Yow steps down as N.C. State women's basketball coach for remainder of 09 season

GoPack.com

WRALSportsFan.com

“Stepping away from coaching is one of the hardest decisions I have had to make, but I have great confidence in the experienced staff I have been working with for such a long time and the character of everyone involved in the program to respond positively to my decision.”

Not surprising news, given the string of games Yow has missed of late and the status of her health.

The question now is, "Is this it for Coach Yow for good?"

I'm inclined to believe so. Or that the chances of it are very, very good. She's fighting a very aggressive batch of cancer that has spread from her breast to her liver and her spine. The treatment regimen from here on out will be very taxing (it already has for an extended period of time). This disease will sadly take her life, sooner rather than later, and now that she's conceded coaching the remainder of this year to fight it, one wonders just how much time and energy she has left. Even with an extended period of treatment, mustering the strength to coach in 2009-2010 seems like a very tall order.

I wouldn't count her out, though. When this most recent bout began, most prognoses at the time predicted she shouldn't be with us today. That she's just now relinquishing her coaching duties tells you what an indomitable spirit Yow has. If anyone can come back from the brink and coach again, Yow can do it.

It's sad that we as State fans will ultimately see two of our greatest coaching legends claimed by cancer. It's inspiring, however, to see how they both--V and Yow--have carried themselves in the face of it. Yow embodies every ounce of the spirit Jimmy poured forth in his ESPY speech. She'll refuse to let cancer take away her heart and her mind, even if it strips away her ability to tread the same patch of court she shared with V in Reynolds.

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Russell Wilson's knee injury will not require surgery

Per GoPack.com, it's a sprain that should heal successfully with rehab.

Good news for Pack fans, obviously. The next question is how the rehab timetable will impact his availability for baseball. The season begins next month and it's tough to imagine that he'll be completely healed come the beginning of the year.

If he's not, does Coach Avent sit Wilson for a while early on to allow more than enough time to heal (you just know with Wilson's competitive streak that he'll be eager to play before the doctors think he's 100%)? I would hope so. Wilson is dynamic enough of an athlete in both sports that risking too early of a return isn't worth it.

Take your time, Russell. We can wait for your healthy return, even if maybe you can't.

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Skip Bayless = dumbass

Look, I know I'm no exactly breaking some new ground here. Bayless has amazingly made a career out of firing off poorly thought-out arguments at a high volume. So what you'll see in the clip below isn't remarkable in the sense that Bayless is off the mark. It would be more remarkable if he were. Pay close attention to the tangent he takes with about a minute to go.

(Note: If you don't want to "feed the troll," then don't click the below clip. Somehow I doubt losing a few hits via this blog will result in Bayless' unemployment, but feel free to pass on general principle...I'll have a recap below.)



Here's the gist of what Bayless had to say with respect to BC and the Jeff Jagodzinski situation:

In defense of Gene DeFillipo,

"They (BC) got wrecked two years ago by Tom O'Brien, who was very popular there, and all of sudden--with recruiting hanging in the balance--he bolts for North Carolina State, out of the blue..."

OK. First off--I have no real rooting interest in the Jags V Gene soap opera. I couldn't care less which way things play out, though I do enjoy the drama. So I was wholly prepared to avoid mentioning anything about the situation here because it doesn't have anything to do with State, aside from the stale O'Brien/BC connection.

But good ol' Skip has drawn me in by trying to drag O'Brien's name through the mud in defense of a poor assertion. Good work, Skip--mission accomplished. Let me attack your ridiculous assertion in bullet-point form:

• One: Tom O'Brien did no such thing as "wreck" BC when he left. They actually went to back-to-back ACC title games following his departure. I doubt Bayless knows this.
• Two: Tom O'Brien, at the end of his tenure, was extremely UNPOPULAR with both the fans and administrators at BC, PARTICULARLY Gene DeFillipo who refused to work with Tom O'Brien on a contract renegotiation at the end despite his success. The fans continue to run O'Brien down to no end with insults I wouldn't hurl at the most deserving Carolina fan, player or coach. They are relentless in their hatred of O'Brien to this day.
• Three: He did not, to my knowledge, bolt from BC "out of the blue." GDF knew O'Brien was unhappy (due greatly in part to GDF's treatment of him, IMO). He had expressed interest in other coaching positions prior to leaving BC, and if GDF didn't see it coming, he's not only an idiot, he's oblivious to the world around him.
• Four--and the crux of Bayless' argument: Bayless asserts that TOB up-and-leaving BC "wrecked" BC's recruiting efforts. The year following O'Brien's departure--in Jags' first season recruiting--BC's recruiting efforts were so throughly destroyed by the previous regime that they were only able to manage the country's 22nd-best class. O'Brien's insidious recruiting-killing plan must have been a slow-cooker (hey, revenge is best served cold), because so far BC's recruiting class is ranked 79th by Scout.com. You want to know who's killing BC's recruiting efforts? Hint: It's not O'Brien.
  

Bayless is an idiot. Again, no newsflash here. But the danger of idiots in his position is that--because of the scope of his soapbox--what Bayless spews can be falsely taken as fact. It's not.

If there's one thing that State fans and BC fans can both agree on, it's that Skip Bayless' take in this clip is extremely off-base.

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This sh*t's gettin' old: Florida 68, State 66

Stats by StatSheet.com

Stats by StatSheet.com

Another big out-of-conference game, another last-minute loss. It gets tough having to write the same things after each loss, but once again State sees an opponent sink them in the final moments with a big shot.

