A look at Miami, again

NCAA Basketball Stats

Rank and Records	NCST		MIAMI
RPI	#95		#54
Strength of Schedule	#67		#21
Overall	16-12		17-11
Conference	6-9		6-9
Home	14-4		11-4
Away	2-8		4-6
Top 25	1-6		2-5
RPI Top 50	1-7		2-7

Looking at Miami's Four Factors chart, you can see that they've been trending in the wrong direction in three of the four in the month-plus since the Pack last faced them: Offensive Rebounding Rate, Free Throw Rate and Turnover Rate have all gotten worse since late January.

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As such, it's not surprising that Miami is a team who's been one of -- if not THE -- biggest disappointment of the conference this year. A preseason top-20 team, the Hurricanes enter their final game of the year with no hope of a winning conference record and no realistic shot at an at-large bid to the big dance.

So the only thing left to play for (other than a #9 seed in the ACC tourney) is pride on senior night. Jack McClinton will be playing his final home game as a 'Cane, and will go down in Hurricanes history as one of the best ever.

Which makes this game a very difficult one for the Pack. Just as we saw Ben McCauley and Courtney Fells (prior to his injury) come out firing in their final home game, State should expect the same from McClinton. And when McClinton gets it going, he's nearly unstoppable.

Making this an even dicier proposition for the Pack is that the aforementioned Fells -- the man State turns to as a defensive stopper -- is out with a groin injury. Javier Gonzalez will likely draw the short straw as the man assigned to get in McClinton's jersey and stay there for the night.

If I'm coach Sidney Lowe, I'm tempted to force McClinton to attack the basket by applying close pressure on the perimeter. I know he's just as deadly inside the arc as outside of it, but if McClinton is reduced to driving to the basket he's at least limited to two points per bucket versus three. If the help defense is effective inside, perhaps you can challenge enough shots to keep him under 50% for the game. Further, if he's taking shots closer to the basket rather than farther away, it should limit the long redounds that so often wind up back in the offense's hands and improve State's defensive rebounding numbers.

As they say, you can't stop him, but perhaps they can contain him to ONLY 15-20 points or so on sub-50% shooting, forcing the rest of the Miami squad to beat the Pack.

For the Pack, they just need to keep feeding Tracy Smith and hope that the absence of Fells in the lineup doesn't hinder them too much offensively and defensively. The Big Three Two will need to show up, and whoever fills Fells' slot in the lineup (CJ Williams?) will need to contribute in some form or fashion.

This game will further shape the tone of the program as it concludes year three heading into the postseason and year four of the Lowe era.

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Kentucky, NC State basketball and the danger of "settling"

Kentucky fans, I feel your pain.

Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports wrote a column yesterday outlining the grief Billy Gillispie is catching from Kentucky fans as he struggles through his first two seasons at Kentucky.

Reading the first few paragraphs, it struck me how similar the Kentucky situation of today sounds like State's of 2008 and 2009. A successful coach "run off"...new coach struggling mightily...old coach succeeding elsewhere.

Here's Goodman's piece, slightly modified. See if it doesn't sound like something you've heard before:

Be careful what you wish for.

Kentucky N.C. State fans drove Tubby Smith Herb Sendek out of Lexington Raleigh despite a national title and 10 5 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.

They wanted a guy who could recruit McDonald's All-Americans.

Someone that could take them back to the promised land — where Big Blue The Pack was competing for national championships again.

Instead, they got Billy Clyde Gillispie Sidney Lowe.

At first, they accepted him like their first-born. It didn't matter that he had only been a head coach for five years never been a college head coach and was a virtual unknown who had been pegged by arguably the one of the most storied program[s] in the history of college basketball.

Billy Clyde Sidney was theirs and they stood behind him — no matter what I or anyone else said. They went nuts when he was unveiled on Midnight Madness at the first open practice two years ago, emerging triumphant from behind four large curtains.

But now, after nearly two ho-hum seasons in the Gillispie Lowe Era, his act is starting to wear thin with the Wildcat Wolfpack Faithful.

It was as if Goodman were filling out the fields of a Herb/Lowe template article. "Be careful what you wish for." Hasn't that been the mantra of the media with respect to Herb and Sidney for the last two years?

The Herb articles have continued through this season, and were at their highest din a few weeks ago when the Sun Devils were knocking on the door of the top 10 and marching toward a Pac-10 title. Now that ASU is taking a March swoon -- at the same time the Pack is showing some improvement -- I doubt we'll hear much bleating from the press on the matter for the time being (save for a miracle title of some sort for ASU).

But to the point, I have sympathy for Kentucky fans.

There comes a time with every fanbase, no matter how successful a coach may have been at one point, that it's clear the coach has plateaued. Smith had reached that point with Kentucky. He'd won a national title early on in his tenure at Kentucky but it was clear that he was just Sweet 16/Elite Eight-good for the long haul, and that's not good enough at Kentucky.

Herb plateaued here, as well, and (for the most part) we all knew it. Even worse, the media knew it -- yet somehow for the media, a coach whose proven level of success is barely getting into the tournament was supposed to be good enough for State.

The same of Smith at Kentucky. He was good enough to win the SEC and get past the first weekend of the dance, but somehow that was supposed to be enough for Kentucky.

