Only thing that worries me about this squad is team defense from the post. Freeman was our smartest defender and best hedger, so not having him hurts in that regard.

Abu will be fine on defense as long as he stays locked in. Anya can't hedge and is usually awful at rotations aside from blocks. Not sure what to expect from Yurt or Kapita (assuming they can play). Maybe we can play Kirk some at the 4 if we need some speed on d

10/27/2016 10:38:55 AM

My guess is that Mav plays 4 more than kirk. If Kirk plays much at all this season, it means we have had some injury issues.

10/27/2016 10:46:35 AM

...or we're blowing out people early and often???

10/27/2016 10:55:49 AM

....or he is much improved

10/27/2016 10:58:33 AM

But has he improved enough to be better than the guys ahead of him? I like Kirk, but I like our other players better. Hopefully he can keep improving, continue to increase his minutes, and by the time he's a junior/senior, be a major contributor.

10/27/2016 11:22:29 AM

I don't know if he improved at all, just listing scenarios where he plays a ton

10/27/2016 12:25:53 PM

Kirk has improved, he went from a great athlete with minimal skills to a great athlete with decent skills. He's a guy that should be really solid for us his final 2 seasons.

Kapita should replace what Freeman brought to the table if he is eligible. He is physically ready to play college(prep year helped, but just a really big/strong guy). He will really help us out on defense and rebounding, not sure what we can really expect from him offensively.

It actually works out pretty well that we have 2 really good offensive big men(Abu and Yurtseven) and 2 good defenders(Anya and Kapita). Then if you factor in some potential small-ball with Mav playing the 4, it'll be interesting to see what line-ups Gott decides to go with.

10/27/2016 1:19:18 PM

You guys ruling Hicks playing at all? Wouldn't he be a 4? Surely we would never need Maverick at 4.

10/27/2016 4:10:54 PM

I don't think Hicks is expected to be a heavy contributor this year.

10/27/2016 5:31:14 PM

i don't think it's that we "need" Mav at the 4. it's just that Mav can play the 4...if it's to create mismatches or just switch things up. it's a sign of our depth and versatility throughout the lineup. shit, gottfried's the one that originally said Mav could play the 4. doubt we'd see much of it if Yurt7 and Teddy are cleared, but i'm gonna assume gottfried knows what he's talking about here.

10/27/2016 5:43:35 PM

Yeah it's not about needing Mav at the 4, it's about having the ability to play him at the 4 and go with a smaller/faster line-up to mix things up. If you're putting DSJ, Dorn, Henderson, Mav, and Abu on the floor, that's going to be a pretty quick/athletic squad. They'll struggle a bit on defense, but they'll be able to run and gun with just about anyone.

I've heard Hicks has actually impressed the staff and he's exceeded their expectations so far. I think he'll see the floor some, but he'll likely have too many bodies in front of him if everyone is cleared. He'll definitely see the floor early if Yurt or Kapita miss games from punishment or just not playing while waiting to hear from the NCAA.

[Edited on October 28, 2016 at 8:35 AM. Reason : .]

10/28/2016 8:34:00 AM

^ i love how we talk about defense.

We have literally seen 3 of these players on the court. We don't know shit about how these guys play plus the addition of multiple new coaches.

10/28/2016 8:52:38 AM

I know that Gottfried hates defense. It is the bane of his existence.

10/28/2016 9:27:39 AM

Yeah, he actually makes the players run suicides and do extra push-ups if they play good d in practice.

And I don't understand why he NEVER makes his players practice free-throws!!

10/28/2016 9:33:52 AM

I know, right!?!?!

10/28/2016 9:46:37 AM

it's a well known fact that Lutz was actually fired because he tried to coach defense in practice and Gottfried was fed up with it

10/28/2016 10:22:34 AM

Quote :

"Seth Greenberg ?@SethOnHoops Liked the pace of the @PackMensBball practice.Definite commitment on the defensive end. Smith makes every1 better. Henderson Rowan shot it!"

[Edited on October 28, 2016 at 10:30 AM. Reason : "]

10/28/2016 10:30:04 AM

^^ok straw man

10/28/2016 10:45:11 AM

i thought it was very obvious i was joking.

10/28/2016 11:37:01 AM

i know.

10/28/2016 12:06:46 PM

Alright, when's our first game?

#FuckDoeren

10/29/2016 4:58:58 PM

Alright, when's our first game?

