Sunday Hoops (UNC@NCSU)

[ajoytoy]

yest: 2-0 (+2.00)

YTD: 109-106-7 (+4.36)

UNC @ NCSU :

The one that means the most. Pretty simple in the eyes of the Pack. UNC has Duke, but we care more about whipping the Heels than any other team in the ACC (and nation). Everyone has an arch-rival and it doesn't take a genius to figure the Pack hates the Heels the most . The Pack has beaten every ACC team at least once this year, except the Heels. The Pack has not lost at the RBC this year. The Pack has a chance at a ACC title IF they can win the remainder of their games this year (and a little bit of help from the Dookies). So this game is pretty huge on a lot of different levels. Will the Pack be up for the challenge. I think so. They have continued to surprise many people throughout the course of this season. Unbelievable comebacks on the road and at home, and a few disappointing losses when they were not focused:nono: . Trust me when I tell you that the Pack will be focused tonight. So how about the Heels? So far, it's been a pretty disappointing season for Coach Williams and the Heels. The loss at UVa will definitely light a fire into the team. They really need a couple of wins to make sure that they get into the tourney. They will have a tough time doing it with road games in Raleigh and Durham .Can they win the game? Definitely, but sure hope not. The opening lines were -3.5 and 151.5 . This should be a great game with the likelihood of the game being determined in the final few minutes. The Pack will have to TRY to play down low and not rely on the 3 like they have been doing this season:nono: . Both teams have solid perimeter players that can hit the clutch shot. The 151.5 would have been covered in the past 2 seasons in games played in Raleigh. The last game had a line of 154 and was not covered. State has covered or won ATS in the past 5 (6 of last 10). So to make a long story short .

Playing:

Under 151.5 (-110)
Pack ML (-186)


glta and Go Pack!



toy

 

[boilermaker]

Good Luck tomarrow Anil. Big game for your boys. Hope they do well.

 

[Lewey]

gl toy

 

[ajoytoy]

For Saint: :moon:

this is the best one!


Pack Fans:

:tongue

 

[wolfpacker97]

Love the Pics!!

I hope we beat them by 20!!

Got some great T-shirts while in school. The best one was:

"Tarheels Just Do It.....with SHEEP"

 

[saint]

What's up my redneck friends over at state? How's your sister doing, she must be tired from all that fawking w/ her brother and daddy. I'm sure ya'll horticulturists are ready for a pack win, but it ain't happenin. In the history of the ACC, Carolina hasn't failed in sweeping at least 1 team during the season. Well, this our last chance to keep that streak alive boys. Since we lost to clemson (sigh) and dook, you fairies are all we got left. Like I said, this is still payback from the last couple years. Get yer kicks in while you can, cause the show is over. I know you guys hate us, which is why you've got sites devoted to ripping on us. But it's funny, we got dook, dook got us and md, everybody's got a rival except for state, everyone is so used to using them as the piss mop that no one cares to even consider them. Life sucks as the bastard step-child huh?


Anyways, all kidding aside, I'm looking forward to this game tomorrow. It's your game to lose the way I see it, with the undefeated home court this season and all. By the way, the picture of sean may w/ mcdonalds and the wheel of fortune pics cracked my ass up. That was some funny chit. I'd fire back some anti-state stuff but I guess carolina fans either aren't original enough to make anything funny, or we just don't care about you guys.

I hope we can meet in the ACC tourney, maybe we can have a friendly wager on a neutral court for a hat of choice or something like that?

Talk to you fags tomorrow, only 14 hours until tip!! :thefinger :moon:


Go to hell State!

 

[Ronnie]

Great pics Toy!! Good Luck with your boys tomorrow!

 

[Double Two]

Good Luck Toy!!!

 

[Howie's Hot]

GL toy...

How

 

[Master Capper]

good luck toy, like the under play

 

[ajoytoy]

good luck toy, like the under play

looking like I am WAY off....already up to 154

they still gotta play the game:shrug:

 

[ajoytoy]

got this emailed to me



North Carolina at N.C. State

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news?slug=cw-2-28weekend&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Two evenly matched teams will battle in Raleigh. N.C. St. has been one of the country's best teams the last few weeks. The Wolfpack is an experienced team that creates matchup advantages because everyone can dribble, pass and shoot effectively. They are smart, tough basketball players that take advantage of any defensive mistakes. Making close to 80% of their free throws doesn't hurt either!

