NC State Highlights

Wolfpack Hold of Spartans

UNCG 64 - NC State 68

UNCG Athletics
NC State Athletics

Halftime: UNCG 35 - NC State 38

UNCG Stats
Leader Points: Locke (19)
Leader Rebounds: Cain (8)
Leader Assist: Parker (3)
Team FG: 22-58 (37.9%)
Team 3 Pt: 3-15 (20.0%)
Team FT: 17-28 (60.7%)
Rebounds: 43
Turnovers: 16

NC State Stats
Leader Points: Warren (24)
Leader Rebounds: Warren (9)
Leader Assists: Barber (6)
Team FG: 24-59 (40.7%)
Team 3 Pt: 1-6 (16.7%)
Team FT: 19-33 (57.6%)
Rebounds: 35
Turnovers: 12

Thoughts
To think at 35 years of age, I was that close to storming the court for the first time. I'm partially joking, of course. It wouldn't be my first time. But I digress ...

UNCG came very close to pulling off their second shocker in 48 hours. And quite frankly, they are playing the best ball of any team in the Southern Conference right now. Wes Miller noted in his press conference (I'll link it in a few) That during a tough stretch against 3 ACC programs in a row that the team not only stayed composed, but got better with each game. Against NC State, UNCG was much better than they were against Virginia Tech. Unfortunately , NC State is better than Virginia Tech. So playing better did not equate to a win.

On the tough side, UNCG struggled with turning the ball over. Eleven 2nd half turnovers really helped to put UNCG in a hole that they spent most of the second half fighting through. 3 point shooting has been tough the last few games. I think you can attribute a lot of that to Nicholas Paulos having to spend all of his energy guarding tremendous opposing players. I believe that his shots will start to fall more frequently in conference play. Free throw shooting wasn't particularly good for the Spartans either. NC State was worse, but I'll get to that in a minute.

On the bright side, Paulos and Diante Baldwin did a great job chasing TJ Warren all night. Warren got his average, but he has to work for it and really did very little in the last 10 minutes. I thought it was another night of everyone that got in the game contributing something to help the cause. I thought coach Wes Miller and his coaching staff made a great call at the end too. UNCG did the right thing by going for the quick 2 with 21 seconds left. Sure, they could have held on and took a late clock 3. But with NC State shooting awful at the line, it made sense to take the 2 and foul. It was just unfortunate the shot didn't go down. It was still the correct call in my mind.

Okay, well that was certainly a fun little ACC stretch. UNCG went 1-2, with it's 2 losses by a combined 12 points. Now the games count. Starting Thursday at Western this thing gets serious. To quote Major League, "I guess there's only one thing left to do. Win the whole. Fucking. Thing." Go Spartans !!!

NC State (9-3) @ UNCG (7-7)

When: Monday, December 30 7:00 pm
Where: Greensboro Coliseum (7,617)^
TV: ESPN3

^ - Greensboro Coliseum is undergoing renovations and will not be using the upper deck for any seating at UNCG games this season. I do not have the official seat totals with these changes.

NC State Athletics

Preseason Preview

UNCG Stats
Last game: @ Va Tech (W 55-52) Recap
PPG: 72.1
RPG: 37.0
APG: 13.6
Leader Points: Kyle Cain (16.1)
Leader Rebounds: Kyle Cain (8.6)
Leader Assist: Tevon Saddler (3.5)
FG %: 45.4
3 Pt %: 36.5
FT %: 68.3

NC State Stats
Last Game: Missouri (L 64-68) Recap
PPG: 75.9
RPG: 36.6
APG: 14.5
Leader Points: TJ Warren (23.9)
Leader Rebounds: TJ Warren (7.8)
Leader Assist: Anthony Barber (4.4)
FG %: 49.0
3 Pt %: 30.5
FT %: 65.2

Thoughts
48 hours after the first UNCG win against an ACC team in 6 years is a game against another ACC team. Thanks to the magic of the Greensboro Coliseum schedule makers deciding to put the Elon-Duke game on New Year's Eve, the Spartans have a super quick turnaround to face a team that they don't particularly match up well against. Shooting, and particularly the type of shots each team takes, could be the key to this one.

