Been Here Before

The date was January 12th 2013.  N C State beat then number 5 Duke 84-76 and the students rushed the floor and a national hero was born in C J Leslie when he helped save a State student in a wheel chair from injury during the mass charge to center court.  Right at that time State was on verge under second year coach Mark Gottfried to maybe becoming a team to be  a force again in college basketball.

National TV exposure by Leslie on Good Morning America and others proved to be too much for the inconsistent Leslie.  Saturday was two years ago.  Once again today State stands on the threshold of becoming a major player.  As far as I know there is no hero to talk about.  Two years ago today State was in the same spot they are in now.

It's seems as if State has all the pieces.  They have big men in the middle that can block any shot with in a few feet of the basket.  They have outside shooters that when they are on they can shoot lights out.  They have however been poor at the free throw line.  How can a team with such great outside shooting be so average when no one is guarding you  15 feet away from the bucket.

So far this season State has lost five times and all five in one way or another can be related to ball handling and foul shooting.   To be a team dominated with outside guards that can shoot they have many lapses on ball handling mistakes.  There was a point  when State lead by 19 that I was scared to death when Duke scored 11 in a row mostly  because of poor ball handling and twice they had 3 on 2 situations trying to lop dunk instead of just taking layups and points.

I never felt comfortable until is was down to about 40 seconds and a double digit lead.  Where does the Pack go from here.  There is no doubt Coach Gott can recruit.  State has had a generous helping of schedule as four of their first five conference games are home.  Carolina is on the way this week and a loss to Carolina would pretty much eliminate the Duke win.  Which way is it for the Pack? Is it the same ole same ole, or is this team taking the next step to top five in the conference?

Last week Dallas got the benefit of a major no call.  This week they got a correct call and from it a loss to Green Bay.  Dallas just maybe, think about this N C State and Dallas mirror each other over the last 20 years.  Dallas fans think they are better than what they have been while State fans wish they got the respect that is given to those down the road.

Dallas had a fine season for you Cowboy fans.  31 NFL teams will finish the season wishing they had of been better.   Dallas could very well be the team to beat in the NFL next year.