North Carolina has shown flashes of being a top echelon team, but inconsistency on defense and impatience on offense have been trouble spots ? perhaps byproducts of youth and not much depth.

Tough, disciplined defense is one of the keys to handling N.C. St. Whether you play zone or man-to-man, you have to contain the dribbler and challenge the three point shot. Because the Wolfpack's big guys handle the ball and shoot the three, it's a tough assignment for the opponent's big guys.

Another key is trying to pound the ball inside against the undersized, but defensively clever front line. You must attack and make them guard you in the paint. That takes patience.

And finally, with the game being played in Raleigh, it is imperative for UNC to get off to a good start and maintain the lead.

In a close one, I think experience, free throws and being at home equals a Wolfpack win.

 

[ajoytoy]

Tony Haynes: The Shoe is on the Other Foot
North Carolina and NC State resume rivalry on Sunday.


Feb. 27, 2004


Tony Haynes Archive




By Tony Haynes

This is the story of longtime Tobacco Road basketball rivals NC State and North Carolina. One of the teams is in contention for the ACC's regular season title and is safely in the NCAA Tournament field of 65. The other, however, is in a desperate fight to secure its rightful spot in the tournament, an event in which none of its starters has ever participated. For those of you who were banned from watching satellite TV or logging onto the Internet during your three-year stay on Pluto, the team that's trying to end an NCAA Tournament drought is not NC State.

Welcome back to earth.

It should be obvious by now that the basketball world in North Carolina as we once knew it isn't quite the same as it was before you left. Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge are cashing retirement checks while Herb Sendek is now the toast of the town.





What's that you say? You want me to take a polygraph exam?

Sendek's Wolfpack, now 18-6 overall and 10-3 in the ACC, trails league-leading Duke by one game in the standings with just three to play (by the way, that Krzyzewski guy is still at Duke and nothing has changed in that regard). State, in fact, is a shoe-in to qualify for "The Big Dance" for the third straight year now following an 11-year absence.

As it gets set to face the Wolfpack, against whom it has lost four of its last five games, the once-mighty Tar Heels are 6-7 in league play and 16-8 overall. After missing the NCAA Tourney two years in a row, they are poised to return provided they can nail down another win or two down the stretch.

After going up against NC State this weekend, UNC will play host to Clemson next week in Chapel Hill. Would you believe me if I said that the Tigers actually won one at the Smith Center during your interplanetary journey? Ok, ok...there are some things that are truly impossible to believe and that particular statement stretched the truth beyond an allowable limit.

But when you do tune into this Sunday's game between the Pack and Heels, you'll probably do a double-take when you see Roy Williams patrolling the UNC sidelines. Yes, it is the same Roy Williams who turned down an offer from his alma mater in order to stay at Kansas three years ago. Yet, as chagrinned as the North Carolina folks were by that rejection, they tried again last summer and finally succeeded in luring their favorite son back home.

The coach certainly wears a few more gray hairs than he had before he left to take the Kansas job those many years ago. In fact, he's added a few more since the start of this season. The process of rebuilding a juggernaut cannot happen overnight, a fact that fell on some deaf ears when Williams tried his best to reign in expectations prior to the season.

Still, the Heels are ranked 12th while the Wolfpack comes in at number 14 in this week's A.P. Poll. For the first time in quite a while, the two neighbors are nationally prominent at the same time. This will mark the first instance in 15 years that they have met each other when both were ranked in the national polls. Regardless of who wins on Sunday, the word "upset" will not be an applicable description of the outcome.

It's a meaningful game and not just because fans of the two schools desperately want bragging rights. For NC State, it's an opportunity to stay unbeaten at home and remain in the hunt for the ACC's top spot. For North Carolina, a win would probably guarantee an NCAA berth and set the stage for an upper division finish in the conference.

Either way, a rivalry is always a little juicier when the two teams involved are perceived to be true equals in almost every respect. There was, of course, a time in the not too distant past when the Wolfpack's relentless yet exhaustive effort to catch up seemed so futile. These days, however, the Pack is no longer trying to catch up.

For now, the shoe is on the other foot.

 

[ajoytoy]

Heels trying to turn back time against Pack




BY AL FEATHERSTON : The Herald-Sun
afeatherston@heraldsun.com
Feb 29, 2004 : 12:13 am ET

RALEIGH -- It's a good time to be an N.C. State fan.

In fact, this is a golden age if beating North Carolina in the major sports is important to the Wolfpack faithful. Never before in history has N.C. State enjoyed such dominance over its bitter rival as in the early years of the 21st Century.

