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NC State Basketball

Yow and Keatts spoke to conference, will send video on officiating of GT game

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NC State wasn’t very happy about the way Ted Valentine and his crew called the game against GT and they let the league know about it.

They will send a few videos. Some of which are likely the same ones that we posted last night.

Good on you, NC State and good on you Debbie Yow. She understands what is going on and isn’t ready to lie down and accept it.

What she did is about all she can do, and that is where the problem lies.

This is no conspiracy. This is fact. The ACC has an ego problem at officiating position. You have a certain few who have let fame and power go to their head.

There is a major problem when fans know the names of referees. No one is there to see the referees perform. They are there to make sure rules are followed and the game has a consistent flow to it. So why are a few of the ‘old-guard’ refs so well known?

Well, it’s because they dictate outcomes. Sure, refs never, by definition, lose or win a game. But sports, especially basketball is a game of momentum and mental chess. So a shift in consistency on how a game is called, or run of questionable whistles against one side doesn’t just change those specific plays, they change style of play, pace of play, focus and aggressiveness.

Understanding this goes a long way in realizing why this is such a concern for fan bases and athletic departments. There are millions and millions of dollars riding on these games. From coaches salaries to attendance numbers, to donor giving, and on and on. This is a huge industry, but an industry that is, in the end, driven by wins and losses.

Now sure, the teams and coaches are responsible for winning or losing, but when you are talking about one or two possession games dictating the difference between finishing 3rd or 8th in the conference, you’re talking about a major shift in money riding on those possessions.

So the argument the refs or opposing fans will make is, well your team should have made a few more plays. Yeah, you’re right. That was one option. To make a few more plays IN SPITE of a few possessions being taken away on bad calls. But that isn’t exactly fair. You can’t hold the team solely accountable when they do not hold 100% of the responsibility.

The point is, refs must be questioned. Why did you make that call? Was that call consistent with calls you’ve made prior to that play? Was it consistent with the way you’ve refereed throughout the season? If not, then why not?

The answer to those questions will never be answered because the ruling body over the referees is the company that employs them. To investigate or question their employees would, in turn, work directly against them. They’d be questioned about hiring, or standards, or consistency. They’d be questioned about bias at a much higher level. And maybe there is none, but a deep dive into finding that out will never happen.

There is no transparency or accountability in this industry. Why? When so much is at stake, why not have a more open set of policies and standards. In a time where data is king, why not have a public database that shows consistency or outliers.

They won’t do it. They don’t want to open that door.

So until the masses stand up and use technology and data to create and crowdsource that database, we’ll continue to live in the situation we are in. Where you talk to the conference, voice your concern, and they file it away, likely never to be seen again.

 

 

NC State Basketball

Previewing NC State’s Opponent: Marquette

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#11 seed NC State will play #2 seed Marquette in the Sweet 16 tonight. Here’s a look at the Golden Eagles before tipoff.

Marquette is ranked 8th in the AP Poll.

They lost to UCONN 57-73 in the Big East Tournament Finals.

As a team, they shoot 48.2% from the field, which ranks 23rd nationally. Their Effective Field Goal Percentage is 55.5%, which ranks 15th.

Marquette ranks 15th in Assist/Turnover ratio, 26th in Scoring Margin, and 26th in Assists per game.

Junior Guard Kam Jones leads the Golden Eagles in scoring, averaging 17.1 points per game, shooting 50.3% from the field and 41.4% from three.

Senior Guard Tyler Kolek averages 15.3 points and a team high 7.9 assists. He leads the nation in assists per game. Kolek shoots 49.7% from the field and 39.7% from three.

Senior Forward Oso Ighosaro (6’11”) scores 13.6 points per game, and leads the Golden Eagles in rebounding, averaging 6.8 per game. He shoots 58.1% from the field, which ranks 28th nationally.

Junior Forward David Joplin (6’8”) averages 11.0 points per game.

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NC State Basketball

An NC State Win Over Marquette in the Sweet 16 Would Be…

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Awesome. Obviously.

#11 seed NC State will play #2 seed Marquette tomorrow night in the Sweet 16. What would a win mean for the Wolfpack? Many things, but here’s just a few:

It would give NC State 25 wins on the year (25-14), which would be the most wins since 1982-83, when the Wolfpack went 26-10, winning the National Championship.

It would mark the 12th time in school history that NC State has won 25+ games in a single season.

1982-83 – 26-10 

1973-74 – 30-1 

1972-73 – 27-0 

1954-55 – 28-4 

1953-54 – 26-7

1952-53 – 26-6 

1950-51 – 30-7 

1949-50 – 27-6 

1948-49 – 25-8 

1947-48 – 29-3

1946-47- 26-5

It would be the 7th time NC State has advanced to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament.

1950

1951

1974

1983

1985

1986

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NC State Basketball

NC State has Won 5 ACC Championships this Year

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NC State has won 5 ACC Championships this year, which is the most of any athletic program in the conference this year.

The Wolfpack has won ACC Titles in Women’s Cross Country, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Wrestling, Men’s Basketball and Gymnastics.

The last time NC State won 5 ACC Championships in one year was 1979-80.

As far as I can tell, here’s a look at the Wolfpack Conference Titles from 1979-80:

Football
Women’s Basketball
Women’s Cross Country
Men’s Swimming & Diving
Men’s Tennis

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NC State Basketball

NC State is 1 of 4 Schools to Have Both Men & Women’s Basketball Teams in Sweet 16

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NC State is 1 of 4 schools to have their Men and Women’s Basketball teams BOTH advance to the Sweet 16, along with Duke, Gonzaga and UCONN.

NC State and Duke are the only two schools in the country to send both Basketball teams to the Sweet 16, and also send the Football team to a bowl game.

This marks only the third time in school history that BOTH teams made the Sweet 16.

Years NC State’s Men & Women’s Teams Made the Sweet 16

1985
1989
2024

Despite the fact that the Men’s team has made the Elite 8 six times (1950, 1951, 1974, 1983, 1985, 1986), and the Women have made it 2 times (1998 & 2022), in the three occasions they both went to the Sweet 16 in the same year, neither team advanced to the Elite 8.

In 2024, Why Not Us?

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