NC State lost a basketball game but I managed not to defenestrate anything this time

So ... let's see here ... what are the words where are the words okay who lost my words ... eh, I got nothin' here. I don't have the energy at this point to dwell on the actual events in the second half; instead I'll just say that I appreciated the effort from NC State on Saturday night under some extremely difficult circumstances.

Kyle Washington was tremendous throughout, and while T.J. Warren didn't have his most efficient effort, he was there in the key spots when we needed him, which was very nearly the difference in the game. I thought our defensive effort was excellent for the most part--we knew the Pack was going to allow some second-chance opportunities to a big team like Syracuse, but that wasn't the deciding factor in the game.

Hurts quite a bit to come this close to a huge NCAA tournament resume-building win like this and fall short. No matter how often this sort of outcome might occur, the pain will always be significant. I can't prepare myself for it because I might be able to say "oh, we're going to blow this" out loud during a tense moment, but I have never and will never really believe that. In my mind, we're always gonna come through, but there are always going to be nights like this, too.

Back at it in Clemson on Tuesday. I plan to be suitably unprepared.