Desicritics Category: Sports: Basketball

Basketball: Heartbreak For NC State In The ACC Tournament

Sibin Mohan — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 16:32:04 EDT

They came here as underdogs, they played their hearts out, they took down the mightiest names in college basketball and reached the finals of the ACC tournament, where exhaustion finally seemed to take over. I'm talking about North Carolina State's run in the ACC basketball tournament. UNC just won the ACC basketball tournament, beating NC State 89-80.

While Tyler Hansbrough was taken down by the State defense, Brandan Wright stepped up and kept the scoreboard ticking. In the first half though, NC State was able to keep up, mainly due to the pyrotechnics of Brandon Costner. He set the scoreboard on fire with his three-point shooting and great moves on the paint. Engin Atsur, State's point guard seemed to be struggling at times - perhaps his hamstring injury and fatigue finally caught up with him.

But with two minutes remaining in the first half, and the teams tied at 32 points apiece Carolina seemed to blaze away with a 14-2 run by the time the half-time break came around. When the second half started, they seemed to continue their run and extended the lead to 16 points. State was written off and if anyone expected them to roll over and play dead, they were wrong. State came back strong and even tied the score at 69, but then almost immediately went down by 3 and then never really recovered after that. The closest they came after that was within 3 points of Carolina.

I think what State was missing in the second half was a complete lack of three-point shooting. Considering that they had three good three-point shooters in Atsur, Costner and Grant (with Fells and Nieman also able to chip in admirably in the past) it was puzzling that they didn't try to shoot more from behind the arc. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, they didn't have a single three-point basket in the second half! This effect became important in the last two minutes of the game where with state being down by two plays, shooting three-pointers seemed like the logical thing to do to close up the gap in a hurry.

There was some poor decision-making in the crucial last couple of minutes, as NC State seemed to be taking too much time to cross the floor, especially when they're trailing by 5! Then there were costly misses when they did get to the other end, all of which probably contributed to their loss after playing hard and coming close.

But that is not taking away from the way this team played in this tournament. Sidney Lowe's team seems to have grown this season and they carry themselves much better than most NC State teams have done in the recent past. With some good recruits that have been picked up this year, next year's season will be a mouth-watering wait for Wolfpack fans.

Even Roy Williams, the UNC head coach, had to stop and admire the State team when he was talking to reporters immediately after receiving the trophy. He said that they have come far and Wolfpack fans everywhere must be proud of how they performed this year. Being a Wolfpack fan myself, I must say I completely agree - they went further than anyone, their own fans included, expected and unfortunately couldn't win the final one - not because they didn't play well, but because they were matched up against a slightly better team. I say slightly, because if NC State had bench strength, then they would have definitely been better than UNC today.

Now we'll just have to wait and see if the powers that make up he NCAA will feel like they have made enough of a point to grant them a spot in the NCAA tournament. Wishful thinking, you say? Well, three days ago, no one would have even considered the idea that NC State could beat Duke, Virginia and V-Tech and make it to the finals of the ACC tournament.

ACC Basketball: NC State Blazes in the Year of Underdogs

Sibin Mohan — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 00:35:02 EST

North Carolina State's basketball team is having a dream run in the ACC tournament so far. Coming into the tournament with an all-time low seeding (10), no one even took them seriously. This, considering that they had beaten the fabled UNC once and Virginia Tech twice (yes, home and away) during the regular season.

Suddenly they are in the spotlight and that too as giant-killers! They made the unthinkable happen by beating Duke in the first round, and now have taken down Virginia in the quarter finals. And these were teams which had comprehensively beaten NC State during the regular season. They are also both in the top 25 in the Coaches poll, with Duke being at 21 and Virginia being at 24. Now, there is a possibility of both teams dropping out of the top 25 because of these losses.

Sidney Lowe's NBA-style offense seems to be paying off, and the team is led well by point-guard Engin Atsur. The team seems to be completely different every time he is on the court. He handles the ball well and makes great plays, making use of good finishers like Brendan Coster, Ben McCaulay and Gavin Grant. Today relative unknown Bryan Nieman also stepped up and shot a couple of three-pointers to bring the Wolfpack back into the game.

The Wolfpack have been derided all season long for lacking bench strength, leading to exhaustion among the starters. They have often been called the "sixpack" due to having only six players playing the entire game. This has resulted in player fatigue surfacing at key moments, such as the loss to UNC in the away game during the regular season. Today was only the third time, all season that Lowe used 7 or more players in a game.

