What Critics?

Fellow sportsmen, it is time to celebrate, for one of the holiest weeks of the year is upon us: this week marks the official start to ACC conference play. On Sunday evening we get to see a very good Miami squad take on likely undefeated (but not that great) Clemson club in Coral Gables. Naturally, it’s our pick for game of the week.

Georgia State makes a repeat appearance as the upset pick of the week. They played Florida St. tight on Saturday, losing by only five. They meet up with Paul Hewitt’s beleaguered Yellow Jackets on Wednesday. That’s the same Yellow Jacket team that dropped a home contest with Illinois-Chicago Sunday in the Thrillerdome.

Tuesday, December 16
North Florida @ Clemson, 7pm
Tennessee Tech @ Florida State, 7pm FSN-FL

Wednesday, December 17
East Carolina @ NC State, 7pm
Longwood @ Virginia, 7pm
Georgia State @ Georgia Tech, 7:30pm
UNC-Asheville @ Duke, 7:30pm ESPN2

Thursday, December 18
Charleston Southern @ Florida State, 7pm FSN-FL
Evansville @ North Carolina, 7pm ESPN-HD

Friday, December 19
Wake Forest @ Richmond, 7pm ESPNU-HD

Saturday, December 20
Duke vs. Xavier, 2pm (East Rutherford, NJ) CBS HD
Lipscomb @ NC State, 2pm
North Carolina vs. Valparaiso, 2pm (Chicago, IL) ESPNU
Virginia Tech @ Columbia, 2pm (Holiday Festival – NYC, NY)
Auburn @ Virginia, 4pm FSNS / CSN
Providence @ Boston College, 4pm NESN
Georgia Tech @ Pepperdine, 5pm

Sunday, December 21
Pittsburgh @ Florida State, 5:30pm FSN
Clemson @ Miami, 7:45pm FSN
Virginia Tech vs. TBA, TBA (Holiday Festival – NYC, NY)

Sources: TheACC.com / HDSportsGuide.com

I meant to post this earlier, but I, uh, didn’t. Over at TheACC.com, Jim Sumner has a pretty fantastic write-up on a pretty fantastic Dixie Classic.

The Dixie Classic was never bigger than 50 years ago. The 1958 Dixie Classic brought together an unmatched collection of team and individual talent. Start with the local teams. The host Wolfpack entered the Dixie Classic with a 6-1 record, the sole loss to powerful Kansas State. NC State was ranked fifth in the AP poll.

North Carolina was 5-0 and ranked third. Duke was in the process of replacing all five starters from its 1958 team and was 2-4. Wake Forest was 3-3.

But the real excitement was on the visiting side of the equation. Yale was the sacrificial lamb but Louisville, Michigan State, and Cincinnati were formidable opponents. Michigan State was ranked seventh; Cincinnati second in the AP poll, first in UPI.

Read the full piece here.

As expected, State won big, even with Fells and Degand in street clothes (due to an ankle injury and a team rules violation, respectively) and Costner missing the second half due to a small cut above the eye.

Simon Harris got his first start of the season, scored six and picked up six rebound in 20 minutes. In all, 14 State players saw action, with McCauley, Ferguson, and Horner all scoring in double digits. The stat of the game has to be State’s assist totals: 22 on 28 field goals. They also out-rebounded the Rams, 47-30, but were again bested on offensive rebounds, 13-10.

State led by 20 at the half on 63% shooting. They ended the game at 52% and held WSSU to a miserable 28% from the field.

All in all, a good tune-up for a dangerous ECU squad next Wednesday evening. It’s good to see production from the bench (17 points in 90 minutes), but a healthy Courtney Fells would be a more than welcome sight against the Pirates.