The Pack has won three of the last four matchups on the football field and four of the last five basketball showdowns with the Tar Heels. The only other time in ACC history that N.C. State enjoyed such superiority in both sports was from 1990-92, when Dick Sheridan's football team won three straight against UNC and Jim Valvano's last Wolfpack basketball team and Les Robinson's first two Pack clubs won four out of six in the series.

N.C. State has enjoyed other good runs in football and in basketball against the Heels, but never at the same time.

And in at least one sense, this streak is better than the one in the early 1990s. While N.C. State enjoyed head-to-head basketball success against UNC in those days, the Tar Heel program was clearly better -- finishing ahead of the Pack in the ACC in all three of those seasons.

That's not the case now. No. 14 N.C. State (18-6, 10-3 ACC) is already assured of finishing ahead of No. 12 North Carolina (16-8, 6-7 ACC) for the third straight season-- the first time in ACC history that the Wolfpack basketball team has finished the regular season ahead of the Tar Heels during such a span.

Of course, it's also possible that UNC is on the verge of turning the tide against the Pack. The Tar Heels broke N.C. State's four-game winning streak in the series last month in Chapel Hill, pulling out a 68-66 victory in the Smith Center.

With another victory tonight in the RBC Center, North Carolina can officially end the Pack's golden age.

A Tar Heels victory would also severely damage N.C. State's pursuit of first-place Duke for the ACC regular season title and perhaps leave the Pack vulnerable to a late run by Wake Forest for second place.

But rivalry, not conference standings, is the main issue.

"I wasn't really aware of the N.C. State and Chapel Hill rivalry until my freshman year," N.C. State's Ilian Evtimov said. "People kept making a big deal about it -- everybody kept saying, 'Just make sure you beat Carolina.'

"We played at Chapel Hill and that was a big-time win -- we won by 20. I wasn't really aware of what a big win it was until I came back. Riding on the bus and all these Carolina fans were just so mad. When we got back here to Reynolds Coliseum, we had about 1,000 people waiting for us. I just realized, that's more than I thought."

Sean May, who grew up in Indiana, learned about the intensity of the rivalry last year -- even though he had to watch from the sidelines after suffering a foot injury.

"Just the atmosphere and the flow of the game," the sophomore center said. "It was exciting to see as a fan, just watching. It's not as big as Carolina and Duke, but it's right up there with some of the best rivalries in college basketball."

UNC coach Roy Williams got in the spirit of the rivalry by disguising a jab at the Wolfpack as a compliment for N.C. State coach Herb Sendek.

"I'm not trying to make N.C. State people mad," he said. "But when I first got here, I heard this. Their football team finished fourth and got a parade. Their basketball team finished fourth and got 'Fire Herb.' That doesn't make sense to me. I think Herb's done a great job."

Williams, who learned about the rivalry as a student and assistant coach at UNC, understands that the games with N.C. State mean more to the Tar Heel fans than to the current players.

"A lot of it means nothing to the kids," he said. "But everybody that's got blue hair and wrinkles remembers the games in 1950. It's important to them. I don't think our kids or State's kids look at it as much as someone that sat in Carmichael Auditorium or Reynolds Coliseum and watched those games for 25 years.

"My father-in-law graduated from N.C. State. He has a lot more of those feelings than Rashad McCants does. I'm not belittling what we think about N.C. State at all. I just think kids don't look back that far."

Sendek voiced similar sentiments.

"We certainly are aware of the legendary rivalry that exists," he said. "[But] it's not possible to prepare any more than we do otherwise. It's not like we're all of a sudden do something different because each game to us is a big game and we know that. We recognize that it's a lot of fun for the fans and the game has a lot of interest, regardless of what sport the schools are participating in. There's a lot of fanfare and a lot of pageantry that goes with it, but I think the teams basically go about preparing and they're going to play hard and give it their best shot."

N.C. State will have one huge advantage in this matchup -- the home court. North Carolina has struggled on the road, winning just one of six ACC road games. On the other hand, the Pack is 13-0 in the RBC Center.

Sendek said the five-year-old arena is becoming the same kind of homecourt advantage that the Pack used to enjoy in Reynolds Coliseum.

"Right now, we're in the process of assembling a scrapbook, a photo album from the RBC, the same way we did for years at Reynolds," the Wolfpack coach said. "One of the things that made Reynolds so dear to us was we had all these wonderful photo albums and scrapbooks full of memories that we could point to. When you move over to a new building, you have to buy a new scrapbook.

