yes...hickson...pronounced hixon and he shall be known as such until he goes pro in a few months

Think about it...does grant play defense? Answer: NO
then what good is he doing? Answer: NONE
He might as well be at the other end of the court as a fast break threat...and hes under the basket all by himself....thats the only shot he can make...its perfect
After a few easy points, the other team would realize our strategy and would have to leave a guard somewhere around midcourt to even have a change to stop grant. So you basically play 4 on 4. Of course this assumes grant can catch teh ball, which obviously he cant

2/28/2008 10:50:36 PM

Quote :

"I really love how it's all the coach's fault. Players have absolutely nothing to do with it. Nope. Uh uh. Coach is missing shots. Coach can't dribble. Coach can't rebound. Coach this, coach that. I'm on the Fire Lowe bandwagon now. You guys have me convinced."

except that alot of these players were doing all these things last year and since it is a coach's job to motivate players and handle a team, yes it is his fault.

i hate idiots like you. if you had your way, it would NEVER be the coach's fault. who do you blame for uninspired play? who do you blame for constantly juggling lineups? who do you blame for COMPLETELY changing the offense and the dynamic of the team to revolve around a freshman who still can't effectively handle double teams?


and to whoever a few pages back tried to berate me for commenting how our offense revolves around hickson: yes, he is our most talented player. however, he isnt really ready for prime time. he isnt good enough yet to act as a one-man team against the acc. sid basically sacrificed any hope of TEAM to focus on hickson.

Now, it is true that the improvement we showed last year may not have come through this year w/out engin, but he didnt even try. from day one, hickson was the focus on offense.

2/28/2008 10:56:02 PM

^listen to the man

If I was Grant, Fells, Costner or McCauley, how the heck do I feel when some freshman comes in and is instantaneously crowned the focal point of the offense? It meant everything they did the prior year, all the struggles and fights they went through TOGETHER, it meant nothing. I'd be pissed as hell too. I'm surprised most of them didn't transfer. It's no wonder they have no care in the world. They probably feel betrayed by their own coach. Instead of fitting Hickson into the TEAM, he tried to fit the rest with Hickson. That only works in the NBA.

2/28/2008 11:04:26 PM

Quote :

"i hate idiots like you. if you had your way, it would NEVER be the coach's fault."

Except I'm not saying that. I know that both have their problems this year. What I took offense to was all you fucktards claiming it was 100% Lowe's fault. That's BS and you all know it. Besides, if you'd ever read anything else I've ever said on here or in person, you'd know I don't put coaches on a pedestal.

I agree with ^ on the last point, trying to mesh the others around JJ. Sid should've known that JJ wasn't ready for that and neither was the team. But I still disagree with the fact that he is 100% to blame for the season's failure as a whole. How many times have you all watched these guys get COMPLETELY UNOBSTRUCTED shots and miss, sometimes even the backboard. Whose fault is that? A few is understandable. Not at the rate we do it, though.

2/28/2008 11:28:24 PM

ok i can see that. i remove my "idiot".

2/28/2008 11:31:19 PM

Quote :

"Have you seen how much that team has IMPROVED this year?"

Well, the SEC is fucking terrible too... that helps.

But yeah, Gillespie has a PROVEN track record of excellence in college. Sidney doesn't. Not really comparable.

2/29/2008 1:08:09 AM

you guys are arguing about where the blame falls, but with a team being this bad, it's clearly EVERYONE's FAULT

2/29/2008 2:16:41 AM

Packman03, you hit the nail on the head bud! I would of red-shirted Hickson for this entire year, b/c it seems to me that he's only concerned about how quickly he can get himself to the NBA as oppose to getting us back to the NCAA tournament!

We were on an upswing and head crazy ass momentum going into the offseason at the end of the '07 bball season and it seems that the major cause of the team's deterioration is the coaching staff putting this "Halo" on Hickson b4 the season even starts.

He should of been given a year to learn the season, and to gel with the other guys and if not, cut his ass...plain and simple....now we have to wait for another fucking off-season for Lowe, staff, and players to right the ship......

-I feel for this year's seniors b/c they deserved something better then what they are getting...

2/29/2008 2:26:38 AM

^You should probably just stick to your NC Central stuff....and we beat them badly.

Hickson would not sit anywhere or redshirt, that was just stupid on your part. Second there is only 1 senior and that's Gavin Grant unless you count Chad Williams the walk-on.

2/29/2008 2:35:56 AM

Quote :

" and to whoever a few pages back tried to berate me for commenting how our offense revolves around hickson: yes, he is our most talented player. however, he isnt really ready for prime time. he isnt good enough yet to act as a one-man team against the acc. sid basically sacrificed any hope of TEAM to focus on hickson. Now, it is true that the improvement we showed last year may not have come through this year w/out engin, but he didnt even try. from day one, hickson was the focus on offense."

agreed. i said that too several pages back. and that's why almost all of this season's failures lie on lowe. i'm not saying he will never be a good coach, but this season he has been a terrible one. i can only hope has learned his lessons.