NC State is again one of the best teams at shooting inside the arc. Their kryptonite, however, is the zone defense. Teams have been daring the Wolfpack to beat them from behind the arc. So far, NC State really hasn't proven to be a team that can make a boatload of 3's. However, their freshman PG Cat Barber can use his quickness to be a zone breaker all by himself. Keeping Barber out of the lane is a must if the Spartans want to have any success.

TJ Warren is the best individual player UNCG will face all year. He's a scorer that finds about a billion different ways to light up the scoreboard. He's not a proficient shooter, but he'll make a few. He makes his living around the rim. He find all kinds of ways to put the ball in the basket and he rarely doesn't finish plays. The Wolfpack have 7'-0 Jordan Vandenberg on the back line. His job is to dunk the ball and block shots. It will be up to UNCG's post players to pull him away from the basket with their face up game.

This game is going to require that UNCG hit some 3 pointers. In order to open driving lanes up against the bigger Wolfpack, the outside shots will have to go in with some frequency. Beyond that, it wouldn't hurt to see Barber and Vandenberg get into some foul trouble. It goes without saying that UNCG will have to limit their turnovers and continue to build on 5 straight halves of solid team defense.

If G can again limit the number of possessions in this game and keep the score in the 60's, they will stand a much better chance of pulling off a second straight shocker. Go Spartans !!!

Opening Night Scores

SoCon Scores
Citadel 71 - VMI 82
Covenant 56 - Chattanooga 119
High Point 74 - UNCG 82
Davidson 77 - (4) Duke 111
Washington & Lee 64 - Elon 114
Wofford 52 - Georgia 72
App State 77 - NC State 98
Wittenberg 55 - Western Carolina 77
Martin Methodist 62 - Samford 79
Sewanee 49 - Furman 66
Columbia International 74 - Georgia Southern 110

OOC Opponent Scores
NC Wesleyan 51 - East Carolina 97
La Tech - St Mary's
Florida A&M 84 - Rutgers 92
James Madison 41 - Virginia 61
Oakland 61 - UNC-CH 84
Presbyterian 57 - Georgia Tech 88
Colgate 78 - Wake Forest 89

Exhibition Results

Exhibition results from future opponents.

SoCon Teams
Lenior-Rhyne 57 - Davidson 108 Recap
North Greenville 61 - Furman 85 Recap
Thomas University 49 - Georgia Southern 88 Recap
Lees-McRae 76 - UNCG 104 Recap
Lynchburg 57 - Elon 100 Recap
Miles College 52 - Samford 90 Recap

OOC Teams
Bridgewater 53 - High Point 96 Recap
Arkansas-Monticello 64 - La Tech 85 Recap
Southern Arkansas 49 - La Tech 100 Recap
UNC-Pembroke 63 - UNC-CH 82 Recap
Caldwell 60 - Rutgers 90 Recap
Philadelphia Univ. 69 - James Madison 73 OT Recap
Brevard 66 - Wake Forest 93 Recap
UNC-Pembroke 85 - NC State 96 Recap
Morehouse 62 - NC State 87 Recap

Preseason Preview: NC State

North Carolina State University
@ UNCG 12/30
Mascot: Wolfpack
Location: Raleigh, NC
Enrollment: 34,767
Conference: ACC
2012-2013 Record: 24-11 (11-7)
Postseason: NCAA Tournament (L 1st Round)
Coach: Mark Gottfried (3rd Season)

School Homepage
Athletics Homepage

Losses:
C.J. Leslie F - 32.4 mpg, 15.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg
Richard Howell F - 31.6 mpg, 12.7 ppg, 10.9 rpg
Scott Wood G - 34.0 mpg, 12.6 ppg
Lorenzo Brown G - 34.2 mpg, 12.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 7.2 apg
Rodney Purvis G - 25.5 mpg, 8.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg

Top Returners:
T.J. Warren F - 27.0 mpg, 12.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg
Tyler Lewis G - 12.1 mpg, 3.5 ppg, 1.4 apg

Additions:
Ralston Turner G - 6-5 205 (Transfer LSU)
Desmond Lee G - 6-4 200 (Transfer New Mexico JC)
Anthony Barber G - 6-2 270
BeeJay Anya F/C - 6-9 325
Kyle Washington F - 6-9 225
Lennard Freeman F - 6-8 245

