The Tar Heels entered the game averaging about five three pointers per game.  Last night they dropped in ten of them in 19 attempts (52.6%).  Meanwhile NC State only hit three of its 13 tries (23.1%) from beyond the arc.  This is not where the only place that the game was lost for the Pack, however.  The other place came at the free throw line, where NC State missed ten of their 23 attempts.  Meanwhile, UNC hit 18 of its 24 tries from the charity stripe.  Even still, the largest factor of the game seemed to come from the refs.

Before you jump to conclusions and think that I am blaming the refs for this loss, I’m not.  There is not a single play (that I saw) that sticks out as a call blown by the refs.  On either side of the floor.  My point is that the mere presence of whistles in the gym is what holds this NC State team back.  Once again, the Pack made bad fouls that took Calvin Leslie and Richard Howell off the court.  Neither player hit 30 minutes of floor time last night, and quite frankly for NC State to have a chance against any of the “big boys” it needs about 35 out of each of those guys.

Speaking of Calvin, he played a great game (fouls excluded) and put to rest the demons of the Dean Dome from earlier this year.  While he did chuck up 17 shots, he drained nine of them and went six for nine from the free throw line for 24 points.  He also pulled down 12 boards, with five of them being on the offensive side of the floor.

Then there was Howell, who scored nine points on four of six shooting (1-3 on free throws) and pulled down ten boards himself.  When Howell is in the game, his presence is felt on the blocks, but his disadvantage due to playing the five instead of the four on defense seems to kill him against the seven footers.

Without Leslie and Howell on the floor, and Leslie specifically, this is a completely different NC State team.  When they are out there, this team can play with anyone in the country.  When they are on the bench, however, this team is average at best.  That does not mean to take away from the efforts of Lorenzo Brown, mind you, who shot the ball horribly last night but still wound up with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists to go against only one turnover.  Brown is the third key to this team, but the only one who seems to be able to stay out of foul trouble.

Scott Wood, meanwhile, brought nothing to the table last night.  He did not make it to the free throw line a single time, and only hit one field goal in his 35 minutes of action.  Something has to be done to get Wood more shots, as he only took five all game.

As for the Tar Heels, they got an all-world performance from Kendall Marshall, who was seven from eight from the floor (including four of five from three point land) on his way to 22 points (career high) and 13 assists.  All without turning the ball over a single time (even if he probably should have had one, but I digress).  With Marshall playing like that, there is not a team in the country that can stop the Tar Heels.

Then there was Harrison Barnes going off for 20 points of his own.  John Henson added 14, and pulled down 13 boards.  Tyler Zeller also scored 14 points, blocked four shots and and grabbed eight rebounds.  Reggie Bullock also played a great game, grabbing eight boards of his own and dropping in 11 points.

Even still, the Pack managed to out rebound the Heels by one (39 – 38).  Every time NC State got a little momentum, it seemed like Marshall would drain another three pointer though.  The only phase of the game that NC State “won” on the stat sheet is rebounding (and steals, but really, when you lose by double digits the steals seem a little moot).  It was good to see the Wolfpack take care of the ball, with only four turnovers themselves.

In the end it just was not enough for NC State to steal a win.  The Tar Heels are just a much better team than the Wolfpack, plain and simple.  As a Pack fan, I’m proud of my boys and even though they lost last night it does not taste anywhere near as bad as the debacle in Chapel Hill did.  State made great adjustments from that game, but so did the Tar Heels, and here we are.

With that I turn it over to you guys.  What did you see that you liked and disliked from both squads last night?  Does NC State still have a shot at the NCAAT?  Does UNC still have a shot at a one seed?

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Today we will start with some NBA action.  Unless you live under a rock you are well aware of Jeremy Lin and what he is doing for the New York Knicks.  I will refrain from going Tim Tebow on you and telling you that you have to like this kid or you are just plain horrible.  Besides, one can not really compare Tebow and Lin, no matter how hard some have tried.  So far Lin has started nine games for the Knicks, and they have won all but one of those.

As a starter Lin is averaging 25 points per game, 9.2 assists, 5.9 turnovers, 2.3 steals and 3.8 rebounds.  So after the Knicks suffer their first defeat of the Lin Era, what headline does ESPN run on its mobile site?  “Chink in the Armor”.  No really, that was the headline.  It was first stated on live air, and then the headline writer ran with it.  Said headline writer is now looking for work. Sheesh.

In the ACC, Saturday brought four games, none more important than Florida State visiting NC State in a game that the Seminoles would win 76 – 62.  We will get to that game in a bit.  Other action saw Clemson travel to Chapel Hill for its annual loss in the Dean Smith Center (74 – 52).  Virginia Tech needed overtime to defeat Georgia Tech, who is playing without their best player in Glen Rice Jr, by a score of 74 – 73.  Virginia went on a second half tear and put away Maryland 71 – 44.  Miami took care of Wake Forest 74 – 56.  On Sunday we saw Duke beat BC by 25 points (75 – 50).

