Former NC State hockey player Jorge Alves lives the dream for a day, plays for Carolina Hurricanes

Occasionally, equipment managers do get to live the dream.

Jorge Alves is an equipment manager for the Carolina Hurricanes, and has been with the team for more than a decade. Alves spent a couple of years playing for NC State’s club hockey team and also spent some time in the minors but his playing career went no farther, at least not until Saturday.

The Hurricanes announced Saturday that they were signing Alves, a goaltender, to a professional tryout contract and that Alves would serve as Cam Ward’s backup in Tampa Bay during the game tonight. The Hurricanes lost 3-1, which is a bummer, but it did lead to this:

Jorge Alves is a goaltender of record in the @NHL after coming in tonight's game with 7.6 seconds remaining. #HipHipJorge

WATCH #CARvsTBL http://pic.twitter.com/cS2sLKJXaS

— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) January 1, 2017

The signing forced Alves into double duty, leading to unusual photos like this one:

All you need to know about Jorge Alves. The man is doing two jobs tonight. @NHLCanes http://pic.twitter.com/rTMXShPTjl

— Mike Maniscalco (@mikemaniscalco) January 1, 2017

I can’t be completely certain, but there is a pretty good chance that Alves is the first NC State alum ever to play in an NHL game. That’s pretty cool. Watching him getting choked up about all of this: also cool.

"You're starting to make me emotional."@NHLCanes #HipHipJorge Alves, who played for NC State, signed a Professional Tryout for #CARvsTBL http://pic.twitter.com/9UgT4hxpoH

— FOX Sports Carolinas (@CanesOnFSCR) January 1, 2017

Jorge Alves leads the #Canes onto the ice. #CARvsTBL http://pic.twitter.com/pNWyWc2mL1

— Michael Smith (@MSmithCanes) December 31, 2016

: #HockeyHugs for Jorge Alves from his #Canes teammates after tonight's game. #HipHipJorge http://pic.twitter.com/D8IsE8qtDX

— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) January 1, 2017

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NC State failed to death at Miami

Saturday News: GOP challenges 2017 Special Elections

OFFICIALS ASKS US SUPREME COURT TO HALT 2017 ELECTIONS (Raleigh News & Observer) – North Carolina officials asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block elections ordered for 2017 after a federal court found 28 state Senate and House districts were illegal racial gerrymanders. They asked Chief Justice John Roberts, in a request for emergency intervention, to put a halt to the three-judge panel’s order for redrawn districts by March and a special election in 2017. In the petition, They want the chief justice to enter an order by Jan. 11, when the General Assembly is set to convene its next session. “On Election Day, millions of North Carolina voters went to the polls and selected the state legislators who would represent them in the General Assembly for two-year terms in accordance with the North Carolina Constitution. Or so they thought,” Paul Clement, a Washington-based attorney representing McCrory, stated in the petition signed by Thomas Farr, a Raleigh-based attorney who has represented the legislators on redistricting, Phil Strach, another Raleigh-based attorney, and Alec McC. Peters of the state attorney general’s office.
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Archetypal McCrory: Appoint gynecologist to Oil & Gas Commission

Because knowing how many centimeters a well has dilated is important:

This is the same Randall Williams who was a central figure in crafting the language in the “do drink” letters to well owners whose water might have been contaminated by coal ash from Duke Energy. Those letters, which rescinded previous “do not drink” advisories, downplayed the health risks of hexavalent chromium in drinking water.

This is the same Randall Williams who, along with Tom Reeder, assistant secretary for the environment, signed an editorial lambasting state toxicologist Ken Rudo, alleging that he lied under oath about how the language was settled on, including the governor’s involvement.

We can also describe this phenomenon as "Rats in a lifeboat." Strategically shuffling loyal sycophants into other jobs, so they won't get fired and can continue with a voter-rejected agenda. And on the outrageously unethical front:

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After dark

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Meet Miami, forced into a youth movement but still pretty good

Listen, Tonye Jekiri couldn't play there forever, contrary to what we all might have assumed.

How to watch or listen to the game

Tip time: 4:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, Dec. 31

TV: RSN (affiliates)

Online streaming: ESPN3/ACC Network Extra (same thing)

Radio: Wolfpack Sports Network (affiliates)

Miami vitals

Record: 10-2
Pomeroy ranking: 32
Best win***: 67-53 over Stanford (No. 79 in Pomeroy Ratings)
Worst loss***: 73-56 to Iowa State (No. 30 in Pomeroy Ratings)

(***Based on opponent's Pomeroy Rating, not margin of victory/defeat.)

Adjusted tempo: 68.0 poss/40 minutes (ranks 273rd)
Adjusted offensive efficiency: 109.3 (ranks 57th)
Adjusted defensive efficiency: 92.4 (ranks 22nd)

Miami roster
Miami schedule
Miami stats 2016 / 2017

The Miami offense and starters

Miami Offense -- Four Factors	eFG% (National Rank)	TO%	OR%	FT Rate
2015-16	54.2 (23)	16.5 (69)	30.1 (158)	40.7 (77)
2016-17	52.6 (84)	20.3 (243)	37.2 (21)	36.3 (146)

Last season marked the end of an era in Miami basketball; Tonye Jekiri, Sheldon McClellan, and Angel Rodriguez graduated and left Jim Larranaga a lot of holes to fill. That group led the Hurricanes to their second Sweet Sixteen appearance under Larranaga. (And then subsequently got steamrolled by eventual champ Villanova.)