Wolfpack Surge Past Shorthanded Spartans

UNCG 68 - #23 NC State 89

UNCG Athletics
NC State Athletics

Halftime: UNCG 36 - NC State 43

UNCG Stats
Leader points: Kayel Locke (21)
Leader Rebounds: Kelvin McNeil (10)
Leader Assists: Drew Parker (3)
Team FG: 29-67 (43.3%)
Team 3 Pt: 2-17 (11.8%)
Team FT: 8-13 (61.5%)
Rebounds: 34
Turnovers: 10

NC State Stats
Leader Points: CJ Leslie (21)
Leader Rebounds: Richard Howell (13)
Leader Assists: Lorenzo Brown (9)
Team FG: 32-60 (53.3%)
Team 3 Pt: 8-18 (44.4%)
Team FT: 17-22 (77.3%)
Rebounds: 37
Turnovers: 11

Thoughts
With no Trevis Simpson (sprained ankle - day-to-day) against a team that was absolutely a bad match up for the Spartans, this game had the potential to really get ugly quickly. Instead, the Spartans came together and played their best half of the season. The starters played with a lot of energy and Kayel Locke came in to provide an offensive spark. Even freshman Jordan Potts, who hadn't seen a lot of playing time, came off the bench to make several nice shots.

As I said in my preview, NC State leads the country in FG % and doesn't stray much from their strengths. The Wolfpack feed Leslie and Howell the ball and them work their way to open shots. So, the Spartans needed a huge scoring effort from a lot of people and having the 15th leading scorer in the country not available just left the Spartans with no enough firepower.

However, I've talked in the past few games about how UNCG spent way too much time Simpson watching. Well, not having Simpson forced a lot of different UNCG players to get involved in the game. I think in the long run, this might be a good thing. Go Spartans !!!

UNCG (2-8) @ #23 NC State (10-2)

When: Monday, December 31 5 pm
Where: PNC Arena (19,722)
TV: ESPNU

NC State Athletics

UNCG Stats
Last Game: Wake Forest (L 70-84) Recap
PPG: 77.3
RPG: 39.2
APG: 13.7
Leader Points: Trevis Simpson (20.3)
Leader Rebounds: Kelvin McNeil (7.1)
Leader Assists: Drew Parker (3.7)
FG %: 42.3
3 Pt %: 33.9
FT %: 69.2

NC State Stats
Last Game: Western Michigan (W 84-66) Recap
PPG: 80.8
RPG: 36.2
APG: 14.9
Leader Points: CJ Leslie (15.3)
Leader Rebounds: Richard Howell (9.3)
Leader Assists: Lorenzo Brown (6.1)
FG %: 53.5
3 Pt %: 38.7
FT %: 65.1

Thoughts
This is just scary. This is one of the top 5 offensive teams in the country across the board with 6 guys averaging over 9.5 points. NC State doesn't even pretend to not use their strength which is Richard Howell and CJ Leslie on the inside. UNCG really had no one that can cover those guys down low. This is the reason the Wolfpack lead the country in FG %.

On the bright side, NC State isn't exactly a wonderful defensive team and they will easily play the pace that the Spartans want to play. It will take a wonderful offensive effort from the UNCG main scorers (Simpson & Armstrong) in order to keep this game close. It will also take a defensive effort that we haven't seen up until now to keep the Wolfpack from scoring at will.

In the end, I'm hoping for an interesting and competitive game and very good new year.

Go Spartans !!!

Spartans to Appear in Raleigh

Per NC State's athletics website, UNCG will be making a stop at the PNC Arena in the 2012-2013 season.

Joining the Stanford Cardinal on NC State's list of non-conference opponents slated to come to Raleigh as part of the PNC Arena season-ticket package are 2012 NCAA Tournament participants Norfolk State, St. Bonaventure and UNC-Asheville. The Pack's other non-conference opponents include Miami (Ohio), UNC-Greensboro and Western Michigan.

I had originally heard that this game was going to be in Greensboro, but I guess we'll have to wait a year for the return trip by the Wolfpack.

Huge Second Half Sinks Spartans

UNCG 67- NC State 89

News & Record
News & Observer
UNCG Athletics
NC State Athletics

N&O Picture Gallery

It was a familiar feeling game for UNCG fans against NC State. Play tough and watch the other team's fans look nervous, but wither in the end. The Spartans dug themselves another big hole right out of the gate. UNCG showed plenty of heart, though as they battled back to being down just 4 at halftime. A 57 point outburst by the Wolfpack in the second half turned back any thoughts of an upset.

