Talking Points: State responds against BC; can they win out?

By Joe Ovies
Feb 28, 2013

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1. Between Rodney Purvis reminding everyone that he's got incredible skill in transition and Scott Wood going 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, it was easy to forget C.J. Leslie was originally scheduled to be the main attraction following the Wolfpack's loss to North Carolina.

Admittedly, the hand-wringing over Leslie's performance in Chapel Hill got to be a bit much, but the lingering question over how he would respond to the challenge put forth by Mark Gottfried to be the great player NC State needed remained. He was, for the most part, in 29 minutes against Boston College.

After both squads shrugged off a sluggish start (a byproduct of playing the Eagles it seems, just ask Duke), Leslie finished 10 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. He also cut down the turnovers from six against the Heels to only two against Boston College.

2. Purvis had his best performance since NC State's last-second loss to Miami at the beginning of February. The freshman had gone 7-of-25 from the field in a five-game stretch and lost his starting spot along the way.

Purvis came alive against Boston College and led all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Several of those buckets came off of fantastic transition interplay with Lorenzo Brown.

"We changed the lineup, that's not a fun thing to do when you're that guy," Gottfried said. "It's the way life works. When you work hard, good things happen for you."

3. Lorenzo Brown continues to deal with lingering effects of an ankle injury. He powered through for 30 minutes and scored 17 points, but Brown was eventually taken off the court once Boston College no longer posed a threat.

NC State doesn't play again until Sunday against Georgia Tech, giving Brown an extra day to rest and have his ankle evaluated on Friday.

4. The Wolfpack moved to 9-6 in ACC play with three very winnable games to close out the regular season. It looks like they'll be the 5th seed at the ACC Tournament, but a little help from Virginia potentially stumbling down the stretch could bump NC State up to the 4th seed.

Before anyone gets ahead of themselves projecting when the Wolfpack will play in Greensboro or where they'll be seeded in the NCAA Tournament, the team needs to take care of its business. That's been easier said than done this season.

While NC State has won four of the last five games, they have been inconsistent between those games and from half to half. The Wolfpack were taken to overtime at home by Virginia Tech, supposedly turned a corner against Florida State, and then proceeded to lay an egg against North Carolina a few days later. No point in predicting how they'll respond to the Yellow Jackets on Sunday.

Hey, at least the Wolfpack keep things interesting.

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RE: Talking Points: State responds against BC; can they win out?

Let's assume for a moment that Miami beats Duke on Saturday, and that State, Carolina and Virginia all win their remaining games. That would leave Duke and State tied for 4th place at 12-6.

They split their head to head games. Which team would hold the tie breaker for the #4 seed?
- Posted by Ken D.

if uva and unc wind up 13-5, uva would get the 2nd seed, because they are 1-0 against NCSU and 1-0 against duke, while unc is 1-1 against NCSU and 1-1 against duke...unc would be the 3rd seed....duke would get the 4th seed, based on their record against the terps(if the terps hold the 6th spot....both state and duke are winless against miami, winless against uva, and 1-1 against unc....duke is 1-1 against md, while NCSU is 0-1, so duke would get the higher seed....the only top 6 team that State has a chance to win a tie-breaker with is unc, and only if duke wins next saturday(while NCSU wins out)...NCSU would win the tie-breaker with the heels, b/c they would be 1-1 against duke, while unc would be 0-2...State screwed themselves by not sweeping unc, as they have no margin of error now...they could win out and still get stuck with the 5th seed

RE: Talking Points: State responds against BC; can they win out?

If you haven't learned by now that you can't count on ANYthing where this team is concerned, then you haven't been paying attention. Most of the time this team plays to the level of the opponent, so a loss is ALWAYS possible. Yes, a win is possible, too....but it's going to be 50/50. So, speculating as to whether or not State wins out is as sensible as playing the lottery. It's a gamble.

RE: Talking Points: State responds against BC; can they win out?

Let's assume for a moment that Miami beats Duke on Saturday, and that State, Carolina and Virginia all win their remaining games. That would leave Duke and State tied for 4th place at 12-6.

They split their head to head games. Which team would hold the tie breaker for the #4 seed?

RE: Talking Points: State responds against BC; can they win out?

^ Well, that's a little less likely now.
- Posted by Ken D.

yep, now if State goes 2-1, unc and/or uva would have to go 0-3 the rest of the way for NCSU to avoid the 5th seed...State has to win out, and have unc lose to duke to make 4th seed, because the odds of uva going 0-3 or 1-2 are slim

RE: Talking Points: State responds against BC; can they win out?

^ Well, that's a little less likely now.

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Joe Ovies