The last time Larranaga had a team that good, the follow-up season was rough. His Miami program has been up and down, to say the least--the Canes have an ACC title but also have only made the NCAAs twice in 5+ seasons under Larranaga. And in both cases, they were a 3-seed or better.

The good news for the Hurricanes is it's looking like they'll weather the roster turnover much better than they did following that peak in 2013. Despite their losses, they returned three solid veterans, and they also added a pair of top-50 recruits that have proven critical to their success so far in 2017.

The offense is not as good as it was in 2016, but they've managed not to fall off a cliff, which is fairly impressive considering what they lost. Miami's youth shows in its significantly higher turnover rate, but so far at least the team has been able to compensate somewhat by grabbing more offensive boards. The Canes are likely to remain turnover prone, so that offensive rebounding rate will be important for them the rest of the way.

In the absence of Rodriguez, McClellan, and role player Juan Cruz Uceda, Miami is shooting threes well below national average. Davon Reed continues to be an outstanding three-point shooter, but the perimeter support elsewhere is mainly coming from freshmen and sophomores. That's not necessarily a problem, it's just hard to guess at those kids' true shooting talent when there is so little track record. Freshman guard Dejan Vasiljevic is shooting nearly 40% from three, for instance, but will that last now that the schedule's about to get much more difficult?

That could become a problem later, and it might not. So far the Hurricanes are getting by fine simply by not shooting a lot of threes. The offense probably can't be as good as it was last season, but definitely good enough to pose a threat to most ACC teams on any given day.

Starters

Ja'Quan Newton (6-2, 187) -- Newton was an obvious candidate for raise-workload-to-fill-void guy, and that is indeed what has happened. He's shooting more often--heck, he already has 18 three-point attempts after trying only 26 last season--and leads Miami in scoring. He's taken full advantage of a weak non-conference schedule  and is shooting a career-best 52.1% inside the arc. That is unlikely to last, since he's a career 47.3% shooter from two and has never been better than a 45.5% shooter in ACC play.

Bruce Brown (6-5, 190) -- Brown is one of those aforementioned top-50 recruits and is off to a nice start, averaging 10.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. I really like this kid. His overall athleticism is impressive, and it shows on paper. He gets to the line, he is disruptive defensively, he rebounds well at both ends, and he's also a good passer. If his three-point shooting warms up, he's a big problem.

Davon Reed (6-6, 220) -- As usual, Davon Reed is doing real good at shooting. He's a career 39.5% three-point shooter and so far this season he's at 40.3. He usually maintains a roughly 50-50 balance between two-point and three-point attempts, and he's not bad inside the arc, which is what makes him tough.

Kamari Murphy (6-8, 220) -- Larranaga has been one of the best at landing key transfers--Murphy, also Rodriguez and McClellan--to sustain his program over the last few years. Murphy, who came over from Oklahoma State, has been an important role player for the Canes. He's a decent post player and a pretty good rebounder, but can be a bit turnover-prone.

Dewan Huell (6-11, 220) -- Huell is avoiding some of the usual freshman big man problems, like turnovers, for instance. He's been a decent scorer in the paint and a very good offensive rebounder but needs to get a lot better rebounding the ball at the defensive end.

The Miami bench and defense

Reserves: Ebuka Izundu (6-10, 231), Anthony Lawrence (6-7, 210), Dejan Vasiljevic (6-3, 198). In his limited playing time, offensive rebounds are basically Izundu's whole game. He grabs a zillion offensive rebounds and either puts them through the score circle or gets fouled. It's impressive, really. Lawrence has been an outstanding shooter throughout his career both inside the arc and beyond it. He takes a secondary role in the offense, though. Vasiljevic has taken 53 three-pointers and 15 twos this year. He has made 40% of those threes and a third of those twos. Guess which one you'd rather he take?

MIami Defense -- Four Factors	eFG% (National Rank)	TO%	OR%	FT Rate
2015-16	48.3 (92)	17.4 (216)	29.5 (154)	29.1 (36)
2016-17	41.7 (6)	19.7 (134)	28.2 (112)	23.7 (12)

Larranaga's teams usually don't foul much, and this edition is no different. If the Hurricanes keep up the outstanding interior defense, they'll be in pretty good shape the rest of this season. Opponents are probably going to shoot better than the 28.3 mark they've put up against Miami so far.

The Pomeroy Predictor likes Miami by seven.

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NC's status as a democracy in question

And as they say, sometimes the truth hurts:

Here, the dominant party — at present, the Republicans — holds all the power while winning just a slight majority of the overall vote. Everyone who votes for Democratic representatives or senators is given no voice in Raleigh because Democrats have no power. Just two weeks ago, the Republican legislature even went so far as to diminish the powers of the incoming Democratic governor, despite his statewide election victory. Republicans can do this with impunity because most of them don’t face real elections.

Reynolds makes a good argument that North Carolina operates like a sham democracy in critical respects. The question is what people can do to reclaim the right of real representation.