Positives:
- Scoring help --- It was good to see more than one Spartan in double figures. Brian Cole (10 pts)did a great job of keeping UNCG in the game in the first half. While Korey Van Dussen's (12 pts) scoring in the second half helped the Spartans fight deep into the second half. Of course, Ben Stywall (18 pts) and Brandon Evans (14 pts) did their normal scoring too.
- Rebounding --- Again, UNCG did a great job of out rebounding an ACC opponent. Stywall led the charge with 13 rebounds.
- Free throws --- The Spartans shot over 80% from the line and are shooting over 70% for the year. Hopefully, this is something that UNCG can take advantage of by getting to the line more often.

Negatives:
- Defense --- NC State scored over 50 points in the second half and shot close to 70% in the half. For the game the Wolfpack shot over 50%. It seems like everyone UNCG has played has shot really well. Some of that is just luck, but some of it is poor defense. The Spartans need to get better at this in league play.
Turnovers and assists --- It was another rough night for turning the ball over. However, it is starting to become obvious that UNCG is dribbling too much and not passing enough. This is leading to very few assists. Spartan guards are creating a lot of shots for themselves, but very few openings for their teammates. Again let's hope that the assist numbers start to go up (and turnovers down) when SoCon play begins next week.

NC State (9-3) @ UNCG (2-9)

When: Thursday, December 31 6 pm
Where: Greensboro Coliseum (7,617/23,500)
TV: Fox Sports Net

NC State Athletics
PackPride (forum)
StateFans Nation (blog)
Backing the Pack (blog)

Spartan Notes:
- Last time out, Wake Forest turned back a late Spartan rally to win, 75-60. Ben Stywall lead 4 UNCG players in double figures with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
- The Wolfpack will be the 5th team from the ACC that UNCG will face this season. So far, the Spartans have played well at times against Duke, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Wake Forest.
- The Spartans are still looking for their first win in their new home,the Greensboro Coliseum. The Spartans are 0-5 at home and have lost those games by an average of 15.2 points.
- Brandon Evans leads UNCG in scoring (12.2). Stywall is averaging 11.8 points and a team best 9.2 rebounds. Kyle Randall leads the team in assists (2.4).
- For the year, UNCG is shooting 38.5% from the field, 31.1% from behind the arc and 69.9% from the free throw line

Wolfpack Notes:
- Tuesday night, NC State jumped out to a 32-9 lead and cruised to a 68-52 win over Winthrop. Dennis Horner lead the Wolfpack with 12 points.
- NC State comes into the Greensboro Coliseum with a road record of 1-2. So far, State has won at Marquette and lost at Arizona & Wake Forest.
- The Wolfpack has already defeated two SoCon teams this season. Georgia Southern (75-57) and Elon (79-76) both fell to NC State at the RBC Center in Raleigh.
- Ten NC State players are averaging playing over 10 minutes a game. All of NC State's primary ball handlers (Javier Gonzalez, Farnold Degand, CJ Williams & Julius Mays) have a positive assist-to-turnover ratio.
- Tracy Smith leads the Wolfpack in scoring (16.8) and rebounding (9.2). Gonzalez leads in assists (5.8).
- For the season, NC State is shooting 45.7% from the field, 34.2% from behind the arc and 63.6% from the free throw line.

My Thoughts:
This game has the potential to be very interesting. NC State is not a particularly great rebounding team that has struggled at times with turnovers. While they do have some size, they are not the super tall team like Duke or Wake Forest. Also, the Wolfpack has struggled at the free throw line.

However, NC State does shoot the ball well from the field, especially behind the arc. They have very capable three point shooters at 4 of the 5 positions on the floor. The Wolfpack have been involved in quite a few close games this season. Three of their games have been one possession games. The Pack is 2-1 in those games. Also, they have played close games against several mid-major schools. If this is a close game with UNCG, NC State will not panic.

Let's hope that UNCG brings the same fire and passion to the court that they brought on Monday. The Spartans can be very competitive with NC State playing with that kind of energy. I expect there to be quite a few people in the Greensboro Coliseum. The atmosphere will be electric. Let's hope the home team can feed off that and get the victory.

Go Spartans !!!

