You can't spell "yack" without the A-C...C?...eh f*ck it, we suck.

Hoo boy.

As opening weekends go for a conference, the ACC's pretty much sucked:

• Clemson lost by 24 in the league's "statement game" against Alabama (and by proxy, the ACC versus the entire SEC).
• Virginia Tech got "Beamered" by ECU in Charlotte.
• State got shut out in Columbia on national television.
• Maryland and UNC squeaked by in their opening wins against I-AA opponents.
• USC (the real one) hung 52 on the Hoos in Charlottesville.

(Continues)

Wake and BC looked solid in their openers, and Duke won a game by 24 points (when the hell was that last time THAT happened?!?), but beyond that it was just a bad, bad opening weekend for a conference already known for its lack of strength.

The Clemson and Virginia Tech games were especially bad. These were opportunities for both of the ACC's predicted divisional winners to come out and assert themselves, and they BOTH laid eggs. Alabama just flat out dominated Clemson on the lines, and Virginia Tech looked lost offensively and complacent on defense.

Ugh. Let's just hope the league's second weekend goes a little smoother than the first.

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And so it ends.

Welp. I guess that's that.

With a 63-50 loss to Miami on Thursday afternoon, State's worst basketball season in a decade came to a merciful end. Granted, the 2000-'01 season ended with a worse record, but I don't recall feeling worse at the end of that year than I do now.

I think you knew early on in that year that the team was not that good. They lost the second and third games of the year against Charlotte and Fresno State, respectively, which set the tone for the rest of the year. And despite their struggles, they won one more in-conference game to finish 5-11, good for seventh in the league.

This year, ugh. Not a single win over the last five weeks of the year. Nine straight losses. A team that seemed content to watch more than play. A coaching staff that tried desperately, sometimes in puzzling fashion, to find a rotation that gave a damn on the court.

And all this after a season that ended so well the year prior. Who, among State fans, didn't feel great about things heading into '07-'08 with Costner, McCauley, Grant and Fells returning with a 5-star forward/center in Hickson joining the mix? To crash from such lofty expectations is a hurt that exceeds any of the frustration experienced in 2000-'01.

Looking ahead to year three, the Pack should be one of the more experienced teams in the league with eight juniors and seniors. The question is, do we really want a team laden with players responsible for the train wreck that was this year, possibly missing the player that scored over half of our points in the ACC Tournament? It could possibly get worse before it gets better.

That's a scary thought.

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MOSTLY dead...

Oh, Billy Crystal...if there were only some magic turd pill you could give this Wolfpack team heading into the tournament, then maybe we'd stand a chance.

Alas, this ain't Hollywood and Cary Elwes ain't walking through that door.

It's been a while, but State is back in some familiar territory heading to Charlotte: The Les Robinson invitational.

State wrapped up the 12th seed by ending the season on a strong eight-game losing streak, with especially painful losses at Maryland, at Boston College, at Virginia and at Wake Forest.

The Wake loss might have been the most painful of them all, as the team had shown what looked like some life in giving Duke everything it could handle. I felt like State would stand a decent shot against Wake Forest and build some momentum heading into the tournament.

Opening the game as poorly as they did, however, it was clear that the same team that lost the six games prior to Duke was not gone, nor forgotten. True, they did make a game of it a couple of times, closing large gaps with some impressive defensive stretches. But the same bugaboos that have done the Pack in all year long--getting out-rebounded and committing a high number of turnovers--did the Pack in again this final game of the year.

Good on Gavin Grant for closing out his regular season on a high note with 16 points, and Brandon Costner cracked double figures with 10.

But we're definitely limping into the ACC Tournament this year, much less confident at the guard position than last year. Making it to the finals this year would surpass last season's miracle run, or even Herb's run in 1997, in improbability.

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So yeah, this year pretty much sucks...

If you're a State fan and managed to go this whole basketball season without keeping up with the team, and are looking for news on it, and--instead of, oh, say, www.gopack.com--you came here first for the lowdown, first off, welcome back to civilization (call your mom--she's worried) and unfortunately, our team sucks.

"No way!" you say, as you put away your souvenir Survivor t-shirt given to you from Jeff Probst. "We were picked to finish third in the league!"

Well, it's kind of tough to explain where, exactly, things went wrong. Have a seat. (Have you gotten your vaccinations yet, BTW? If not, get off my couch.)

First, the guard issue. As you probably remember, our guards were called into question heading into the year, but many experts felt like one of two things would happen: A) One of the group of Farnold Degand, Javier Gonzalez (aka Javier Lopez...long story) or Marques Johnson would pan out to be an average ACC-caliber point guard, or B) the inclusion of J.J. Hickson into the front court of Costner and McCauley would be such a dominant force that any deficiencies at point guard would be minimized.

To say that was an errant assumption is like saying camping out in the Kongo is somewhat challenging, am I right?!? High five on the Kongo!

Neither scenario worked out, unfortunately. Degand showed the most promise and was promptly cut down by a knee injury before the season even really got off the ground. Gonzalez showed glimpses of promise at times but never evolved into a threat over the course of the year and Johnson really just earn a participation badge and not much else.

Then there's the chemistry issues. From the moment Hickson was anointed as the next great thing in Wolfpack sports, this team has been one giant puss-filled cancerous growth. Costner seemed to sulk from the moment the first ball was thrown up. McCauley started the season playing very few minutes and stewed constantly on the bench. He looked good in limited minutes early, earned more playing time, and then proceeded to get a case of the Whateverthehellisgoingons that the rest of the squad is suffering from. Hickson played well--even dominant--in early season play, but once the ACC season started he began looking merely average at times, especially going against the better post players in the league.

And coach Lowe hasn't won many fans over this year, either. It seems like he's tried to mix things up to find a blend that works, but so far it hasn't worked. The team obviously has quit giving effort on the court, and if Sidney had any hair, he would've pulled every last one of them from his scalp. He hasn't found a way to reach his team and has now started calling out some of the players on the squad, if not in name, by group ("the starters"). One wonders if he ever can regain this team's trust and willingness to follow. That seems like one of the toughest things to ask a coach to do--just ask Matt Doherty.

So, welcome back. Just remember...spring football is right around the corner.

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