This is one of those issues that many of us would be tempted to say, "Of course it's a sham!" and then walk off without further discussion. But Republicans are determined to push the envelope on what is actually unconstitutional, and what is merely bad policy. As candidates square up in the soon-to-be-held 2017 Special Election, their messaging needs to be tight and verifiable, and we need to make it abundantly clear to voters that their democracy is being slowly and surely taken away from them. Here's more from Andrew Reynolds:

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Friday News: Bureaucratic Defensive Posture (BDP)

FACING FIRING, POLARIZING VAN DER VAART GIVES HIMSELF LESSER ROLE. (AP) — The N.C. environmental agency leader who headed Republican Gov. Pat McCrory’s response to coal ash and other pollution problems is taking a demotion and pay cut to avoid being fired by incoming Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper. State Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Donald Van Der Vaart is claiming a job as an environmental program manager effective Saturday — a day before Cooper becomes governor, according to employment records kept by the Office of State Controller. His pay will drop to about $97,000 after making $131,000 a year as agency secretary.
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The future starts slow

Much like our dang photo archive.

NC State’s non-conference schedule is finished, and the Wolfpack begins conference play at Miami on Saturday. It’s been really tough to figure how to make sense of this year’s pre-conference schedule, since there have been so many unusual circumstances.

None of which excuse a loss to Illinois. The loss to Creighton is at least understandable despite the State’s limitations in that game. State has effectively put that portion of the year behind it by winning out the rest of the way.

For reasons I will probably never understand, NC State heads into league play in decent RPI position. That is really fortunate considering how many games the Pack missed Ted Kapita, Omer Yurtseven, and Maverick Rowan. It feels the opposite, but NC State actually weathered its non-conference schedule okay, as far as RPI is concerned.

This is important because it’s league games all the way down the rest of the season, beginning on Saturday, and schedule strength is not going to be a problem. NC State could use a quick start to league play as counter to the first month of the regular season. NC State seems a lot more capable of that fast start than it did just three weeks ago.

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NC State women’s hoops snaps Notre Dame’s 35-game ACC winning streak

Big big win for the ladies.

NC State head coach Wes Moore picked up the biggest win of his tenure as the Wolfpack Women held on for a 70-62 win over No. 2 Notre Dame. The game snapped the Irish’s incredible 35-game ACC winning streak, while also giving State something it lacked last season: a big win over a great opponent.

When you beat the No. 2 team in the nation! http://pic.twitter.com/AI8h420bQV

— NC State WBB (@PackWomensBball) December 30, 2016

The Irish are No. 2 in the RPI so this should provide a nice bump for NC State, which is ranked down in the 70s. The Wolfpack Women just missed out on an NCAA tournament bid last season, primarily because of it’s unremarkable resume. That team had several opportunities to finish off resume-defining wins and could not do it.

Tonight, State did finish, giving itself a victory that could be immensely helpful down the road. We’ll have more from Sherman later—I’d imagine he was at this game--but I figured early congratulations were in order.

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Video: NC State throws down trio of big dunks against Rider

dunkin the dunk-ass out of the ball

Led by Dennis Smith Jr., who I believe has more dunks than anybody on the team, NC State has been one of the dunkiest squads in the ACC so far. Against Rider on Wednesday, Smith threw down maybe his best of the year, a ridiculously forceful and angry-looking dunk, which as far as I’m concerned are the best kind.

Both Abdul-Malik Abu and Maverick Rowan got in on the action and the Broncs, and if you missed any of ‘em, State’s twitter account provided the highlights:

#WPN, who had the best dunk last night ... @MalikAbu_, @maverickrowan or @Dennis4Smith? http://pic.twitter.com/ZPMUcM7Ylc

— NC State Men's Bball (@PackMensBball) December 29, 2016

It was necessarily diplomatic of them to ask the poll question, but we’re all agreed it’s Dennis by a mile right? Right?

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Friday fracking video

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Governing in the age of social media

When the conversation about repealing HB2 began, the deal was clear. Charlotte would repeal its nondiscrimination ordinance and then the General Assembly would come back in a special session to repeal HB2 in full. President Pro-Tem Phil Berger felt sure he could deliver his caucus but House Speaker Tim Moore would need some Democrats. Governor-elect […]
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Cash Michaels: GOP's power grab limits minority hires in new administration

It's not just Democrats in general who are being held back:

Based on his posture as a moderate Democrat, Cooper attracted a lion’s share of the Black vote in November, enough to help him unseat McCrory by just over 10,000 votes, to become North Carolina’s 75th governor on January 7, 2017.

However, now, thanks to measures passed last week by the Republican-led General Assembly in an extra special session, and signed this week by McCrory before he leaves office, observers say Cooper’s ability to indeed govern in the interest of all North Carolinians and make sure communities of color across the State are heard, respected, and reflected in his administration, has been severely compromised with the removal of many of his key appointment powers.

Just looking at the numbers, with McCrory (being able to) replace 1,500 employees, and now Cooper only being able to replace less than 1/3 that number, the opportunities for more diversity have been severely curtailed. And since many of those positions are middle-management, lower-level employees are going to be facing some weird political dynamics with their bosses. And if NC's employment history is any reliable gauge, African-Americans will suffer the most under such a formula.

Editor's note: We almost lost Cash to cancer earlier this year, but he's back in the saddle again. Read what he writes, you will learn something.

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Thursday News: Just go already...

NC State’s offense shines in 99-72 win over Rider

That’ll do just fine.

Six players finished in double figures for NC State, which used a huge second half to cruise past Rider, 99-72. The Wolfpack scored 59 points in the second half, overcoming a slow start to again torch an opponent that rather unwisely opted to play up-tempo.

