** Well, that wasn't very fun. So, I guess the best thing that can be said is that this game could have been worse. Much, much worse, really.
** After what looked like a really depressing first half where our men had packed it in, at least the second half effort proved this wasn't the case.
** That's not worth much, but it's something.
** And with that, once again we saw what we already know. We can play some offense, especially when we are hitting shots.
** But we are terrible defensively. Not bad. Terrible.
** We've played many bad defensive games this year. This might have been the worst.
** We already know we can't stay in front of dribble penetration. But during the year, the guys have looked like they have made a small amount of progress guarding ball screens or pick and rolls.
** None of that progress could be seen tonight. In fact, we we've probably gone in reverse in that area.
** With the way we were playing offense today, with any kind of defense at all, this contest could have found it's way to being a one or two possession game. It really could have.
** But because we are incapable of stringing together stops, the final result was absolutely never in doubt at any time. The truth is that we haven't been able to string together stops all year.
** After NC State scored the games' first basket, the Wolfpack did not score on four straight possessions. However, after that the Panthers were not able to able to string together more than two straight stops for the entire game. Not once. That's almost hard to believe.
** There's no doubt that NC State hit some tough shots. But all teams do. And they surely hit them against us when we let them get confident.
** What's interesting is that 10 years ago, even when we didn't defend a shot well, teams still seemed to miss then. Now it's always the opposite.
** We'll spend the entire off season trying to figure out why our defense was so bad, and if there is any real chance for it to get better next year.
** Only one decent thing can be taken from this game. When we started the ACC season against NC State, our offense was fairly inept. The progress we've made on that end of the court was fairly evident, in the second half of course.
** But our defense clearly has made no progress.
** Within the next week though, we can only hope we can get a draw with a team who can actually let us outscore them in the NIT.
** For the Panthers to get to another 20 win season this year, we will probably need to score 85 to come out victorious.
This post was edited on 3/11 9:43 PM by DT_PITT
** After what looked like a really depressing first half where our men had packed it in, at least the second half effort proved this wasn't the case.
** That's not worth much, but it's something.
** And with that, once again we saw what we already know. We can play some offense, especially when we are hitting shots.
** But we are terrible defensively. Not bad. Terrible.
** We've played many bad defensive games this year. This might have been the worst.
** We already know we can't stay in front of dribble penetration. But during the year, the guys have looked like they have made a small amount of progress guarding ball screens or pick and rolls.
** None of that progress could be seen tonight. In fact, we we've probably gone in reverse in that area.
** With the way we were playing offense today, with any kind of defense at all, this contest could have found it's way to being a one or two possession game. It really could have.
** But because we are incapable of stringing together stops, the final result was absolutely never in doubt at any time. The truth is that we haven't been able to string together stops all year.
** After NC State scored the games' first basket, the Wolfpack did not score on four straight possessions. However, after that the Panthers were not able to able to string together more than two straight stops for the entire game. Not once. That's almost hard to believe.
** There's no doubt that NC State hit some tough shots. But all teams do. And they surely hit them against us when we let them get confident.
** What's interesting is that 10 years ago, even when we didn't defend a shot well, teams still seemed to miss then. Now it's always the opposite.
** We'll spend the entire off season trying to figure out why our defense was so bad, and if there is any real chance for it to get better next year.
** Only one decent thing can be taken from this game. When we started the ACC season against NC State, our offense was fairly inept. The progress we've made on that end of the court was fairly evident, in the second half of course.
** But our defense clearly has made no progress.
** Within the next week though, we can only hope we can get a draw with a team who can actually let us outscore them in the NIT.
** For the Panthers to get to another 20 win season this year, we will probably need to score 85 to come out victorious.
This post was edited on 3/11 9:43 PM by DT_PITT