For the majority of fans, settling for a plateaued coach is not an option. It shouldn't be. If the ultimate goal of every coach, team and fan is to win a championship and it's become abundantly clear that it won't happen under that coach's watch, then what's the point? Why even play the games? If everything is a prelude to an "eh" finish, then it's time for a change.

State had reached that point.

So had Kentucky.

I don't know if Gillispie is the answer at Kentucky. I don't know if Sidney is the answer at State. But if there's anything I can say to Kentucky fans, it's that there's absolutely no shame in wanting more out of your basketball program, and self-righteous media members should never convince you that "settling" is a viable option. Especially if Kentucky or State is on the front of your jersey -- two programs with multiple NCAA titles and rich basketball traditions.

I would say give Gillispie his due time -- five years. Sidney is turning things around in year three; perhaps Gillispie can show he can do it, too, in Lexington. But if five years pass and either one isn't getting the job done and the fanbase clamors for another change, it's unfair for the media to come after them for aspiring for more than simply "good enough."

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Women's ACC Tournament: Wake 59, State 54

For those looking for women's basketball updates, I'll update this post as the game goes along.

UPDATE 1: 13:56 to go in the first, State up 8-4.

UPDATE 2: 7:23 to go in the first, State 16, Wake 17.

UPDATE 3: At the half, State 22, Wake 29. The Deacons have outscored the Pack 25-14 over the last 3/4 of the half. Neither team is shooting well -- State is 8-25 and has not attempted a three pointer, and Wake is 10-30 and 4-12 from three.

UPDATE 4: 4:44 to go in the second half, Wake is starting to run away with this one -- State 39, Wake 53.

UPDATE 5: 1:33 to go in the second half, State's on a 10-2 run to make it interesting, State 49, Wake 55.

UPDATE 6: FINAL, State makes a charge late but Wake wins, 59-54.

View the complete entry of "Women's ACC Tournament: Wake 59, State 54"

Torry Holt asks for release from the Rams

WRAL.com link

Could Torry be heading home to play for the Panthers? Possibly, now that Holt has asked to be released from his contract with St. Louis.

Per the St. Louis Dispatch via WRAL, Holt has been on the trading block for a while now with no takers and is due a $1.25 million signing bonus on March 17th.

It will be interesting to see if he winds up in Charlotte. Holt's made no bones about enjoying the idea of being a Panther, and the Panthers could use a savvy counterpart to Steve Smith to help keep the defensive double teams at bay. It's not hard to imagine Holt signing for below market value to retire in Charlotte, close to his home of Gibbsonville. The flip side of the equation is whether the Panthers have the cap room and need to take on an aging wide receiver (Holt is 32). They resigned Muhsin Muhammad last year after a sabbatical in Chicago and have six receivers listed on their two deep at the moment, per NFL.com.

Holt played at State from 95-98 and is the Pack's all-time leader in nearly every pass catching category. He was drafted sixth overall by the Rams, won a Super Bowl ring his rookie season and has been selected to six Pro Bowls.

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State 74, BC 69

NCAA Basketball Stats

NCAA Basketball Stats

The Pack puts the clamp down on Tyrese Rice in the second half, holding him to just 14 points, and Ben McCauley goes out in style on senior night to help the Pack score a big victory at home in their final home game of the season.

Rice in fact hit his final bucket with 15:35 left on the clock. Javi Gonzalez stepped his defensive intensity up in the second half on Rice and kept him from hurting the Pack from the field.

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Gonzalez had some big plays on the offensive end, as well. He hit a big breakaway bucket late in the game, flipping the ball over the BC defender and into the basket in a shot even Rice would be proud of. He tracked down a huge offensive rebound off a McCauley miss late in the game, as well, helping to seal the deal. Overall, Gonzo finished with six assists against only one turnover -- the kind of play you need in order to succeed in the ACC.

Rebounding and turnovers were big factors tonight. Boston College is a tremendous offensive rebounding team but State beat the Eagles on the glass at both ends of the court, pulling down nine offensive boards to their seven and beat them 20 to 16 on the defensive glass. The Pack controlled the ball well when they had it, only turning the ball over nine times. Both elements combined to limit the Pack's empty possessions, and when the Pack values the basketball, they've shown they can be a very efficient team offensively.

McCauley had a huge game in his final game at the RBC Center. The senior from West Newton, PA, scored 20 points to go with six boards, had two assists, one block and brought a lot of much-needed emotion to a team that could've folded after the tough loss to Maryland Sunday. He hit the final two free throws that sealed the game, holding the release on his last one an extra second just to savor the moment.

For the other senior on the court, Courtney Fells, the news was not as good. He succumbed to a groin injury late in the first half that sideline him the rest of the game. The tragedy of it all was that he was playing so well, having scored 11 points on 3-of-3 shooting from three and four of six overall, with his parents from Mississippi in attendance. He was on his way to a great finish, and now has to wonder if his career is over, depending upon how severe the groin injury turns out to be.

Big win tonight. It gives the Pack energy and momentum heading into the Miami game, who will be reeling after a home loss themselves in their final home game of the year. State will hope to pull off on Saturday what BC could not do tonight.

View the complete entry of "State 74, BC 69"