Really, the game recap can begin and end with this Dennis Smith dunk, which is one of the nastiest dunks that PNC Arena has been fortunate enough to host.

So, yeah, Dennis Smith is fairly athletic. I mean dang, Dennis, those players had families!

Smith finished with 19 points and 16 assists, while Omer Yurtseven, who earned his first career start, scored 16 on 7-11 shooting. It was a nicely balanced scoring effort from the Wolfpack, and again State was able to get its walk-ons some playing time, which is to say: mission accomplished.

Freshman guard Markell Johnson was held out of the game by Mark Gottfried as punishment for some sort of violation that the Gott Man wouldn’t specify. Johnson is likely to be back in action against Miami this weekend, Gott said after the Rider win.

It was good to see the Pack finish out non-conference play strong, hopefully a sign of a team that is getting more comfortable and starting to level up.

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Fascism Watch: Anti-Muslim incidents in the US

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Wednesday News: Ode to Jim Martin

Cemeteries

Cemeteries have always been an important part of my life.  I bonded most with my grandmother when wandering through forests that had once been fields searching for a graveyard that contained the bones of a long lost relative. We never found the grave we were looking for but stumbled upon many other forgotten family plots […]
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Glimpses of the Kakistocracy: The foreclosure King

Steven Mnuchin has a lot to answer for:

Yang was lucky. The bank eventually dropped its efforts against him. But others were not so fortunate. In recent years, OneWest has foreclosed on at least 50,000 people, often in circumstances that consumer advocates say run counter to federal rules and, as in Yang’s case, common sense.

President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary has prompted new scrutiny of OneWest’s foreclosure practices. Mnuchin was the lead investor and chairman of the company during the years it ramped up its foreclosure efforts. Representatives from the company and the Trump transition team did not respond to requests for comment.

Not that it would make any difference, but I'd love to find out how many of those 50,000 foreclosed folks voted for Trump, and how they feel about that mistake now. Mnuchin represents the worst type of businessman, one who directly profits from the suffering of others. Calling him a "Robber Baron" is too nice, he's really just a flim-flam man. Speaking of, here's Republican Fred Thompson hawking reverse mortgages:

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BTP The Podcast Vol. 17: Wooooo Jaylen Samuels and also Yelling About Punts Edition

We probably spent too much time yelling about punts.

We were going to talk about basketball but then we didn’t, mainly because neither Will nor I could remember what happened against McNeese last week. We did, however, remember State’s bowl game win over Vanderbilt. And that punt, that one punt that I can’t let go.

Sorry about that, but shoot, man, when your team punts from the opposing 34 then people on the internet are going to be upset about it.

(This episode is rated PG-13 because there are swears. Tunes: “Young Hearts,” by Beach Slang, from A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings. “Tell Her I’m Just Dancing,” by Hiss Golden Messenger, from Heart Like a Levee.)

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NFL Draft 2017: NC State safety Josh Jones announces decision to turn pro

Alas, not the news we wanted, but not surprising, either.

NC State safety Josh Jones announced on Twitter Tuesday that he will be skipping his senior season to enter the 2017 NFL Draft. Jones, along with defensive end Bradley Chubb, submitted their paperwork for evaluation earlier in December, and Jones must have liked what he heard from NFL scouts.

http://pic.twitter.com/R9DatjC7ck

— J. Jones (@JoshJones11_) December 27, 2016

This is likely the smart move for several reasons. First and foremost, any time a football player can shave off a year of unpaid labor involving a ton of physical abuse, that is pretty ideal. Football takes a physical toll on everyone playing, but especially on guys like Jones who are in on a lot of contact. At least now he will be paid money for enduring all of that contact.

Jones is also coming off a season in which he racked up 109 tackles, nearly doubling his career total. After an inconsistent sophomore season, he was a lot better in 2016, no doubt placing his draft stock as high as it has ever been.

Josh Jones would have been a big part of an NC State defense that looks like it’s going to be outstanding in 2017, but I don’t fault this decision at all, and I look forward to seeing him on Sundays.

Best wishes, Josh, and thanks.

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Matt Dayes didn’t have a great finale for NC State; Matt Dayes is still great

Matt Dayes had a rough bowl game on Monday—he’d probably be the first to admit that. Dayes fumbled away a possession once and about near fumbled away another. That was all in one quarter.

That doesn’t matter, though, because NC State nonetheless won easily in the Independence Bowl, and anyway one crap-ass quarter can’t erase how good and meaningful Matt Dayes has been for Dave Doeren’s program.

Dayes didn’t get the spotlight moment we hoped he’d get in the Independence Bowl, but he was always prepared to handle whatever needed doing—Matt’s rarely missed a block or a route and he’s even enabled Dave Doeren’s silly “wildcat” nonsense.

State hasn’t always called the right play with Matt Dayes on the field, but Dayes has invested in all those calls completely. And when State has called the right play, Dayes has always been decisive in how he handles them.

That is what we don’t appreciate enough, but will soon. Matt Dayes is great at making a near-immediate decision and playing from there. Plant and go. Hit a spot and get up the field. If there’s an underrated attribute for a running back, it’s probably that one. Dayes didn’t get to go out with a showcase, but his efforts ain’t gonna be forgotten.

