I think James C. says it best

An especially sweet video this week…it’s fun to watch O’Brien express some restrained joy with Andre Brown, a player who’s been critical in the team’s transition from Amato to its new head coach.

Ya gotta love Andre Brown, his joy is 100% genuine

Only true Wolfpack fans can really understand what this quote is all about.  And even with all the offseason injuries and the freshman at QB, I still have a glimmer of hope but maybe that is just the Corona-itas talking.

I love my Wolfpack, probably to a fault, and no matter how bad we may be this year, I’m so damn pumped to finally have football season here.

We stink right now, 15-12 overall and 4-9 in the ACC. As I see it, we have two scenarios for this year and 2009.

Best Case Scenario
-we win out beating FSU, Duke and Wake, finish regular season 18-12 and 7-9 in the conference. Respectable
-we make a run in the ACC tourny a la 06-07 and end the year on a high note, expectations are raised again for 2009 as they were for 2008.
-Julius Mays (3-star) and CJ Williams (3-star) come in and are able to contribute significant minutes, shoring up the much maligned guard spots for the Pack.
-Degand gets healthy and learns to shoot
-Johnny Thomas gets healthy and contributes
-Gonzo keeps improving
-JJ Hickson decides to put off the NBA for another year.
-Costner sticks around and decides to be a team player AND gets his shooting stroke back
-Fells passes up the NBA for his Sr year
-Marques Johnson gets cut and goes to play for ECU.
-Sidney Lowe gives up the NBA offense and decides to teach defense and hustle. Maybe he hires this guy
- We finish 2008-09 season in the top 5 of the ACC, showing improvement across the board and make it to the NCAA tourney.
Things look good.

My pessimistic but highly-likely scenario
-We lose out, finish 4-12, most disappointing season for the Pack in a long time.
-Lose the Les Robinson Invitational (ACC Play-in game)
-Hickson goes pro
-Fells goes pro (he’s got the NBA game, dont be surprised when he gets drafted, maybe 2nd round)
-Costner rumors are true and he transfers.
-Degand and Thomas are slow to recover
-Gonzo doesnt learn to shoot, dribble or pass.
-Marques Johnson and Fergie are our starting backcourt.
-Our starting lineup is PG Johnson, SG Fergie, PF Smith, C McCauley, SF Horner (Mays, Gonzo, Degand, Thomas coming off the bench)
-Mays and Williams are not good enough to make a difference (and by every “Guru’s” analysis, this is true, neither one is going to be an impact player)
-Sidney Lowe adapts the Princeton offense
-We finish bottom of the ACC with a similar record of 4-12
-Fowler signs Lowe to a 5-year extension
-Arizona State wins the National Championship. (ok thats a reach but that would be the dagger in Wolfpack Nation’s collective heart)

We play with no heart

We play no defense (I’m specifically talking to you Marcus Johnson….among others)

We don’t box out which leads to ZERO rebounding

The offense is pathetic…..

We can’t shoot a 3 to save our life, there are guys who I play with in the morning that shoot better than the boys in red and white.

If JJ Hickson goes pro this year, he’s going the way of Josh Powell and Cedric Simmons. Which is the VH1 equivalent of ‘Where are they now?’

Marcus Johnson maybe the worst player to put on an NC State uniform in the last 15 years, and that is including Keith Bean, Adam Harrington, Tim Wells, Idris Talib, et al.. Johnson plays defense with his arms glued to his side.

When Ginyard drove through the middle of the lane uncontested and dunked it, Sidney Lowe should have ripped off his jacket and yanked every last one of them off the floor.

Trevor Furgeson should never shoot…..or play.

I remember the rumors that we could have had Bruce Pearl had Herb left one year earlier….hmmm

Sidney Lowe makes me very sad.

At least with football there are some glimmers of hope and I have faith that TOB can build a program, b/c he’s done it before. I just don’t feel the same with Sidney Lowe. I never liked the hire but i’m till trying to give him time with his players rather than joining my dad with his “Lowe must Go” chant.

While at State I played just about every intramural sport I could find (its one of the best things about college!), and basketball was one of them. Some guys and I from my dorm (Metcalf) had a team and we were pretty good, at least good enough to make the finals of the league tourney. Unfortunately, for us our opponent was a team of super athletes from the football team. There is not much chance 8 slow white guys have against the likes of Willie Wright, David Stringer, and Philip Rivers among others whom i can’t remember, so needless to say they beat the smack out of us and the whole time Philip was talking smack. If he’s gonna talk smack during intramural basketball I pretty much assumed he was going to do the same playing division 1 ACC football.

People are now just noticing. Being the starting QB on the San Diego Chargers will get you that attention, especially when you are 27-7 in your first two years as a starter. Its just a slightly more prestigious position than being the NC State starting QB. I don’t have a problem with his smack talk, I’m sure his teammates love to have a QB whose a fighter, albeit maybe not so much with the fans, but I have no problem with Phil talking smack to Jay Cutler after the Denver game. I’m going to assume that was provoked somehow during the game but who knows. You have to be that kind of competitor to play at that high of a level, some people just aren’t being real and will say the typical ‘coach-speak’ if you will, at least Philip Rivers is being Philip Rivers, a fiery, intense, helluva a QB.

*update* Brackman GOT paid! http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=209 $3.35 million signing bonus!

[link to News Article]

CJ is the #10 prospect in the nation according to CSTV

[R]ounding out the top ten is fast rising 6-foot-6 North Carolina wing man C.J. Leslie, someone who can flat out take it to the rim off the dribble.

For those who’ve played in my Colonial Baptist church league, you may find this interesting. CJ is being targeted by Ohio state and one of the buckeye fans said this about him on a message board:

But watching C.J….that kid is going to be special. He had something like 30 points, but his team was losing by about 40. Frustrated, he dribbles the ball down the court, and just goes up and dunks on 6’9″ Marcus Kitts, Middle Creek’s best player who has a full ride to William and Mary…just SLAMS it on him. Middle Creek’s loud student section just shut up for about 30 seconds straight. Then, when I asked someone about “that kid on Holly Springs”, I was told he is being scouted by Ohio State. And..well…that’s how I found this.

thats the same Marcus Kitts who played in our church league and was dunking on everyone… cept me of course

I encourage you to vote for the best intro song we’ve had.

Song: Bodies
Artist: Drowning Pool
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=cYZhUhlqPok[/youtube]