acc friday

I'll never know why they don't go ahead and give everyone today off. Anyway, I shall be updating here whenever I get a second to let you know about what I think about what's going on with this afternoon's games. I expect to be working hard on all things job-related during most of Duke vs. Miami so that I can't be called a slacker when I take frequent breaks during State vs. Wake. Losing to Wake Forest in our last regular season game and then beating them in the ACC tournament is something of an annual tradition for my beloved Wolfpack.

10:01 - In spite of my best efforts, the television showing the games will be set up in the break room and not directly in front of my desk. I thought that directly in front of my desk was a fine location, since so many people walk by it. It would have been a great spot for almost anyone in the office to have a look at, particularly me.

10:46 - My supervisor has some stuff for me that doesn't need to be done at my desk. It could, for example, be done in the break room around the same time as the State-Wake game. I told you they treat me great here.

12:13 - Duke is up 7-2. They were up 4-0 before Miami made it across half court due to a pretty tough press defense. Miami has been doing a good job frustrating Sheldon Williams and early indications are that the refs are going to let them play rather than call touch fouls, so it might be a little tougher for the Devils than I thought. JJ is going to have to win this one for Duke if this keeps up.

- The lone Duke fan in the break room is more interested in his Sudoku puzzle than the game. When did these things start taking over the world?

12:23 - Duke up 5. I know this because I found a little radio that I had once purchased to listen to poorly received crazy left wing radio shows before I stumbled upon better crazy left wing radio reception via streaming audio. The radio works much better picking up ACC basketball.

12:31 - JJ started out slow, but seems to have found his shot. According to the radio guy, he made one from the ACC logo which is roughly located in the Greensboro Coliseum parking lot.

- Good back and forth action here. Either Miami came to play or Duke is getting really sloppy. It's hard to tell with only the radio to inform me.

12:47 - Miami is going nuts. I'm not sure how Duke isn't losing by more than 1. I'm taking lunch during the second half of this thing for sure.

12:51 - Foul trouble is going to kill Duke down the line if they don't tighten things down. As it is, Miami just sounds like they have more life in them.

12:59 - Duke down by six at halftime. Miami has Williams on the ropes, Reddick shooting cold, and seems to be taking real advantage of some physical play. Duke better get it together. Good first half though, with 9 lead changes.

1:38 - Grilled chicken from the company for lunch. Good stuff. Duke came out in the second half swinging. Full court press took out the Miami lead, and then Duke dropped it. My guess is we'll see the press again if Duke gets desperate, because it works for them well. Miami is still playing some serious basketball, though. This game is a lot of fun.

1:50 - Duke by 1 with a little over 6 minutes left. 20th lead change of the game.

2:12 - Is Miami going to the NCAA's? Are they on the bubble or what? I'd like to see them in the big dance. A hell of an effort in their loss to Duke. I ran to the break room for the last 33 seconds, and watched the Carolina fans wonder why the 3-pointer form Miami late was shot from somewhere in Winston-Salem.

- I do love the ACC tournament. A game like this is exactly why. If State beats Wake, it means we get Duke tomorrow. JJ has made State look silly in this tournament a lot of times. Still, I remain cautiously optimistic.

2:38 - And we're underway. GO WOLFPACK!

3:32 - Ugly first half. Ug. Lee. I was more interested in my procedures manual than I was the game, but here are some observations:

- Gavin Grant came out hot and no one else on the team noticed.
- The refs are going to be quicker on the whistle in this game than the Duke one.
- NC State doesn't rebound. For any reason. Ever. I don't know why.
- Everyone on the team is trying to win this game on their own. They're all losing it on their own instead.
- We're talking no offense. Paul Maurice hockey teams had more offense than this. Awful. And why is there no offense? 3-pointers. Lots of them. None of them going in. We've got Packer and Cremins both saying that Simmons needs the ball down low and no one is trying to get it to him. At all. It's terrible. And again, there is no adjustment to this game plan which is so much more than not working coming from Herb.
- It's not that Wake is playing good basketball, either. They're trying to give us the game and we refuse to take it. Turnovers are coming and we're just throwing up bricks from behind the arc.
- Billy Packer said the Wolfpack has been in a "stupor." That's putting it lightly. This game is terrible. State is lucky to have made it to halftime down by 17 instead of 117.

4:13 - It's terrible. We have one strategy. When it doesn't work, we're screwed because our coach doesn't have a backup plan. Ever. We didn't make a single backdoor cut until we were down by 22 points. By now the look on Andrew Brackman's face says "just let me go play baseball."

-Atsur just found his first points. He really sucks.

-I understand that Ced is sick. I understand that Cam is hurt. But there is no excuse for what we put on the court.

4:25 - We're within 12 with 3 minutes left. I'm praying for a miracle.

4:40 - Put a bullet in this horse. She's sick, and it's just sad to see her this way. The commentators on the radio are praising Gavin Grant's efforts and pointing out the fact that he's too talented for Herb's offense.

- The Duke fan with the Sedoku puzzle waked by and said "The worst thing that could happen for Duke is for Sendek to leave and State to pick up a real coach." Amen.

4:43 - That'll do for my coverage of the first 2 games of ACC Friday. One basketball game followed by one team-on-team blasphemy contest on this holy day. At this point, we're looking at a 12 seed at best for the NCAA's. It's going to be ugly. This is the time of year that State usually finds our stride, not when we roll over and die. I hate basketball.