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ACC Tournament Thread NWT

I would get frustrated with the lineups as well, but then realize that Manning didn't have a whole lot of options. The fact is we have maybe two players at best that give you decent consistency from game to game, And zero players that play like they have any sort of clue in the last 2 minutes of close games. When your core selection of players involves Wilbekin, CMM, Rondale, Dinos, McClinton, and 2 foul prone freshmen big men, your ability to put solid line-ups on the court is pretty limited.

Not to mention everyone you listed except CMM is a Sophomore. People get tired of using youth as an excuse, but given the unprecedented number of transfers, it has been a legitimate excuse for us for 6 years now.
 
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Wellman standing in the tunnel right now going to town on a tub of popcorn. Doesn't seem like he has a care in the world

f1791646d7775e1e5b59566a7d2a72fe.jpg

eating fucking popcorn while rome burns...asshole.
 
I hate the phrase "don't know how to win."

There is validity to the argument that a team needs to build a winning attitude before it can break thru to real success. I made a post about that a couple of months ago...and got ridiculed about it, of course. However, anyone who doesn't think that mentally expecting to win close games at the end is an acquired skill is just fooling themselves. I used the 1975-76-77 WF teams as an example. Wake beat David Thompson & ended NC State's 38-game win streak in the 1975 Big Four Tournament, then beat Duke to win its 1st of 4 Big Four titles. You could tell that group of players was going to be special before they finished their careers....but they hadn't yet developed that winning attitude and quickly faded. The next year they had a little more confidence. They began the year by beating #3 Carolina in the Big Four to avenge the Scoreboard Game, then beat #9 NC State for the title...even with Skip Brown not playing due to a minor injury. (Jerry Schellenburg took over in that tournament, scoring 24 against Carolina & 31 in the title game against NC State.) That made the Deacs 10-0 for the year and they jumped from being unranked all the way up to #7. After a loss at Virginia (seems like we never played well up there in those days), we came back to Greensboro and played one of the best games I have ever seen a WF team play in my life, beating #2 Maryland 96-93 in an electric atmosphere before a sold-out crowd in Greensboro. One of the loudest WF games I have ever attended. And what balance! Skip Brown & Jerry Schellenberg each scored 22 points and Rod Griffin & Darryl Peterson each had 21 points.

Still, though, they had not developed that "killer winning attitude". That would come in the following magical 1977 season. The 1976 team lost 5 straight games after that Maryland win had made them 11-1 and ended the year in the middle of the ACC pack. The next year, though, they were ready from the start....moving to an 18-2 record after a win at Charlottesville....where they had had trouble for several years earlier. One of the most important indications that the 1977 team had developed an attitude necessary to make that next step was that they play 5 or 6 overtime games that year....and only lost one of them. The previous two years would have seen that team losing most of those OT games. They came from 15 points down in the 2nd half to win against #4 Carolina at Carmichael. Then in the NCAA, with everything on the line in a first round game against 26-1 Arkansas...a powerful team with Sydney Moncrief, Marvin Delph & Ron Brewer....they found themselves trailing 46-33 at the half and again charged back behind the determined leadership of Jerry Schellenberg and won the game. That team reached the Elite Eight and led Marquette by 4 at the half before falling just short of the Final Four. (And yes, that team hit a bump in the road at the end of the season, losing by 1 in that OT loss to Virginia Tech, then by 1 to Maryland in Greensboro on a desperation buzzer-beater by Brad Davis, a not-surprising 6-point loss at ranked NC State on Senior Day....and a really lackluster 2-point loss to Virginia in the ACCT. I thought I might as well go ahead and point that out, as ChrisL68 has followed every post I have ever made about that 1977 team by pointing out those losses at the end of the regular season.) Still that team regrouped and made it to within one half of one game of making the Final Four.

The point is that learning how to win is a real thing. Guys who expect to win are more likely to make that clutch free throw in the last minute. Guys who have doubts about themselves are more likely to be thinking about what happens if they miss. Some teams expect to win in close situations....and they usually do, more times than not. Teams like that can often mentally intimidate teams who do not have that attitude.
 