GoPack.com box score

Elsewhere … This wasn’t the first trip to Reynolds for WSSU guard Isiah Tucker … Brett Friedlander compares Lowe’s early season injury woes to O’Brien’s early season injury woes … Yow coaches her 1000th game for the Pack tomorrow against Ole Miss … Russell Wilson is CFN’s All-Freshman Team QB … Coack K was involved in a one-car accident yesterday. Don’t worry, he’s OK … Iowa St. coach Gene Chizik (career record: 5-19) has reportedly accepted the Auburn job

Winston-Salem State Rams
1-6 | schedule | stats

Last three games:
11/29 — Lost 53-33 @ Illinois State
11/30 — Lost 67-61 vs. Nicholls State (@ Normal, IL)
12/6 — Won 68-65 @ South Carolina State

Best player:
Jamal Durham, SR F — 13.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG

Pomeroy Ratings:
Tempo — WSSU: 65.2 (260), NCSU: 65.1 (264)
Offensive Eff. — WSSU: 72.3 (342), NCSU: 106.6 (78)
Defensive Eff. — WSSU: 97.7 (139), NCSU: 97.5 (134)

There’s no dancing around the issue: the Rams are a bad, bad team. They sit just eight spots from dead last in the Pomeroy Ratings and their only win was a squeaker against a hapless South Carolina State squad that has yet to defeat a Division I school. This is just the program’s third year in Division I, and they remain a routinely over-matched team on the court.

State has struggled quite a bit in the early going with collecting rebounds, despite playing against under-sized opponents. The good news is that WSSU is just about the worst rebounding team in the country.

I can’t really say much else here, State should win handily. Lowe said today that Fells is a game time decision with a bruised ankle. Unless he’s 110%, I’d expect him to sit this one out; he likely won’t be needed.

Camcorders, HDTVs, PS3s, Wiis, and countless other high and low-end electronics and swag are about to be shoved into the eager hands of bowl participants everywhere. For a full list, see the Sports Business Journal.

Elsewhere, the Wilmington Star-News tries to goad J.J. Hickson into taking a cheap shot at NCSU while the Shelby Star, in their ACC once-over, gives State a fighting chance now that Hickson is gone.

For your perusal, here is a comparison of totals for NC State and Rutgers. Also included are statistics for offensive leaders. Coming soon when I get around to it, the same numbers over the last four weeks of the season.

Team Stats
Rushing Offense — NCSU: 125.5 (85), RU: 128.8 (81)
Passing Offense — NCSU: 200.8 (71), RU: 266.3 (22)
Passing Eff. — NCSU: 119.2 (76), RU: 145.3 (21)
Total Offense — NCSU: 326.3 (89), RU: 395.2 (40)
Scoring Offense — NCSU: 23.5 (80), RU: 29.0 (41)

Rushing Defense — NCSU: 144.3 (64), RU: 139.0 (53)
Passing Defense — NCSU: 242.8 (94), RU: 184.9 (31)
Passing Defense Eff. — NCSU: 128.7 (71), RU: 132.5 (80)
Total Defense — NCSU: 387.1 (81), RU: 323.9 (34)
Scoring Defense — NCSU: 26.1 (67), RU: 18.5 (18)

Net Punting — NCSU: 36.5 (33), RU: 34.6 (70)
Punt Returns — NCSU: 8.3 (69), RU: 9.5 (51)
Kickoff Returnss — NCSU: 23.2 (29), RU: 21.6 (53)

Turnover Margin — NCSU: +0.9 (16), RU: -0.2 (71)
Sacks — NCSU: 1.9 (56), RU: 2.3 (37)
Sacks Allowed — NCSU: 2.3 (92), RU: 1.6 (43)
Tackles For Loss — NCSU: 5.7 (59), RU: 6.4 (31)

Player Stats
QB — NCSU: Russell Wilson, FR, 55%, 1769 Yds, 16 TD, 1 Int.
QB — RU: Mike Teel, SR, 61%, 3009 Yds, 23 TD, 12 Int.