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Tuesday Twitter roundup

It's time for some ethical House-cleaning:

Farmer-lawmaker feeding at the trough https://t.co/W0JW8BIG2K via @StarNewsOnline #ncga #ncpol

— greg flynn (@gregflynn) December 27, 2016

This makes Jim Black's violations seem penny-ante in comparison:

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Tuesday News: Rip van Holding's precious can

CURIOUS ABOUT GEORGE HOLDING’S SPECIAL GARBAGE PICKUP DEAL? (Raleigh News & Observer) -- A Raleigh sanitation worker using a specialized trash truck empties the garbage cans behind the house of U.S. Rep. George Holding. Raleigh requires homeowners to pull their trash cans to the curb, although some receive special service. Holding received an exemption due to his "steep driveway."
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Next Season is the Year for Dave Doeren

The Pack could be very good, but can’t repeat this year’s mistakes

The 2016 football season came to a close on Monday night, and it ended on a very positive note. The Pack dispatched SEC foe Vanderbilt 41-17, giving Doeren his second bowl win and finishing the year at 7-6.

The dominant bowl win, coupled with the rivalry game victory in Chapel Hill, provided a great ending to a season which to that point had made us all want to fall on the floor and cry for three straight hours. Both those games displayed the talent and potential that this football team had, but also at times displayed the Pack’s inability to get out of its own way, which was the biggest obstacle this year to a really good season. The first quarter of the bowl game was a disaster as State seemingly did everything they could not to score. The next two quarters though, they rolled and looked like the team we had hoped they would be.

Now Dave Doeren and his football team turn towards next season, which very well could be a make or break year for the fifth season head coach.

The 2017 edition of NC State is going to be arguably the most talented team Doeren has coached. If nobody leaves early to enter the pro ranks, then State will return nine starters on defense including the entire defensive line, which was one of the best in the conference. Think about that defensive line with one more year behind them. Yeah. Four starters will also return on the offensive line to go with a strong group of skill position players and a quarterback that deserved more credit than most people gave him. Player for player, this team is very exciting.

There aren’t a great deal of question marks on the depth chart. This team really should be able to win a lot of games and might be receiving some (relatively) lofty preseason predictions, which will only add to the pressure that Doeren might already be under after a 7-6 season that could have seen double digits wins. The nonsense crap that cost State so dearly so many times this year must be rectified next season. State cannot derp away games they should win like they did this year, Doeren cannot let that happen.

The wildcat is still in the playbook, which is one of the easier issues to deal with. Doeren as the head coach has the power to rip out the pages that have the wildcat sets on them and burn them to a satisfying dust, but he has not done that yet. He has the power to, you know, NOT punt on 4^th and 5 from the 34 yard line, but that continues to happen. It wasn’t all poor coaching that made this season excruciating for the largest part of it. A coach didn’t drop a crucial interception or fumble a punt, but junk like faking field goals at Eastern Carolina or garbage red zone play calling must be fixed, because Doeren probably cannot afford to go 6-6 and lose a bunch of close games again next season.

Doeren has received quite a volume of criticism this year, and he probably deserved close to all of it. I’ll be the first to tell you that I was not on board the Doeren train for much of the season, but with the way the season ended and the team he has coming back next year, I’m willing to give him his chance. He’s earned it, but next year has to be different.

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Jaylen Samuels made the Independence Bowl a party

Jaylen Samuels can play about 4334 positions. Vandy had no idea what to do about that.

Yes, we can quibble on the finer points of the football game but is that in the holiday spirit? No, no it is not, at least not when the larger point is that NC State won by a lot of points and Jaylen Samuels scored several touchdowns. That is a pretty good gift this time of year, if you ask me.

Here is #JaySam dancing http://pic.twitter.com/TOIsFfIjgI

— No. 23 Sports (@No23Sports) December 27, 2016

Vanderbilt went into this game content with forcing Samuels to play wide receiver, and that strategy did not work, it did not work at all. And maybe it took all month but offensive coordinator Eli Drinkwitz found a strategy that got JaySam the ball. The result was numerous touchdowns.

It’s a small thing, but watching Jaylen set dudes aside as they vaguely try to tackle him while he runs by will never not be amusing.

I think this was my favorite game of the 2016 season, primarily because the first quarter was so bad and it got so much better from there. Let’s do this again next year, except without that first quarter part.

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NC State rolls Vanderbilt in Independence Bowl, 41-17

THIS is what could have been, and this is what was.

NC State started slow against Vanderbilt in the Independence Bowl on Monday evening. These things, extremely annoying and usual-feeling, can happen. The Wolfpack spoiled several of its own trips inside the opponent’s 40-yard-line by scoring none points. NC State became much more efficient in the second quarter and ran off to a very easy 35-17 win over Vanderbilt.

The frustrating aspect of this game was State’s obvious lagging effort to start against a clearly inferior team—the Wolfpack could have had several scores on Vanderbilt in the first quarter but managed none and despite dominating the line of scrimmage had no points.

Fortunately, this was not a calamity that spanned the game. State woke up, and Jaylen Samuels got the football, and it all worked out. NC State finished out the game with a multi-score win.

We will see you next year and happy JaySam hat trick.

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Georgetown transfer Isaac Copeland considering NC State, per report

Isaac Copeland is a 6’9 junior forward who announced earlier in December that he intended to transfer from Georgetown. Copeland, a former top-50 prospect, is a Raleigh native who played at Ravenscroft before finishing his prep career at powerhouse Brewster Academy.