Another UNCG Game on TV

Add another UNCG game to your TV listings. The Southern Conference announced it's TV lineup for the 2009-2010 men's basketball season today. In addition to UNCG's games with Duke, Clemson & NC State, the Feb 20th game at the Citadel will also be shown. Here's the full schedule.

SoCon Men's Basketball Telecast Schedule
Nov. 13 UNC Greensboro at Duke 7:00 p.m. FOX Sports South
Nov. 20 Clemson at UNC Greensboro 7:00 p.m. FOX Sports South
Dec. 14 Georgia Tech at Chattanooga 7:00 p.m. FOX Sports South
Dec. 31 NC State at UNC Greensboro 7:00 p.m. FOX Sports South
Jan. 9 Appalachian State at Davidson 2:00 p.m. SportSouth
Jan. 16 College of Charleston at Chattanooga 2:30 p.m. SportSouth
Jan. 23 Davidson at Georgia Southern 2:00 p.m. SportSouth
Jan. 30 Furman at Wofford 3:00 p.m. SportSouth
Feb. 6 Samford at College of Charleston 4:00 p.m. SportSouth
Feb. 13 The Citadel at Elon 6:00 p.m. SportSouth
Feb. 20 UNC Greensboro at The Citadel 1:00 p.m. SportSouth
Feb. 27 Chattanooga at Western Carolina 3:00 p.m. SportSouth
March 7 Conference Tournament Semifinal 6:00 p.m. SportSouth
March 7 Conference Tournament Semifinal 8:30 p.m. SportSouth

Where's the Line?

This site is a fan site devoted to UNC Greensboro basketball. It is not a media site. It's nothing more than my opinions mixed in with links to stories from actual media sites. I assume that anyone who reads this site regularly knows these facts. If not, I have a disclaimer at the top of the page on the left hand side and even a little note at the bottom of the page in my "About Me" section.

There's a reason I'm pointing all of this out. Last week, the Washington (D.C.) Post ran this article about the blurring of the line between fan site/media and the problems that this was causing in recruiting.

The article uses an example of two guys that run a website devoted the NC State basketball and how a simple conversation with a recruit turned into a situation that made NC State officials very uneasy.

The scene illuminates a growing concern in college basketball. NCAA rules explicitly state that fans of teams cannot be involved in recruiting, but those regulations blur when the fan wears a media credential. Such credentials, which are issued by whatever entity is running a particular event, designate the bearers as media members, giving them access to prospects that even college coaches don't have during the all-important summer evaluation period. College coaches are not permitted to interact with prospects during the period.

NCAA officials and prominent figures on the summer basketball circuit are alarmed at an increasing number of fans who are creating Web sites, obtaining media credentials and becoming amateur recruiters. Rachel Newman-Baker, the NCAA's agent, gambling and amateurism director, said one of the organization's biggest concerns this summer was who was obtaining media credentials and for what purpose.

Fan sites are just that, sites by fans. The internet has given a voice to anyone who registers with blogspot, wordpress or any "Iheartmyteam.com" web address.

But Bradham maintained that supporting and promoting their favorite team is their "number one goal," that he views former Wolfpack players as heroes and that he hopes the best recruits go to North Carolina State.

"We're not recruiters," said Bradham, 25. "We know there is a fine line. But we'd be ignorant to say [recruits] didn't know we were representing N.C. State. When we go up to a player and say, 'Hey, we're from WolfpackHoops dot com,' they get it."

The article points to individual schools sites that fall under the umbrella of Scout or Rivals as sites that do not operate in this gray area. However, even that doesn't always hold true.

Since then, he [Myers] has served as a recruiting analyst for the site, a role that brought him to John Paul Jones Arena on the University of Virginia campus in June for the NBA Players Association Top 100 camp. Sitting in the stands during a night session, Myers placed a call on his cellphone to Demon Deacons men's basketball assistant coach Rusty LaRue.

"Coach, I've got C.J. Barksdale here for you," Myers said. "I'm going to put him on the line now."

Reading this article scares a little 'ol blogger like me. It also reminds me to stay away from almost all things relating to recruiting. I have received emails in the past from people telling me they saw player "ABC" or "XYZ" here or there around campus on visits and I haven't written anything about it. Why? Because if I don't have a article to link to, I just don't think it's a good idea. I even felt a little uneasy this year about discussing players who verbally committed to UNCG before they signed their LOI. However, I don't think I'm doing much more than saying, "Hey, go look at this article about Jon Doe, and here's a summary of what it says." I would never knowingly break the rules, and I try to shy away when I'm unclear about the rules.