2/29/2008 2:36:32 AM

can someone please tell me what makes this hickman dude so bad? the guy a few above said something like he is trying to get to the nba...so obviously he is good...

2/29/2008 2:42:13 AM

what makes hickson so bad?

two words....


























sidney lowe.

but really, he's a great player but not as great as sidney thought he would be. sid thought he would modify the entire offense and the entire team to fit an unproven freshman in THE ACC and it backfired bigtime. hickson's good and will be great, but sidney just asked entirely way too much of him.

2/29/2008 2:44:29 AM

oh i gotcha

2/29/2008 2:58:49 AM

GG Sid for playing Tracy Smith so much. He should be playing 30+ a game right now. He is the smartest player on the team outside of McCauley. The difference is Smith has the athleticism to finish.

Great gameplan so far this game. Frankly, I'd go with McCauley and Smith over Hickson right now. Hickson is a blackhole when he gets double teamed.

[Edited on March 1, 2008 at 12:43 PM. Reason : x]

3/1/2008 12:43:06 PM

Hickson also does not establish good rebounding position for his size, and he let's his man get in too close to the post because he is playing for the block rather than straight up defense. He doesn't get enough blocks to justify that.

3/1/2008 1:07:50 PM

Sidney blew it at the end. We needed to foul. We were lucky to even get that good of a shot off.

This isn't the NBA you can't call timeouts with 4 seconds left and advance the ball to halfcourt.

I'm at the end of my rope. Get this guy outta here.

3/1/2008 2:17:37 PM

I'm not gonna say anything negative. The guys played hard and really deserved to win this one. I feel terrible for them.

3/1/2008 2:19:03 PM

^I agree, put this game in the moral victor column......

[Edited on March 1, 2008 at 2:22 PM. Reason : w]

3/1/2008 2:20:51 PM

fuck a moral victory.

3/1/2008 2:21:58 PM

Quote :

"there is no such thing as a moral victory"

[Edited on March 1, 2008 at 2:22 PM. Reason : ]

3/1/2008 2:22:01 PM

Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and precision atomic bomb dropping.

Regardless, this game made me feel better after the blowouts of the past few. I can point to some positives, at least.

3/1/2008 2:25:13 PM

3/1/2008 2:26:24 PM

I cannot believe we didn't fucking foul.

Horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible coaching decision there. HORRIBLE.

3/1/2008 2:28:33 PM

At least he didn't run the offense through Hickson all day. See what happens when you run a balanced offense with everyone getting involved? You almost pull off a huge upset. Too bad it took this long for you to realize this.

[Edited on March 1, 2008 at 2:46 PM. Reason : .]

3/1/2008 2:46:09 PM

Quote :

"I can point to some positives, at least."

3/1/2008 2:48:48 PM

what do you even say to this?

Today was probably the most inspired play we've gotten from the guys all season. Duke made an inevitable run to end the game...but the bottom line is we should've been in a position to either win or tie with the last possession. the table was set for some basic coaching skills to give us a chance to win...but to not even give your players a chance to make a play, and sit on two timeouts....

what do you even say?

3/1/2008 4:33:22 PM

I predict a first round exit from the ACCT and then not even an nit appearance

3/1/2008 4:51:29 PM

this end of game situation was TEXTBOOK. foul with under 35 second left. hold the ball after your guys get the rebound until about 14 seconds left. setup a game tying play for 2 or 3

3/1/2008 4:54:45 PM

^^ wow, nostradamus over here...

3/1/2008 7:56:15 PM

yeah, dude is really going out on a limb

3/1/2008 7:59:10 PM

so apparently sid was trying to call TO after the rebound, but the official didn't give it to him for some reason

3/1/2008 8:03:58 PM

3/1/2008 8:08:51 PM

next year will be our year

3/1/2008 8:49:08 PM

sidney's lowe's coaching career thus far resembles a typical college basketball players career:

freshman year: slow start, adjusting to the change in the speed, but by the end of the season you understand your role and are able to play your best basketball. ala last season. Your improvement gives hope for the future, and expectations rise.

sophomore year: aka the sophomore slump! high expectations are always hard to meet. You may have games where you play to your potential, but overall you just fail to meet you expectations. settle into bad habits and make bad descions. (this year)

junior year- you are mature, and an upper classman and leader for your team. you have learned how success feels (end of freshman year) and you realize how to hard you need to work to reach your potential. and take the lessons your learned to be a better player.

senior year- realize that your time is short and give everything you got to go out on top.


so basically we need to give sid 3 years total b4 we start calling for his head....so after next year if there isnt marked improvment then off with his head.

3/1/2008 9:23:39 PM

^This is why we don't let foreigners post in sports talk

3/1/2008 9:25:12 PM

i'm all for sid. i think he's got all kinds of potential, but this game made me realize something...

we have had this talent the whole year and the capability to play like we did today the whole season... but we haven't. ^ that's not really applicable. but, it's still frustrating to know what we could have done.

it seems like most of the problem has been a lack of motivation. don't know whose fault that is.

[Edited on March 1, 2008 at 9:30 PM. Reason : lol, i fucked up.]