(Continues)

Davidson's Steph Curry, Marquette's Dominic James...now you can add Nick Calathes to the list of Pack killers thusfar this year. The 6'-6" megaguard created matchup problems for the Pack all day and scored 32 points--12 of which were Florida's final points of the game, including the floater that won it at the end.

I'll admit, after squandering a 10-point halftime lead, I was pretty doggone mad. The remote is still intact, thankfully.

After having some time to ruminate on it (aided by a big Chargers win), I've come back off the ledge a bit. State entered the game an 11-point 'dog and took a team that won back-to-back National Titles two years ago to the wire in their house. State successfully slowed down an up-tempo team to the point of discomfort. I won't go so far as to say the Pack imposed their will, but they definitely dictated a slower pace throughout the game.

They also held the Gators to just 2-13 shooting from beyond the arc, eight attempts and six made baskets fewer than their season averages thusfar.

Could'a, would'a, should'a, I suppose...Farnold Degand played his best game of the year, but committed the final turnover of the game that sealed it for the Gators. Courtney Fells had two big blocks near the end to keep the Pack alive in the final moments, but overall played a poor game, I thought. He turned the ball over three times in crucial situations and shot the ball poorly (44%). It's become his M.O. to show up for some games and disappear in others. This was a "latter" game.

Costner continues to play well, and McCauley made some big buckets as well. The frontcourt duo seem to be back to their 06-07 ways, and wouldn't you know, as soon as I posit whether Tracy Smith should be getting more minutes from McCauley, Smith lays an egg of a game: three turnovers, zero field goals, 50% from the line in his six free throw attempts for three points.

Up next is Clemson, and honestly I don't know what to expect at this point. Based on the three premier games thusfar, I can only guess it will be close at the end. Whether the Pack will finally win one of these remains to be seen.

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Should Tracy Smith Get More Of Ben McCauley's Minutes?

Tracy Smith's 31 points against Towson in just 23 minutes got me thinking: Should Tracy Smith get more of Ben McCauley's minutes?

My gut says yes. Certainly 31 points is a guady number, but I didn't want to give it too much weight because it came against Towson, a team not nearly of the caliber State will face during the conference season. Nevertheless, he always seems to be playing at a high level whenever he's in the game, regardless of the opponent.

So why is it that Smith is averaging 13.0 MPG to McCauley's 27.2? Let's look at their numbers to see how they stack up.

(Continues)

(NOTE: These charts can be a little tough to read with all the lines active. You can disable individual lines by clicking their respective checkmarks in the legend.)

OFFENSIVE:



Offensive Rating - Advantage: McCauley
The offensive rating formula is: Offensive Rating = (Points Produced / Individual Possessions) x 100. Tracy made a big leap forward in catching up to Ben in this regard, but Ben still leads 120.3 to 117.5.

Assist Percentage - Advantage: Smith
This was the one that surprised me. I thought for certain that Smith would've trailed McCauley here, but while Ben started the year hot and Smith essentially a black hole (h/t Slack), Smith has obviously made a point to get the ball to his teammates. He currently leads McCauley 14.5 to 12.6 in this category. Smith's numbers here are boosted by the limited time he's in the game--more minutes make it harder to maintain this ranking. It's questionable whether Smith would perform at this high a level were he getting the same minutes McCauley is currently.

Effective Field Goal% - Advantage: McCauley
Big Ben holds a slight edge here (56% to 55.1%) but both players are shooting the ball at a high level in the paint.

Offensive Rebounding % - Advantage: Smith
Here's where Smith's effort is yielding some tangible results. He's smoking McCauley on the offensive boards, snagging 22.6% of the possible offensive rebounds against McCauley's 10%. Smith doesn't have anyone close to him in this regard; great for Smith, and a sad statement for the rest of the Pack squad.

DEFENSIVE:



Defensive Rebounding % - Advantage: McCauley
Big Ben owns Smith here, which is somewhat surprising given how much of an advantage Smith has over McCauley rebounding on the other end of the court. Ben is grabbing 22.9% of the defensive rebounds up for grabs versus Smith's 9.7%--almost an exact reversal of the offensive rebounding percentage stats.

Steal % - Advantage: McCauley
McCauley has the edge here again, though he's losing ground to Smith. McCauley was at 3.5% versus Smith's 1.1% back on the 29th of December. Since that time Smith has closed the gap--3.2% to 1.7%.

Block % - Advantage: Smith
Smith started the season with a huge advantage over McCauley here (at one point 4.2% to 0.9%), but his numbers are starting to slide over time. This could be at the urging of Sidney Lowe to stop focusing so much on getting the big block at the detriment of his low post defense. McCauley is holding steady, still at 0.9%, but it's evident that Smith is the better of the shot blockers on the court.

So what can we glean from these numbers? McCauley leads Smith in four of the seven categories. Smith's limited minutes played could be skewing things, however, since most of these stats are so dependent upon time played. It'd be an easier comparison to make if Smith played roughly equal minutes per game.

Which brings us back to the original question: Should Smith be getting more minutes? I'd love to see all three big men on the court at the same time--just to see what they can do--but Sidney's stated before that he doesn't want to play all three of his bigs (Costner, McCauley and Smith) at the same time, at least not for extended periods of time. Not to mention it wouldn't make sense against smaller, more athletic teams.

I'd like to see McCauley and Smith's minutes split more evenly than they currently are because I think the team responds to Smith's high effort level when he's out on the court. It's tough to argue against McCauley's production so far, though. He leads the team in points per game, which at the end of the day, there's not much more you can ask for. Ben is a better interior passer at this point in his career, as well.

Let me know what you think. My gut says yes, but I'd like to know what you think.

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