I started this site last year to simply be an internet cheerleader for UNCG basketball and let people know that there are fans out here that care about our school and our team. I don't do this to make any money. I don't have any ads sold on the site. I work a full-time job (that's sometimes more than full-time). I started this simply for fun. I wasn't sure if anyone would find it, read it, or even care about what it said. I have been very surprised by the response. I appreciate the emails I have received from people telling me thanks or that I'm doing a good job (even though I'm not always timely in replying to them). I'm sure if I keep doing this long enough, I'll get some that think just the opposite, and I'll appreciate those too.

The point is that I'm not trying to claim that I'm a journalist or that my site is media. Shame on these guys for doing just that.

3 Games on TV (at least)

Yesterday, 3 UNCG games were picked up by FSN South. The season opener at Duke (11/13), the home opener against Clemson (11/20) and the New Year's Eve clash with NC State will all be shown on FSN. So, not only has the move to coliseum helped UNCG in recruiting and scheduling, but now in TV exposure.

SportSouth has yet to announce it's game lineup for "SoCon Saturday". I would expect at least 1-2 UNCG games to appear there. Last season, SS showed 2 games (College of Charleston & Elon). I also expect ESPN-U to look at picking up another Spartan game too. Last season UNCG's game at Princeton appeared on the network.

It's pretty nice to see that we're talking about 5-6 UNCG games appearing on TV. Now, we need to pack the coliseum.

New UNCG Season Brochure (Updated)

Here are some scans of a brochure that's available at the UNCG ticket office. Big thanks to John for sending these to me. As you can see, there look to be some really affordable ticket plans. Also, it looks like being a member of the Spartan Club will pay off for anyone interested. There are some cool promotions being planned with Thirsty Thursday and free parking with the purchase of 2 season tickets.

UPDATE: The UNCG Athletics website now has this article up as it's "splash" page. The article takes you to a place where you can reserve your tickets and also it lays out exactly what everything costs, including the free parking with season tickets. I think that alone makes season tickets really worth the price. There is nothing worse than having to deal with the irritation of parking. If they could get a part of the lot reserved, there's no telling how much extra I'd be willing to pay.

4 ACC Opponents in the Coliseum (Update)

The News & Record is reporting that UNCG will play home games against 4 ACC schools this upcoming season in addition to out of conference games against East Carolina and Princeton. Maryland, Clemson, Wake Forest & NC State will play the Spartans in their new home, the Greensboro Coliseum.

According to the article, the schedule is not completely finalized yet. There are possibilities of several of these games appearing on TV.

"I know there's been some interest from Raycom with us making this move," Hirschman said, "and when you're playing those caliber opponents, there's also some interest from ESPNU.

"Let's face it: We want to be on television as much as we can. So you want to keep the door open. And when you do that, you don't want to tell your fans, 'We're playing this team on this date at this time' when TV could move that game two weeks."

UPDATE: Here's what fans of NC State and Clemson are saying on their Scout.com forums.

Links & OOC Scheduling

Now that I have some free time for the next couple of months, I'm going to try to exchange links with a few more college basketball websites. Feel free to send me sites that you think I should check out. I'm going to start by contacting websites of teams that UNCG is playing this upcoming season.

Which brings me to my to my next point. I'm adding a new space for confirmed out of conference opponents. I'll use this post to point out where I found these teams from. Hopefully by the time the real schedule comes out, we'll already have a good portion of it figured out. If anyone comes across a link or knows something that they'd like to share, email me.

- NC State, ECU & Princeton - We've known about these 3 for a while. All three games will be at the Greensboro Coliseum.
- Duke, Clemson, Maryland, Virginia Tech & Wake Forest - The article points out that the Duke game is in Cameron (11/14). Other than that game, it's unknown where the rest of these will be played.
- NC A&T (rumored) - I'm going to leave this one off the list because the article only vaguely says that the series will be restarted.
- Richmond, VCU & Charlotte (rumored) - The article just says Barakat is working on these teams. I also believe these are the same teams he mentioned at the press conference in December.