Mark Gottfried recruited Copeland out of high school and now has a chance to land him as a transfer. According to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, NC State is one of nine schools that Copeland is considering. It is an impressive list of schools.

Georgetown transfer Isaac Copeland has cut his list to Arizona, ASU, Cincy, Illinois, KU, NC State, Nebraska, Texas, & UConn, per a source.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) December 26, 2016

As a junior, Copeland saw his minutes evaporate amid both injury and poor play. He’d been a significant part of Georgetown’s rotation as a freshman and sophomore. He’s a career 50% shooter inside the arc, and 29.1% shooter beyond it. For whatever reasons, he was never able to reach his full potential at Georgetown.

Per a report from Rothstein last week, Copeland is applying for a medical redshirt for the 2016-17 season, which would preserve a year of eligibility. So the junior could still play two seasons at his next destination, not just one, if the NCAA grants him that redshirt. He is expected to have surgery on his back that will sideline him for several months, according to Rothstein.

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Must read: Chris Fitzsimon's Monday Numbers roundup for 2016

Selfish governing has produced terrible outcomes:

30—number of years since President Ronald Reagan called the EITC “the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress” (“Earned Income Tax Credit,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)

3—number of years since North Carolina allowed its state EITC to end in 2013 (“States Can Adopt or Expand Earned Income Tax Credits to Build a Stronger Future Economy,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 19, 2016)

The Earned Income Tax Credit is one of those "out of sight, out of mind" issues that don't generate as much interest amongst the general public, but the loss of it has generated a lot of suffering in families on the lower end of the income scale. And taking it away has served to perpetuate poverty, because those dollars had been spent in areas and businesses that desperately needed that currency to keep them hiring. And when those jobs disappear, the next slap in the face is dwindling unemployment benefits:

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Monday News: March of the kangaroos

TRUMP IN POSITION TO RESHAPE JUDICIARY WITH MORE THAN 100 VACANCIES (Washington Post) -- In addition to an open Supreme Court seat, openings throughout the federal circuit and district courts will allow Donald Trump to quickly make a wide array of lifetime appointments. The new Republican president will have nearly twice the number of vacancies to fill than President Obama had when he took office.
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2016 Independence Bowl: How to watch, TV channel, online streaming, odds, and more

Have yourself a fine Christmas and consider sending Vanderbilt a nice fruit basket

We do owe Vandy quite a bit, turns out.

Either I’d never heard this story before or completely forgotten it, but when Matt Dayes was a high school prospect, he nearly ended up at Vanderbilt instead of NC State. Fortunately for State, Vandy’s coaches were all out of pocket when he tried to call them to commit, as the N&O’s Joe Giglio details here.

That ended up being a pretty big break for Dave Doeren, who at that point had only been on the job for a matter of weeks. Who knows how Dayes’ absence would have affected the program in general, but I’m sure we would have had a bit less fun over the years.

So thanks for that, Vanderbilt and now-former head coach James Franklin, you guys gave us a gift that’s been giving ever since then. It worked out well for Dayes, too, as he escaped the two-season post-Franklin purgatory in Nashville and walked right into a new, run-oriented offense.

(Quick side note here for the kids: According to Giglio, Dayes decided to commit to whichever team won the Music City Bowl, and it is not generally a good idea to make life-changing decisions on flimsy criteria like this.)

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Harrisonchewbacca

Christmas Day open thread

By all rights this thread should be pointless, because you should be basking in the warmth of family. Or slaving over a hot stove, so said family members can recharge after all that arduous present-unwrapping. Or wandering around picking up shreds of said wrapping paper, before the dog (or cat) gets ahold of it and hacks on the carpet. Or intervening in a discussion that has the potential to turn into World War III. But you know what? It's all good. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, everybody. :)

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Sunday News: Good will lacking

DISCRIMINATION UNDER FIRE IN N.C. (Albuquerque Journal) -- North Carolina Republicans have provoked a political firestorm. First, Gov. Pat McCrory refused to concede his loss for close to a month. Then, under the guise of providing Hurricane Matthew relief money, they convened several back-to-back special sessions, all geared at stripping power from Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper before he takes office. Whereas President Barack Obama is honoring the tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, a fundamental pillar of American democracy, North Carolina Republicans are taking a different path.
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Merry Christmas and happy holidays from BTP

That’s right, I said Merry Christmas AND happy holidays.

Hello, friends. Those of us here at Backing The Pack Amalgamated Industries And Off-Brand Sunglass Distillery Inc. would like to wish you and your loved ones a very fine holiday season. If you are lucky, you have good people, good food, and good presents to look forward to this time of year, so don’t forget that you’re lucky.

Thanks for reading this website this year. I think we had fun for the most part even if the teams didn’t always cooperate on the field. One of these years we’ll all be completely synced on the fun thing. Until then, we’ll keep doing the best we can. Not everything we do here is great or even good, but it’s the good moments that make it worthwhile for me, still, after like a dozen years writing on the tubes.

Back in the day I’d be thrilled if I hit 100 views in one day, and over time I flew way way past that modest benchmark. Thanks again, everybody. I don’t have any gifts to give you other than maybe this MST3K-styled commentary of Die Hard that James Curle and I did recently.

We’ll do this whole thing all over again in 2017. Cheers, and remember, we have Jaylen Samuels.