HB — NCSU: Andre Brown, SR, 164 Att., 728 Yds, 6 TD, 28 Rec., 305 Yds, 4 TD
HB — RU: Kordell Young, SO, 136 Att., 550 Yds, 5 TD
HB — RU: Jourdan Brooks, FR, 88 Att., 492 Yds, 6 TD

WR — NCSU: Owen Spencer, SO, 29 Rec., 66 Yds, 4 TD
WR — RU: Kenny Britt, JR, 81 Rec., 1252 Yards, 6 TD

Source: NCAA.org

If you didn’t already know, everyone’s favorite stat geek, Ken Pomeroy, has been keeping an up-to-date comparison of this year’s and last year’s three-point shooting percentages. Through games played last Sunday, the overall three-point percentage (3PM/3PA) has fallen 1.2% to 33.9%, the percentage of shots taken behind the newly extended arc (3PA/FGA) has dropped by the same rate to 33.2%.

It isn’t earth-shattering, but the new line has certainly taken a slight toll on would-be bombers. I’d like to see a comparison of points-per-game, though I’d think the change would be fairly negligible.

See the numbers for yourself here.

Here’s a tidbit to elicit further confidence in our chances at the Pizza Bowl: Coach O’Brien’s career bowl history:

12/31/99 — Lost 62-28 vs. Colorado, Insight.com Bowl
12/25/00 — Won 31-17 vs. Arizona St., Aloha Classic
12/28/01 — Won 20-16 vs. Georgia, Music City Bowl
12/26/02 — Won 51-25 vs. Toledo, Motor City Bowl
12/31/03 — Won 35-21 vs. Colorado St., San Francisco Bowl
12/31/04 — Won 37-24 vs. North Carolina, Continental Tire Bowl
12/28/05 — Won 27-21 vs. Boise St., MPC Computers Bowl

So, TOB hasn’t quite seen a million bowls and he hasn’t quite rocked them all, but with a near-sterling 6-1 record when bowling, the dude knows how to win in December.

He’s won thousands of miles from home in Honolulu and San Francisco; he’s won in virtual road games (Carolina in Charlotte) and actual road games (Boise St. in Boise); and he’s won with what couldn’t have been more than a smattering of Golden Eagle die-hards in the stands.

Luckily, none of those factors will be at play in Birmingham.

It’s exam season in most parts of the country, which means a rather thin schedule for the next few weeks.

Notably, Duke is in the middle of an eleven day layoff, presumably licking their wounds after the Michigan State loss, watching an endless amount of tape on upcoming opponent UNC-Asheville, and practicing their floor-slappin’.

With much trepidation, the game of the week nod goes to Virginia Tech @ Georgia. The very uninteresting Bulldogs lost by 21 to Loyola-Chicago early in the season and were obliterated by Illinois two nights ago. Maybe they can do better at home against a Virginia Tech team that has lost three of its last five games.

The stupid upset pick of the week is Georgia St. over Florida St. Somewhere a Seminole chief is shedding a single tear for Randy Spetman scheduling a home-and-home with Georgia freaking State.

Tuesday, December 9
Virginia Tech (5-3) @ Georgia (5-3), 7:00, FSN

Wednesday, December 10
Bryant (1-5) @ Boston College (6-2), 7:00

Friday, December 12
Florida International (4-5) @ Miami (5-2), 7:30
Delaware St. (2-10) @ Maryland (10-2), 8:00, CSN

Saturday, December 13
South Carolina St. (4-3) @ Clemson (9-0), 2:00
Winston-Salem St. (1-6) @ NC State (4-1), 2:00
Florida St. (8-1) @ Georgia St. (3-5), 4:00
Oral Roberts (2-5) @ #1 North Carolina (8-0), 4:00, ESPN2

Sunday, December 14
Robert Morris (4-4) @ Miami, 1:00
South Carolina Upstate (0-6) @ Boston College, 1:00
Illinois-Chicago (5-2) @ Georgia Tech (5-1), 2:00
Longwood (5-4) @ Virginia Tech, 2:00
Wright St. (0-6) @ #11 Wake Forest (8-0), 4:00, FSN

Other Awesome Games
#6 Texas (6-1) vs. #15 Villanova (8-0), Tuesday, 9:00, ESPN
St. Joseph’s (3-4) @ #15 Villanova, Thursday, 8:00, ESPN2
Butler (7-0) @ #21 Ohio St. (5-0), Saturday, 12:00

Hey! Remember us? Probably not!

Let’s blog!