I did not see any of these games, so I will refrain from trying to give any sort of useless analysis.  What I will get into, however, is Karl Hess’ ejections of Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta with six and change to go in the second half.  Apparently Hess took exception to the former Pack stars riding him during the game.  Of course, we are just speculating because Hess refused to give a reason when asked by reporters after the game.  He thought his “no comment” would suffice.

Not so much.  NC State AD Debbie Yow was livid, and she released this statement:

“Throughout this afternoon and evening, I have been seeking clarification from the ACC office regarding the reason for the ejection of two fans today during our men’s basketball game against Florida State,” Yow said in a tersely worded statement. “I have spoken to commissioner John Swofford and Karl Hicks, associate commissioner for Basketball Operations, regarding our concerns and our need for clarification as to why this occurred. We expect fair treatment of our fans at State athletic events.

“Although ACC rules prohibit coaches, players and administrators from publicly taking exception to officiating, the ACC Office has agreed to issue a statement regarding the ejections and the circumstances surrounding them later tonight. We will not have further comment regarding this situation until we have had a chance to review the statement issued by the league.”

The leagues response was lacking, to be polite about it:

“Under Rule 10, when circumstances warrant, an official has the authority to request home game management to eject fans when the behavior, in the officials’ judgment, is extreme or excessive,” Clougherty said in the statement. “It’s unfortunate in this instance that ACC protocol of communicating directly with the home game management was not followed, and instead, a building security officer was solicited. We will re-communicate this policy with all officials to ensure proper protocol is followed.”

If you look in my closet, you will not find any hats made of tinfoil.  I do not buy into conspiracy theories or think that there is a “protect the blues” mentality in the ACC.  What I can not understand is how there have been two incidents with the NC State basketball team this ACC season that have been completely dismissed by the ACC.  The first was when head coach Mark Gottfried was T’d up by Roger Ayers with no explanation whatsoever during the GA Tech home loss.  The second was Saturday’s ejections.

Both of these instances require solid reasoning from the suits in Greensboro.  The fact that they have tried to just brush them aside with their condescending wave of the hand is laughable.  Pack fans are, and should be livid.  So should other fan bases, because this is simply unacceptable accountability on the part of the ACC.  Every fan base has an issue with Karl Hess, as can be seen by the #whereintheworldisKarlHess hash tag on Twitter every day.

Another question is whether or not Hess will be assigned to any more NC State games this season.  He should not be, as he should be booted from the conference, but I digress.   What will happen if Hess shows up at the RBC Center tomorrow night?

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that pitchers and catchers have reported for duty!!!

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The issue for State right now is depth.  This team does not have enough horses to overcome three of its starters playing less that 27 minutes while they foul out of the game.  Especially when two of them are Calvin Leslie and Richard Howell.  While Duke had players like Thornton, Kelly and Hairston picking up fouls, none of which fouled out mind you.  It is all about what players get whistled, and that leads to issue number two.

NC State committed dumb, ticky tack fouls that cost them the game.  On the other side, they did not convert their own free throws at a high enough rate to help fend off Duke’s rally.  There is not much more to say about it.  The Wolfpack has to learn when it is smart to let someone have a basket rather than try for a charge (I’m looking at you Richard Howell, even if you may have gotten there in time and were clearly outside the charge arc).  These are plays that you expect in December, but if you want a shot to be good you can not make them in February.

State shot better than Duke from both inside the arc and beyond it.  State out-rebounded Duke.  State had more assists than Duke (albeit by one).  State blocked more shots than Duke, but six of the Pack’s eight blocks came from Leslie in his 25 minutes of action.

State also turned the ball over ten more times than Duke did.  Ten.  Including a terrible one in the final minute by Lorenzo Brown who stepped on the out of bounds line (shades of Justin Gainey going Chris Weber anyone?).  It should be noted that Brown played 38 minutes, scored 19 points, grabbed six boards and handed out five assists.  Also, if you did not catch his dunk at the end of the first half, you might want to catch the highlight reel.  The game was not lost on that turnover, and it should have never came down to that.

In the end, State really needed to hold on and win this game, and had they played smarter and not gotten into foul trouble they would have ran away with it.  Only they did get into foul trouble, and I don’t want to hear any whining about the refs.  You have to play smarter.  Period.  This one got away from the Pack, but hopefully it did not have a negative impact on their NCAAT chances.

State needs to beat Florida State on Saturday to give themselves a boost.  Then they need to win at least three of the next four.  Then they need to make it to Saturday in the ACCT.  All of these are possible.  The question is whether or not State can adjust and stop making mental mistakes.  You have to play smarter.

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Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue is out. You actually get more pictures and stuff online at si.com than buying the actual magazine.

Top three SI Swimsuit models?

Me,

1. Elle McPherson

2. Kathy Ireland

3. Brooklyn Decker

HM to this years cover girl Kate Upton.  Goodness.

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