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Counting the costs of a deceptive, opaque Governor

And you thought raising your children was expensive:

Gov. Pat McCrory’s office has spent more than $230,000 on an outside law firm to defend itself in a public records lawsuit filed in 2015 by a media coalition, according to billing invoices.

McCrory’s office provided the records Thursday after The Charlotte Observer filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking the information. The paper filed the complaint after the governor did not respond to a records request in October seeking the invoices from Charlotte’s Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson, as well as all correspondence to the law firm.

Get that? They had to file a lawsuit, just to find out how much (taxpayer) money had been spent on other lawsuits. We (the public) are paying dearly to block our own access to information that should have been provided to us without hesitation. It's so absurd it's hard to wrap your mind around it. And so is this:

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Saturday News: Sad state of the State

BATTLE LINES TURN N.C.’S MODERATION INTO DISTANT MEMORY (New York Times) — Political chaos has become as much a fixture of life here as the basketball rivalry between Duke and the University of North Carolina: four years of battles, boycotts, protests and standoffs over voting, gerrymandering, anti-discrimination ordinances, bathroom access and the ability of Republicans to strip power from the governor’s office as soon as a Democrat wins it. The warfare has turned North Carolina, once the South’s beacon of moderation, into perhaps the most polarized state in the country.
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Highlights: The Markell Johnson-Shaun Kirk dunk connection

What can you say about Markell, he’s a giver.

It’s just gonna be highlights day at BTP. Via the ACC Digital Network, here’s a handy recap of the dunk-related teamwork between Markell Johnson and Shaun Kirk so far this season. Johnson and Kirk connected on a pair of alley-oops against hapless McNeese State on Thursday night.

Markell could have easily taken the points himself in the second case, but I for one appreciate his efforts to help NC State make up ground on Florida State in the ACC dunk standings.

ACC Team Dunk Leaderboard:

1. FSU 71
2. NCSU 42
T3: Miami 39
T3: Louisville 39
5. UNC 38
6. UVa 37
7. Duke 36
8. WFU 34
9. VT 32
10. ND 31

— Adrian Atkinson (@FreeportKid) December 20, 2016

Florida State is out to a commanding lead, what with them being an entire team of very tall people, but the Pack put a dent in it on Thursday. My plan going forward if I’m NC State is to do a lot more dunks for the rest of the season because dunks are good and also useful.

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Happy Holidays!

What a beautiful song and rendition of it. RIP Leonard Cohen. Hallelujah  
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How can you tell when the Bergermeister is lying?

If his mouth is moving, it's a good bet:

“It’s a reasonable conclusion that people can come to that the reason the Democrats voted against repeal, the reason that Cooper urged them to vote against the repeal, was because they would prefer to have it as an issue that they can raise money on,” Berger, an Eden Republican, said Thursday in an interview with the News & Record where he discussed what happened behind the scenes Wednesday.

If Roy Cooper wanted to keep it as an issue, he wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to get it repealed. And after the recent "special session" fiasco, in which Republicans attacked the Governor-elect's authority and influence so blatantly, it's a "reasonable conclusion that people can come to" that the failure to repeal HB2 was just one more effort by Republicans to undermine Cooper's administration. If you want to see just how disingenuous Berger can get, here are a handful of direct quotes taken from an N&O article:

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Friday fracking video

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Friday News: Deep is the divide

FAILURE TO REPEAL HB2 ENSURES N.C. POLITICS WILL REMAIN DEEPLY DIVIDED (LA Times) -- After North Carolina lawmakers refused to repeal House Bill 2, the law that curbs legal protections for LGBT people and has cost the state millions of dollars in boycotts and lost jobs, Democrats and Republicans took to a predictable pattern: blaming each other for the unraveling of the deal. Republican leaders thought they had reached a compromise that would allow the state to move past the controversial law. But in the end, any bill they could get rural Republicans to support, they could not get Democrats to sign up on.
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Highlights: Dennis Smith scores 23 in NC State’s win over McNeese

DSJ is still warming up after missing a year of basketball because of injury. The more he gets acclimated, the scarier he becomes.

Dennis Smith was tremendous against McNeese State on Thursday night, scoring 23 points in only 20 minutes. He made nine of his 12 field goal attempts, including a 4-5 effort from three. It was pretty easy to tell he was feeling good about his jump shot early, and several of his three-pointers hit nothing but net.

He drew a foul on a three-point attempt that he swished in the first half, and by that point it felt a little unfair.

After a slow start shooting the ball this year, Smith is now up to 38.5% from three-point range. We know what he can do off the bounce and if he is able to confidently pull up and knock down long jumpers, he becomes that much better.

He can also dunk pretty good, too.

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Think You Can Appeal The Business Court's Denial Of Your Opposition To Designation? You Probably Can't

The NC Supreme Court's jurisdiction over appeals from the Business Court expanded significantly with the passage of a bill by the NC General Assembly "modernizing" the Business Court in 2014.  A party can appeal even interlocutory orders of the Business Court to the state's highest Court.  N.C. Gen. Stat. §7A-27(a).

What about an Order from the Business Court denying an opposition to a designation to the Business Court?  That's surely "interlocutory," so appealable, right?  Yes, sure, if it affects a "substantial right," as provided in  G.S. §7A-27(a).

Given a ruling from the NC Supreme Court this week, however, it seems unlikely that being forced against your will to litigate in the Business Court will ever be deemed to affect a "substantial right."

