It was the best of times and the worst of times…

I cannot understand how a team can go from looking steady and confident for one stretch only to look awful by the next TV timeout. At one point last night NC State was down 16 and was 5-29 from the field, at this point it would have been absurd to think that it would turn out to be a one possession game with 15 seconds remaining, but it was. NC State has an ability to play themselves back into games as they never allow themselves to be defeated mentally.

This is because Coach Gottfried is the same way, he never feels like he is out of it, he has won at every stop in his coaching career and you better believe it that he preaches mental toughness on a daily basis. The Wolfpack got themselves back into the game by attacking on both ends, as well as moving the ball on offense. A 17-4 run in the last 3:38 brought the Pack to a one possession game, only to have the ball go out-of-bounds as Cat tried to get a quick two to prolong the game. Last night Cat had some help as both Maverick, Caleb, and Abu had double figures scoring.

A major deficiency for this team is prolonged scoring droughts, in these moments the players have got to trust the offense and become more selective. It is hard to score in the ACC and a lot of the times it melts down to execution. Coach Gottfried was adamant that his team is not far off, but emphasized that they are not there yet. The little things like being in the right place at the right time will have  to be cleaned up. All five guys on the court have to trust one another and talk on defense, from my vantage point the Wolfpack are too quite on the defensive end. They must communicate with each other and limit defensive lapses.

Yes Louisville made every shot that they needed to at the right time, but at the same time most of the looks came at the expense of a lapse in judgement. NC State looks unsure of themselves when it comes to navigating screens on the perimeter, personally I think our on ball defenders settle way to much when it comes to fighting through these top of the key screens. On the other hand the big man have been too inconsistent with the hedge, you never know if it will be a hard hedge that prevents the man from turning the corner or a soft one that does zero good.

All of these things can be improved upon is the good news, film study and experience should help improve this action as the season progresses. One glaring weakness that Gottfried touched on in his post game was free throw shooting. He said it is holding them back, and added that it is a hard thing to improve upon, many may argue that it is not but in fact it is. Free throws are as much mental as they are physical, some many even contend that they are more a mental thing. I’ve seen guys who shoot 75-80% in practice but can seem to find success when the lights are brightest. Hopefully State can make meager strides in this department, or have the right guys get to the line more frequently.

NC State will not quit…

Down by 16 with 3:38 left would have turned extremely ugly for the lions share of teams in the NCAA, but not the Wolfpack. They instead dug deep and played with a desperation that guided them back to have a chance at stealing the game. NC State needs to play with desperation every minute of every game from here on out. Coach Gottfried used full court pressure and put Caleb and Cody in the middle of the press break and let them attack the paint with recklessness, sometimes it resulted in a turnover but in all State only had 10 turnovers on the night. In fact that is once less than the Cards, which is very respectable when thinking about the intense defensive strategy that the Rick Pitino employs.

Lots of fans should be proud of this group as they are giving full effort and playing the game the right way. They play hard and don’t get caught up in extra curricular activities after plays, in addition this group is starting to see that they can play with any team in the nation. I saw it last night as not a single player in black was intimidated or lost belief that they would come back on Louisville. This group has beaten LSU, and had VT by 16 points (in Blacksburg) who just beat UVA. Now I am going to go on record and say I don’t believe in moral victories, a loss is a loss, but I do firmly believe that lessons can be learned in defeat. Sometimes losing can teach a player more than winning.

NC State’s coaching staff will have plenty of fodder to get through to these guys the importance of doing things the right way, if State is going to get over the hump they will need to be disciplined enough to trust the coaches. When this team listens and runs the offense the way it is designed good things happen. When they hedge hard and  talk on screens they come up with stops. The season will be determined by the small and simple things.

There is still a chance for these guys, but time is running out…

Two games into the ACC slate and the Pack are 0-2. Many have expected the Wolfpack to struggle this year and finish around 10th in the conference; however, the Pack has the leading scoring in the ACC in Cat Barber. If he can continue his stellar play and get some consistency from his teammates then State may be able to make a run.

Malik Abu is beginning to play better as he has been much more active on offense, not only scoring but in collecting offensive rebounds. On the season he has 6 double doubles, which is looking like the norm for the sophomore. If he can continue to find scoring success in the paint then NC State should become more effective offensively. One thing that has caused prolong scoring droughts is not having a big man to dump the ball down to in order to get an easy basket. Instead State has had to rely on making tough contested jump shots.

Lastly why I think this team still has a slim chance at the NCAA is because there are 16 conference games remaining. The beauty of being in the best conference in America is that it gives a team a nightly opportunity to build the NCAA resume. NC State have a big stretch coming up and need a road win at Wake Forest to gain some confidence.

Each season around mid January to February coach Mark Gottfried has his team playing their best basketball, the ceiling may not be as high as recent years, but you never know.