3/1/2008 9:27:55 PM

Quote :

"it seems like most of the problem has been a lack of motivation. don't know whose fault that is."

indeed, and it's sidney lowe's fault.

3/1/2008 9:31:14 PM

Well, it's comforting to know that none of you people have say in who goes or stays. The awesome thread maker says SID SUCKS, along the lines of, MICHAEL VICK IS A GOLDEN GOD, and...PACKERS OVER GIANTS BIG, and many other sports nostradamus type shits.

[Edited on March 1, 2008 at 9:49 PM. Reason : cant type tonight]

3/1/2008 9:47:16 PM

^^ i think part of it is. part of the blame has to be placed on the players though. why is it so hard to get pumped for a game that's not duke or unc?? i get pumped for a fuckin' pick up game.

3/1/2008 10:45:37 PM

maybe, but in college, at least as far as i'm concerned, that all comes back to the coach.

if they're not playing hard, you can't just say 'oh well they're not playing hard'. you have to get them to do it, and if you can't, you're not a very good coach.

although unlike most of you, my judgement's still out on sidney.

3/1/2008 10:48:09 PM

as well it should be.

I mean, it's awesome you guys care so much; the passion is there. But you have to give everything time.

3/1/2008 10:57:17 PM

^^, ^ i'm on the same page.

cause for concern, but still not ready to pull the plug.

3/1/2008 11:08:13 PM

Quote :

"we have had this talent the whole year and the capability to play like we did today the whole season... but we haven't."

Ding! We play like this we blow out the shitty teams like BC, UVA, GTech, FSU, not get blown out. Today just made my opinion of Sidney drop more. But we don't have any talent right?

And on a side note, we got fucked by the black and white like usual or we win this game.

3/2/2008 12:57:37 AM

Quote :

"we have had this talent the whole year and the capability to play like we did today the whole season"

Wrong. That was the first game where Javi showed he was completely comfortable at point. And if it weren't abundantly clear already, we played completely differently when he was out of the game.

Maybe Javi's friends should have gotten killed earlier. Maybe degand should have gotten injured earlier. Other than that, there is no way any reasonable person could expect javi to emerge earlier than he did.

The front court players certainly could have played better all year, but without a guard, there's a limit to how good the team can be. Also, costner, grant, and fells still played a pretty mediocre game yesterday.

[Edited on March 2, 2008 at 9:38 AM. Reason : .]

3/2/2008 9:37:18 AM

javi's future looks bright

3/2/2008 1:58:04 PM

Sidney pulled a Herb... not playing a SR.. I remember five years after it happened people STILL blasting him for not playing Tim Wells...

I could care less but Chad Williams didn't play, did he?

3/2/2008 9:52:33 PM

tim wells actually played a good amount during the year, which it was why it was strange that he didn't play him in the last game

3/2/2008 9:56:46 PM

Out of the mist of history
He'll come again
Sailing on ships across the sea
To a wounded Nation

Signs of a savoir
Like fire on the water
It's what we prayed for
One of our own

Just wait
Though while he may roam
Always
A hero comes home
He goes where no one has gone
But always
A hero comes home

Deep in the heart of darkness sparks
A dream of lies
Surrounded by hopelessness
He finds the will to fight

Theres no surrender
Always remember
It doesn't end here
We're not alone

Just wait
Though while he may roam
Always
A hero comes home
He goes where no one has gone
But always
A hero comes home

And he will come back on the crimson tide
Dead or alive
And even though we know the bridge has burned
He will return
He will return

Just wait
Though while he may roam
Always
A hero comes home
He knows of places unknown
Always
A hero comes home

Someday they'll carve in stone
"The hero comes home"

He goes and comes back alone
But always
A hero comes home

Just wait
Though while he may roam
Always
A hero comes home

3/3/2008 2:02:36 AM

It took Coach K 3 or 4 years before Duke was even respectable, much less a threat, it took Dean Smith 6 years before Carolina was any good, Roy Williams had an easy start because he walked into an overflowing pool of talent.

You can't realize what kind of college coach Lowe will be from 60 games. I really liked Sendek but look at his record in big games, I hate to say it but it was embarrassing. The only times he beat UNC were those 3 or 4 games during Daugherty's losing and NIT season. At least we have someone who we know can win a big game.

I think Hickson will probably go pro and it will be for the best. He is definately screwing things up. Maybe after Lowe has more experience he will know how to better integrate someone like Hickson into the program but we will be better next year without him if we don't compensate during the against WFU game and in the ACC tournament.

Remember that we are only losing Grant, and even though our point guard returning isn't going to bring back the Fire and Ice of the 80's, we will probably be pretty good next year w/ those 2 new guys.

3/3/2008 8:02:07 AM

Quote :

"we have had this talent the whole year and the capability to play like we did today the whole season"

It's pretty simple folks.

We have talent down low. Guard play wins games. Our guards have struggled all season. The Duke game was the first game that Javi had a pretty solid all-around game.

We about beat the best team in the conference.

I don't understand why no one can understand that. GUARD PLAY WINS GAMES.... ALWAYS!

3/3/2008 8:45:45 AM