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There is validity to the argument that a team needs to build a winning attitude before it can break thru to real success. I made a post about that a couple of months ago...and got ridiculed about it, of course. However, anyone who doesn't think that mentally expecting to win close games at the end is an acquired skill is just fooling themselves. I used the 1975-76-77 WF teams as an example. Wake beat David Thompson & ended NC State's 38-game win streak in the 1975 Big Four Tournament, then beat Duke to win its 1st of 4 Big Four titles. You could tell that group of players was going to be special before they finished their careers....but they hadn't yet developed that winning attitude and quickly faded. The next year they had a little more confidence. They began the year by beating #3 Carolina in the Big Four to avenge the Scoreboard Game, then beat #9 NC State for the title...even with Skip Brown not playing due to a minor injury. (Jerry Schellenburg took over in that tournament, scoring 24 against Carolina & 31 in the title game against NC State.) That made the Deacs 10-0 for the year and they jumped from being unranked all the way up to #7. After a loss at Virginia (seems like we never played well up there in those days), we came back to Greensboro and played one of the best games I have ever seen a WF team play in my life, beating #2 Maryland 96-93 in an electric atmosphere before a sold-out crowd in Greensboro. One of the loudest WF games I have ever attended. And what balance! Skip Brown & Jerry Schellenberg each scored 22 points and Rod Griffin & Darryl Peterson each had 21 points.

Still, though, they had not developed that "killer winning attitude". That would come in the following magical 1977 season. The 1976 team lost 5 straight games after that Maryland win had made them 11-1 and ended the year in the middle of the ACC pack. The next year, though, they were ready from the start....moving to an 18-2 record after a win at Charlottesville....where they had had trouble for several years earlier. One of the most important indications that the 1977 team had developed an attitude necessary to make that next step was that they play 5 or 6 overtime games that year....and only lost one of them. The previous two years would have seen that team losing most of those OT games. They came from 15 points down in the 2nd half to win against #4 Carolina at Carmichael. Then in the NCAA, with everything on the line in a first round game against 26-1 Arkansas...a powerful team with Sydney Moncrief, Marvin Delph & Ron Brewer....they found themselves trailing 46-33 at the half and again charged back behind the determined leadership of Jerry Schellenberg and won the game. That team reached the Elite Eight and led Marquette by 4 at the half before falling just short of the Final Four. (And yes, that team hit a bump in the road at the end of the season, losing by 1 in that OT loss to Virginia Tech, then by 1 to Maryland in Greensboro on a desperation buzzer-beater by Brad Davis, a not-surprising 6-point loss at ranked NC State on Senior Day....and a really lackluster 2-point loss to Virginia in the ACCT. I thought I might as well go ahead and point that out, as ChrisL68 has followed every post I have ever made about that 1977 team by pointing out those losses at the end of the regular season.) Still that team regrouped and made it to within one half of one game of making the Final Four.

The point is that learning how to win is a real thing. Guys who expect to win are more likely to make that clutch free throw in the last minute. Guys who have doubts about themselves are more likely to be thinking about what happens if they miss. Some teams expect to win in close situations....and they usually do, more times than not. Teams like that can often mentally intimidate teams who do not have that attitude.

Frank Johnson and LeRoy McDonald were big additions that improved that team over the previous year's team. Frank was probably the one defender who could handle Phil Ford. It was a big reason Wake beat Carolina 2 out of 3 games that year.
 
So.............I guess basketball season is over for another year?
 
Frank Johnson and LeRoy McDonald were big additions that improved that team over the previous year's team. Frank was probably the one defender who could handle Phil Ford. It was a big reason Wake beat Carolina 2 out of 3 games that year.

I was lucky enough to get to go to all three Carolina games that year....and they were three great games! A 97-96 OT win in the Big Four Championship game, a 67-66 comeback win at Carmichael, and a tough 77-75 loss at Memorial Coliseum. My sister was a 1977 UNC grad, so she got me a ticket to sit in the Carolina student section for the game at Carmichael. That 15-point 2nd half comeback was fantastic. Bruce Buckley missed those two free throws, the Schellenberg was fouled with about 10 seconds left with us trailing by 1. It was a 1&1 and Dean called time out to ice him. If you remember, that was around the time that Schellenberg and Dean Smith had that thing going because Schellenberg thought Smith should have invited him to try out for the Olympic team that Smith was coaching. He invited a lot of local players, including about 4 from his Carolina team, IIRC. Anyway, I was sitting not far from the WF bench and I kept my eyes on Jerry all through the timeout....and I knew he was going to drain those FTs to beat Dean Smith....and he did, for the 67-66 win. (Schellenberg was a good FT shooter anyway. In the opening game of the Big four the previous year...the first game against Carolina since the Scoreboard Game....he was 14 for 14 from the line as he scored 24 points in the 95-83 win over the 3rd-ranked Tar Heels.)
 
The Big East 2nd round matchup Cuse vs. Pitt is a good one so far in DC.:thumbsup:
 
Syr down only 1 with 6 secs to play and they have Cooney bring the ball up and shoot a 3. Hmmm.....

DM giving Boeheim end of game pointers?
 
In case anybody was wondering the 1977 team finished the season 2-5. Probably the only elite 8 team to ever accomplish that feat.

:cam:
 
No defense being played in the 1st half of the cow college-dook game with 103 points scored and cow college up 3.
 
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