"It's not just the buildings per se that make them special, it's all the collection of memories that we have to go along with them. Now that we're in our fifth year at RBC, we're in the beginning pages of building new memories."

NOTES -- N.C. State could be tied for first in the ACC by the end of the night if the Pack beats UNC, while Florida State knocks off front-running Duke in Tallahassee. ... The Pack is looking for its first perfect home season since the 1974 team went 11-0 in Reynolds. n UNC still leads the series with N.C. State 129-74, including a 53-46 edge in Raleigh. ... This will be the first time N.C. State and UNC have met while both were ranked since Feb. 9, 1989, when the No. 17 Pack knocked off the No. 6 Tar Heels in Raleigh.

 

[ajoytoy]

Rivalry on the rebound
UNC-N.C. State heating up again

By ROBBI PICKERAL AND LORENZO PEREZ, Staff Writers


Late last December, former N.C. State guard Chris Corchiani was at Crowley's, a favorite Raleigh pub and hangout for Wolfpack fans, when he was asked to sign an autograph. A short time later, the same signature-seeker returned and asked him to sign a North Carolina hat, as well.

Corchiani remembers saying when asked about the incident: "If I sign this hat, I'm going to have to put, 'Carolina [stinks]' on it."

The Tar Heel fan laughed, Corchiani said, and urged him to sign the hat, anyway. But the fan wasn't smiling seconds later when he saw that Corchiani had signed with the promised tagline. The fan tossed a beer in his face, and Corchiani said he ended up putting the guy in a headlock before the Carolina backer was asked to leave the bar.

"Tempers flared," said Corchiani, who finished his college career in 1991 as the NCAA's career assist leader.

Some things never change.

Yes, the State-UNC rivalry may have been on "simmer" the past few years -- at least on the court, where one team or the other has struggled to make it to the NCAA Tournament and Duke has overshadowed both. Heck, a few weeks ago, tonight's 5:30 tipoff at the RBC Center wasn't even sold out.

But with Roy Williams at the helm of No. 12 Carolina, Herb Sendek an ACC Coach of the Year candidate for No. 14 State, and both foes meeting as ranked teams for the first time since 1989 -- it appears as if the old rivalry is ready to flare up on the court again, as well.

"The intensity of the series will never change,'' said former Wolfpack center Tom Burleson. "It's always State-Carolina. When you see that Carolina blue, your adrenaline starts to rise. One's red, one's blue. It's 180 degrees. We're sister institutions, and those are always the most intense rivalries. Whenever you play, it's one of those 'house divided' kind of things.''

Losing its flavor

The past few years, however, the house --and rivalry -- has been divided by diminished expectations. Carolina, under coach Matt Doherty, failed to make the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons, while State did. Before that, the Wolfpack hadn't made the NCAA Tournament since 1991 -- while Carolina did. Some of the individual games were intense, but they failed to carry the flavor of past decades because the outcomes had less impact.

"In the mid-'90s, it seemed like some of the old rivalries stopped being as dramatic,'' said former UNC standout Pete Chilcutt, who played in the Feb. 9, 1989 game -- the last time both teams played each other while ranked. "And lately, I kind of see people running on the court after they beat Duke, and they don't do that at Carolina anymore. ... We want it to get back to that."

Topping the talented Wolfpack might help. The State-Carolina rivalry, past and current players and coaches say, is more about fans than players. Friday, for example, Sendek was stressing that "it's not possible to prepare [for Carolina] any more than we already do for every game." In Chapel Hill, meanwhile, Williams was pointing out that his father-in-law, a State grad, likely had more intense feelings about the matchup than swingman Rashad McCants.

"Everybody that's got blue hair, wrinkles, things like that, they remember the games in the 1950s; it's important to them,'' said Williams, whose team topped State 68-66 in a nail-biter last month. "I don't think that our kids or State's kids look at North Carolina-North Carolina State game as much as somebody that sat in Carmichael Auditorium or Reynolds Coliseum and watched those games for 25 years.''

Indeed, even back in the days of Phil Ford, then Chilcutt and Jeff Lebo, players were friendlier with each other than were fans. Wolfpackers and Tar Heels could often be found working out together in the summers, Chilcutt said; and Ford said he still considers many of his old Wolfpack foes as friends.

Apparently that hasn't changed.

