football team is partially to blame for my current annoyance level. But I'm so tired of watching this (basketball) team stand around and get out-hustled on the boards by inferior talent. State seems too eager to get out into the secondary break to actually, you know, get possession of the basketball, or everybody is just assuming that Richard Howell is going to grab it.

And that's just not going to be good enough going forward. NC State doesn't compensate with turnovers, so the rebounds are extremely important to its defense. I don't know how many second-chance points Western Michigan and Greensboro had in these last two games, but the Pack could have won those contests by a combined 50 points with a small investment in caring.

Anyway. NC State heads into conference play at 11-2 overall and in great shape from and RPI perspective. The bad news is there will not be very many beneficial wins to be had going forward, from an RPI perspective. The Pomeroy Ratings point an entirely different picture, but unfortunately, that means far less--if anything--to the selection committee. Hold on to your butts.