In the first half it seemed like too much experimentation was going on (what with close to 9 players being rotated in and out), and NC State went into the break trailing by 14 points. It would be great to know what Sidney Lowe told his wards or fed them during the break, because the regular starters came out and played like they were possessed. They soon cut the lead to 7 points, but then saw it stretch to 11 again. Nieman, Costner and Atsur soon pulled Virginia back and State were leading with around 8 minutes of the game left. They never relinquished the lead, and the game ended at 79-71 in favor of the Wolfpack.

Some key elements of the game - Costner's 20 points (this following his 30 point showing in the Duke game), McCaulay's penetration of the Cavaliers' defense, Atsur's ball-handling and play calling, and the unselfish attitude of the State players. One instance was when McCaulay was fed the ball, into the paint, by Atsur, and he immediately sent it to the corner where Courtney Fells was waiting to nail a 3-pointer. This despite the fact McCaulay himself might have been able to put in a 2-point basket without much difficulty. This shows that the players are placing the team ahead of themselves and is a great attitude that Sidney Lowe is cultivating.

Also, the defense was exemplary, and this in spite of the fact that the Cavaliers have Sean Singletary and J P Reynolds in their team, who can run rings around (and occasionally did in this game) most defenses in the country.

There is one worrying point for State, and that is the large number of turnovers. There were 13 in the game, with 8 in the first half, and Gavin Grant seems to be responsible for a few of these. Turnovers have been a constant problem for Grant throughout the season, and he must work hard on improving this aspect of the game. Many a game has been lost by State during the regular season, because of this issue.

Next year's NC State team will be worth watching, considering that the current team, with its lack of bench strength is performing well, and since Sidney Lowe has some promising recruits lined up for fall '07.

All in all, this ACC tournament seems to be the year of the underdogs, with all four games on Thursday being upsets (in that they were won by lower-ranked teams). Only UNC seems to be living up to its seeding, by beating Florida State in today's game.

Even if NC State doesn't make it to the NCAA tournament (which seems highly unlikely considering their lackluster regular season performance), they have retrieved their pound of flesh by beating UNC and VTech during the regular season and now Duke and Virginia in the ACC tournament. Who knows, they may have even spoiled the Blue Devils' and Cavaliers' shots at the NCAA tournament, and that is no small consolation.

Most importantly though, they have gained respect by how they have performed admirably the entire season with their handicap of a short V-Tech, again, in the semi-finals and UNC in the finals.

Kobe Bryant: Can the Brother Get Some Love?

Nanda Kishore — Mon, 8 May 2006 00:07:30 EDT

We all know the old Indian fable about something becoming the truth by repeated assertion. This phenomenon seems to have manifested itself subtly in the NBA, where regardless of whatever he does, Kobe Bryant remains a grudgingly admired superstar. Someone with skills that even the most elite of players in the league can only envy, and have to acknowledge that they're just a gift that only he has, among his contemporaries at least.

Living in Melbourne and not being hooked up to cable television has meant that I have had only very fleeting glimpses of NBA action this season, but have managed to be somewhat tuned in. And the one thing that has stood out for me is Bryant's performance. To be fair, I wasn't exactly enamoured of Bryant in the whole Shaquille O'Neal-Phil Jackson drama following their humiliation against Detroit in the 2004 final, not to mention the ugly sexual assault scandal. In hindsight, it seems the media and public at large were happy to see their image of Bryant as an arrogant, self-centred brat reinforced and he was swiftly and unfairly judged. In the end, it turned out to be one of those encounters gone wrong, possibly one of many such episodes in contemporary American society. In fact, I was somewhat gleeful at the Lakers' plight last season and rejoiced when Miami clinched that unforgettable game on Christman eve (or was it on Christmas Day?). I knew all along, however, that Bryant was a special player, regardless of whatever he was as a person, which frankly is irrelevant unless it has a direct bearing on the sport or fans.

But just like Shane Warne, his supposed character flaws will possibly haunt him till the very end of his career. Or at least that is how I read it. And then there is this whole idea of being a team man, which is quite often taken to ridiculous extents in American sport. So what better way to nail Bryant than to expose him as a selfish, ball-hungry guard who only cares about his PPG? Never mind that the PPG is a small matter of 35, and that without Bryant, the Lakers would have disappeared without a trace this season. Given the compelling arguments, there is another trick that comes in handy for pundits - prop up someone else, especially if someone as good as Lamar Odom is around, someone who's happy to be the number two and is apparently not obsessed with stardom. Now eulogise his contributions, if only to make a little dent in Bryant's own. Combine all that with a mediocre team record, and Bryant is well and truly out of the MVP race. I have the utmost admiration for Steve Nash and he was well and truly the MVP last season, and definitely a contender this season, but why does Bryant get sidelined so ruthlessly (to be honest, my vote is for Nowitzki)? One just has to read between the lines. It's all one big organised circus, the NBA.

Sports

Aaman Lamba — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 12:22:36 EST

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