#FuckDoeren

10/29/2016 6:30:57 PM

Real game or exhibition game?

10/30/2016 11:07:11 AM

exhibition vs Lynn U this Thurs

anyway to watch?

10/31/2016 7:31:57 AM

Scout's Evan Daniels tweeted that #Sources say Yurt7 probably will get hit with a 7-9 game suspension....but no official announcement yet.

10/31/2016 12:22:08 PM

cool...a few non-conference games to break him in before league play

10/31/2016 12:35:46 PM

Does anyone have the picture of the basketball team listening to someone talking in front of a chalk board with a ball with an arrow pointing to a hoop photoshoped/ms painted onto the board?

10/31/2016 12:37:00 PM

Sounds like its 9

10/31/2016 12:39:23 PM

^^wut

10/31/2016 12:45:24 PM

Officially 9 games. Yurtseven will be able to play vs Appalachian State.

10/31/2016 12:48:36 PM

So, he broke the rules but not bad enough? Seems like it should be an all or nothing thing to me.

10/31/2016 12:51:47 PM

Right. Sounds like they couldnt find any evidence of any wrongdoing. But decided to punish him anyway just cuz they dont know.

Partially guilty because not proven innocent.

Bulllshit

10/31/2016 12:53:10 PM

^^^Its being reported by multiple sources, and probably true, but isn't official yet.

Ie state hasn't heard from ncaa yet



[Edited on October 31, 2016 at 1:01 PM. Reason : From what I've seen anyway ]

10/31/2016 12:55:50 PM

9 seems a bit much but it at least can serve as an excuse if we drop one of those games

10/31/2016 1:07:47 PM

Sounds like a win for us. Our toughest games are against Creighton, maybe St. Joe's, maybe Wazzou, and Illinois, the rest are laughable.

10/31/2016 1:09:32 PM

They are saying he will have re-pay $1000.

weird

10/31/2016 1:18:46 PM

Quote :

"exhibition vs Lynn U this Thurs anyway to watch?"

Quote :

"TV: GOPACK.COM"

Gopack will stream these exhibition games?

10/31/2016 1:27:09 PM

Quote :

"9 seems a bit much but it at least can serve as an excuse if we drop one of those games"

Yeah was homing more like 4-6 but better than the whole season, I figured they'd find a way to rule him ineligible.

10/31/2016 1:28:46 PM

Look at us. Celebrating a 9 game suspension for one of the most important players. If we want to take that next step and be a national contender, we need to reset our expectations. This is unacceptable. We should be blatantly cheating the system and expecting NO punishment. In fact, we should make the cheating so systemic, nobody would bat an eye. And if the NCAA even looks our way, we should tell them to go fuck themselves. We are UNC!

10/31/2016 1:33:07 PM

Quote :

""I'm disappointed for Omer," NC State men's basketball coach Mark Gottfried said via news release. "He has been patient and 100 percent forthright. We will adapt and integrate him in as soon as possible.""

Like Gotts response

10/31/2016 1:34:12 PM

good that he's eligible. disappointing that he's missing a few games, but our weak OOC should allow us to get our feet under us before we get to full strength.

10/31/2016 1:39:06 PM

What does that mean for our other guy under review? Will they likely conclude his review soon or are those 2 things completely disconnected?

10/31/2016 1:45:33 PM

I think it means Kapita will be eligible for only the first 9 games and will receive $1000

10/31/2016 1:53:31 PM

have barely heard anything about Kapita. his situation seems a bit murkier than Yurtseven's though.

10/31/2016 1:58:05 PM

yea this has no bearing on Kapita. so who knows about the timeframe of that

10/31/2016 2:24:49 PM

i find it strange that they determined that he took exactly 3094.60 turkish lira

10/31/2016 2:30:45 PM

^think the team he played for said that's what they paid him.

10/31/2016 2:31:22 PM

I wouldn't get your hopes up for Kapita to ever play for NC State.

10/31/2016 3:12:48 PM

If they deem Kapita ineligible, would it be termed Kapital Punishment? haha

[Edited on October 31, 2016 at 3:16 PM. Reason : ]

10/31/2016 3:16:22 PM

Quote :

"yea this has no bearing on Kapita. so who knows about the timeframe of that"

Quote :

"@ThePackReport 3h3 hours ago We fully expect to have clarity on Ted Kapita's availability by the end of the week, though."

10/31/2016 3:34:02 PM