Bizarre Recruiting Story

Jon Wall (Raleigh , NC) is widely considered the #1 high school prospect in America for the 2009 class. Memphis, Kentucky, NC State, Baylor, Duke and UNC all have a shot at landing him. Earlier this season, the Raleigh News & Observer did a piece detailing his rise to basketball prominence and some of the things surrounding his recruitment.

Then today there's this story that NCSU has ordered the shut down of a Facebook group titled "Jon Wall PLEASE come to NC STATE!!!". It was started by a NCSU student. Apparently, people in the Wolfpack athletics department thought that this might constitute a recruiting violation.

The NCAA made clear to N.C. State that it considers such sites a violation, Lee said. Making such a public appeal to Wall, in effect, turned Moseley into a representative of the university's athletic interests under NCAA Division I Bylaw 13.02.13.

NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson said the bylaw applies to "individuals who would develop a social networking site or use an existing one to send recruiting messages to prospective student-athletes. Those communications are not allowed."

Even though NCSU shut down their Facebook group, the article points out that there are still similar groups for the other schools still recruiting Wall. I'm interested to see all plays out. Expecting schools to self police this is a very silly idea.

The next problem will be defining what is a violation and what is free speech. I've mentioned a recruit on this blog that hasn't signed a LOI. I'm not a student and (as of right now) not a member of the Spartan club. All I am is an alumni. So, does this make me a "booster" in the NCAA's eyes? Have I committed a violation? Does this stretch all the way to message boards? The issue gets even murkier if a UNC student starts a "Jon Wall, come to NC State" group on Facebook or Myspace. Does NC State have the right to sue to stop it?

I honestly believe this is the case of a school being a little too cautious. I think the NCAA will shy away from doing much about this because they're not going to like what they find. Every school is probably involved (at least at the elite level). So who will they want to punish? Just think back to the old Jerry Tarkanian quote that, "the NCAA is so mad at Kentucky that they are going to put Cleveland State on probation for another year".

Regular Season Recap - November

Since the regular season is now over, let's take a look back to what happened. Here's a quick game-by-game recap.

We'll do these in separate posts for each month.

November
Charlotte (L) - UNCG got down early, but played a pretty solid second half. In the end though, the 49ers really didn't do much to let UNCG back into the game.
Webber International (W) - Landon Clement went off for 26 points, but UNCG showed glimpses that point guard play could be a problem. Still, it was the Spartans only win before the calendar flipped to 2009.
Central Arkansas (L) - A loss to a transitional D1 school signaled trouble ahead. Turnovers and poor free throw shooting caused UNCG problems.
NC State (L) - Too much inside toughness for UNCG to really threaten the Wolfpack. Kendall Toney still loves playing NC State, though (they're on the schedule next year Kendall).

Seeing Red

UNCG 52 - NC State 79


News & Record
News & Observer
UNCG
NC State

A 16-4 run after the halftime took what had been a competitive game and turned into a rout. UNCG whittled down a 17 point Wolfpack lead down to 11 by the half, but got no closer. Courtney Fells had 22 points and Ben McCauley had a double-double (17 pts and 15 rebs) for NC State. Damian Eargle scored 10 fro UNCG.


The Good:
- Kendall Toney - If NC State were on the team on UNCG's schedule, Kendall Toney would go down as the greatest player ever at UNCG. Toney led UNCG in points (16) and rebounds (8). After not playing particularly well in his first three games this season, maybe this will get Kendall going and playing with a high level of confidence.
- Turnovers - After turning the ball over a ton in the first 3 games (20+), UNCG limited it's turnovers to 13. However, 4 of them came in the second half spurt that knocked the Spartans out.

The Bad:
- "Paging Landon Clement" - UNCG could really use the version of you that came out firing to start the year.
- Assists - UNCG had 8, compared to NC State's 22. Part of this is based on the fact that NC State made more baskets. However, part of it is that UNCG's offense doesn't look good at all .. all leading back to the point guard issues that have been plaguing the team.

The Ugly:
- UNCG's record falls to 1-3 for the year. That's not completely unexpected. 2-2 would be better, but the team has played 3 road games and 1 home game. This team is young. Young teams tend to struggle on the road. But a 27-point loss to an ACC team that isn't supposed to be a great team hurts. If this NC State team beats Davidson next weekend, then this doesn't look quite as ugly. However, I really wish the Spartans would have been more competitive.

Other blog recaps:
Section Six
850 the Buzz