N.C. State redshirt sophomore forward Ilian Evtimov, for example, said that Tar Heels fans seem to have mixed emotions about booing him since his older brother, Vasco, played for Carolina.

"And I never had that hating thing from [Carolina] players," Evtimov said. "We're friends. They don't call me, "Ilian," they call me by my nickname, 'Shoush.' "

And fans, as much as players and coaches, are what have made the rivalry interesting over the years.

There was the time, Lebo remembers, that UNC beat State in the last game at Carmichael Auditorium. While fans were rushing the floor, the late N.C. State coach Jim Valvano picked up the ball and dribbled down the court -- through the celebrating student section -- to make a layup.

"He wanted to score the last points at Carmichael,'' said a laughing Lebo, who is now the head coach at Chattanooga. "He used the fans as defenders."

Then there was a game, Chilcutt remembers, where he had the unfortunate circumstance to play State at Reynolds Coliseum with a black eye. The Wolfpack faithful were ready and waiting, and prepared with posters of Petey, the blacked-eye dog from The Little Rascals. Every time Chilcutt got the ball, he recalled, State fans pounced, screaming: "Peeeeeteeeey!"

"Duke always tried to be more cute, more clever [with their taunts],'' Chilcutt said, laughing. "With State, it was just more raw emotion."

"If we'd won for 20 straight years, we'd still want the 21st year to be a sweep,'' said Raleigh's John Nelms, a State season-ticket holder. "For a State fan, the Carolina game is still the big game of the year. That's always the case."

A big game in other ways

Tonight's game also holds big ramifications for both teams. State (18-6, 10-3 ACC) is still gunning to win the ACC regular season and take the top seed in the league tournament, but it must bypass Duke. Carolina (16-8, 6-7) still needs a win to leap off the NCAA bubble. A loss tonight would mark the first time in 51 years of ACC play that the Tar Heels have not swept at least one series from a conference foe.

That would be quite a mark to add, for those (rivals) keeping score.

"[The game] is important to both teams because both teams are ranked,'' Ford said. "But is it more special? I don't know about that. ... When you start getting into school like Carolina-State, Carolina-Duke, you can throw the records out.''

 

[ajoytoy]

Sunday, February 29, 2004 12:00AM EST

NCSU's to-do list


By LORENZO PEREZ


(18-6 overall, 10-3 ACC)
AVOID A DROUGHT

N.C. State went without scoring a field goal for almost seven minutes in the second half of its 68-66 loss at Chapel Hill on Jan. 28. A rash of turnovers -- 20 total -- contributed to the scoring futility, and the Wolfpack can't afford to be so sloppy today.

STAY PATIENT

N.C. State loves to shoot 3-pointers. But the Wolfpack can't fuel UNC's fast break by settling for the quick long-distance shot. A commitment to cutting and passing should pay off in easier shots for the Pack.

HIT THE BOARDS

In terms of rebounding margin, N.C. State ranks near the bottom of the ACC (seventh) and North Carolina ranks near the top (second). In its last five wins, however, N.C. State has outrebounded its opponent.



UNC's to-do list


By ROBBI PICKERAL


(16-8 overall, 6-7 ACC)

BOX OUT UNDERNEATH

UNC was outrebounded for the first time in six games during its loss at Virginia, including 18-11 on the offensive boards. The Tar Heels cannot let the Wolfpack get extra chances on offense, because N.C. State likes to control the ball as it is.

SHOW UP IN THE SECOND HALF

The Tar Heels have been outscored after halftime in their past three games. This season-long trend has led to frustrating comebacks by opponents -- and is a habit UNC needs to break.

MAKE McCANTS Mc-CAN

Rashad McCants, the ACC's leading scorer, had eight points against Virginia, marking only the second time this season he has been held to single digits. He's at his best when he's scoring.

 

[TORONTO-VIGILANTE]

looking like I am WAY off....already up to 154

they still gotta play the game:shrug:

dude, gl today....

honesty, having capped all sports for THREE years straight, I've almost NEVER looked at line moves (never had the time...) and i'm still doin pretty well.

If you got a feel for your team, it shouldn't matter where the line goes.

 

[spuds]

best of luck this afternoon toy hope the pak have continued success

 

[spuds]

need some mojo toy had to play nc 1st half they usually play well but give up the lead. state needs to get a few quick ones and get the crowd going. ill be pulling for ya lets go state kick some :moon:

 

[ajoytoy]

they cant make anything:shrug:

should be an interesting 2nd half


gl on the play...cmon Pack....get back in this one