Sunday, December 29, 2013

12-29-2013 Update

I have a bad head / chest cold. I woke up feeling a little sluggish - and it had gotten worse as the day goes on. Must have picked it up at the basketball game last night.

Basketball

I think State will be a solid NIT team this year. Not quite good enough for the NCAA, but close.

We should have won last night over Missouri (ranked 25th). It was such a close game at the end. The only time the game wasn't close, was when State had a big lead.

It's easy to blame referees for a team's misfortunes, but last night, it really was the case. For some reason, State got 11 more fouls (i think it was 11) than Missouri. And it was not because State was causing more fouls or because Missouri was playing better - it was because of inept refs. Worst officiated game I've seen in years.

Even still - if State had been able to make our own foul shots (missed the front end of 3 one and one's at the end), had one or two 3 pointers drop, or if Anthony Barber had just made a couple of more field goals (2 of 11 - awful) - we'd have won the game in spite of the refs.

State is a fun team to watch. I really enjoy watching these kids play.

Christmas

Went to NoVa for a couple days. It was good to see the family.

It's also good to be back home.

Work

Plan on being back to work tomorrow - hopefully I'll feel better in the morning.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Weekend Update 12-15-2013

Not much interesting or exciting to update. Actually, nothing interesting or exciting.

Work is rather typical. I have too much to do and am overloaded. Since we're still coming out of the Great Recession I'd rather have too much work than not enough.

NC State Football is finally, mercifully over. I never would have imagined we'd go 3 and 9. Just not possible.

And yet - I'm very positive for the future. Coach Doeren is recruiting hard and I'm still firmly in his camp as the coach of the future.

Basketball is heating up. State has a young talented team. At this point - I'd say we're a solid NIT team. Probably somewhere in the middle of the ACC. If the NCAA takes 7 teams - State would be the 8th team and first 'in' the NIT.

These kids are fun to watch. They have talent and clearly play as a team. Still learning and Cat Barber needs to realize he doesn't need to look to shoot first. Much more fun to watch than last years 'team with issues'.

We clearly have potential but we still need depth and more experience. Next year (if no one foolishly thinks too high of themselves and goes pro) - we will be a force to be reckoned with.

As it stands - once the ACC schedule starts - we'll probably lose a lot of heartbreaking games - but we're going to be in each game we play. And, we'll let some inferior teams get too close to winning (and possibly upsetting us). It will sure upset me. LOL

Last night we played Detroit in Reynolds Coliseum. Yep - it still gets stifling hot in there and incredibly loud. It's because the old barn has hard wood, steel and concrete surfaces. The 7,000 or so there last night made your ears ring. Much more so than, say, 12,000 on a typical night in the ESA/RBC/PNC alphabet ju jour Arena. Nuke, Chip, Erica and I went. Had a good. time.

Planning to drive up to Reston for Christmas next Sunday. However, Chip is having car troubles and is borrowing my truck. Which is no big deal but it needs a check engine light repair job - scheduled for next Friday. In which Chip needs to borrow my car. If the truck isn't fixed Friday, then I'm in a bind as far as driving to NoVa for Christmas. Hopefully it will all work out.