The case is Hanesbrands Inc. v. Fowler.  Plaintiff, suing the Defendant for breaching stock grant agreements, designated the case to the Business Court at the time it filed its Complaint in August 2015.  The Defendant objected to the designation in September 2015.  Judge Gale denied the Opposition the next month and the interlocutory ruling was appealed to the NC Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruled that a "substantial right" was not affected by the case remaining in the Business Court and dismissed the appeal.  It rejected the Defendant's argument that she was just an "ordinary" human being who shouldn't have to fight a large corporation in a "special court" designed for sophisticated business entities.  The Defendant had argued:

that requiring her 'to defend a case filed against her by a large, public corporation in a special court established primarily for disputes between businesses' denies her the substantial right to 'have this matter heard in the same manner as ordinary disputes involving ordinary citizens.'

Op. at 5.

I wonder if a "substantial right" would be affected if the Business Court were to grant an Opposition to a Designation in a case appropriate for designation, requiring the designating party to litigate its case outside of the Business Court.  That would involve being in regular NC Superior Court, a Court without electronic filing, without law clerks to assist the Judge in ruling on its claims, without a Judge with the business expertise of a Business Court Judge dedicated to the case from start to finish and without a blog focused on the Court.  If that's not "substantial" enough, it is at least probably unconstitutional.

Before the Business Court was "modernized," the General Statutes allowed precisely that sort of appeal.  Section 7A-45.4(e) used to say that a party dissatisfied with an Order kicking a case out of the Business Court "may appeal to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court."  There was no procedure for that unique kind of appeal to a single Judge.  The only time I think that it was exercised resulted in nothing more than a form Order from the NC Supreme Court.  I wrote about that case back in 2012.

But even looking back at that no longer effective statute, it seems unlikely that there ever was a right of appeal to the NC Supreme Court for an Order refusing to overturn a designation.

I would not  have been aware of the interesting Hanesbrands decision but for my partner Jennifer Van Zant emailing it to me a couple of days ago.  Thanks, Jennifer.

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Dennis Smith and NC State handle McNeese State with ease as Pack wins 89-57

No problems at all here.

NC State scored only 12 points over the final 11 minutes of the game Thursday night and still won by 32, which pretty well sums up the lopsided nature of this matchup with McNeese State. Dennis Smith led the Wolfpack with 23 points as the Pack cruised to an 89-57 victory.

Four Factors	NC State	McNeese
eFG%	55.3	36.5
Turnover Rate	21.7	17.6
Off Reb Rate	51.4	21.3
FT Rate	28.8	28.6

	Pts	Poss	OFF_EFF	DEF_EFF
McNeese	57	74	77.2	120.6
NC State	89	74	120.6	77.2

NC State had this one well in hand before 10 minutes were gone in the first half and pushed the lead to almost 40 points before the midway point of the second half. That was where Mark Gottfried decided he’d seen enough from his starters and gave his bench guys some extended run.

Ten Wolfpack players played at least 13 minutes in the contest, and Dennis Smith sat out the final 12 minutes and change. Smith, Torin Dorn, Terry Henderson, and Abdul-Malik Abu got plenty of rest, as none played more than 25 minutes. Actually, nobody on the team played more than 25 minutes, as the Gott Man liberally spread playing time around.

That’s about the only way a game like this one is useful—it allows your inexperienced guys more time than they’d get under normal circumstances. In this case it came at the expense of the Pack’s offensive execution, but hey, you can’t have everything.

McNeese State played true to form, making only 14 of 37 two-point attempts and six of 26 threes. The Cowboys also got demolished on the glass at both ends of the floor. Poor shooting, awful rebounding—these were two things we knew coming in were likely to doom McNeese very quickly and that’s exactly what happened.

The Pack will take this win into a holiday break, returning to action against Rider on Wednesday.

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They own it

The GOP continues to bring shame to the state of North Carolina. Last week, they stripped power from the newly elected Democratic governor and gave it to themselves. Yesterday, they spent $42,000 of the people’s money just to go into session and come out with nothing. In the process, they proved they can’t be trusted […]
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Sneak peek at the Amazon Wind Farm

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Asheville water decision exposes poorly-written legislation

When you try to be clever but fail miserably:

The court also found that lawmakers had tried to skirt the constitution by tailoring the wording of the legislation. The law’s plain wording appeared to affect an entire class of municipalities, but did so in way that ensured Asheville was the only member of this class.

The court also pointed out errors in legislators’ contention that the law would “ensure the availability of better water service at a lower cost.” The decision noted that several of the region’s municipalities do the same thing that Asheville was being criticized for doing – charging customers outside their territory higher rates than municipal customers. The decision specifically singled out Biltmore Forest, Black Mountain, Montreat, Weaverville, Woodfin and Hendersonville for this practice.

At the heart of this matter is the GOP's inability to approach a subject from a clinical standpoint. They feel compelled to create (or exaggerate) certain aspects of an issue, in an attempt to justify what they already want to do. We see it everywhere, but especially in their efforts to stifle any form of home rule by municipalities. HB2 is a classic case, wherein they create monsters to attack women and little children. And then there's the "unfair competition" approach to providing services like muni broadband. But those fictional narratives start to come apart in the cold reality of a courtroom, where evidence and consequences are closely scrutinized.

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Thursday News: The art of the misdeal

FAILURE TO REPEAL HB2 SETS NC BACK EVEN MORE (Capitol Broadcasting Co. editorial) -- After the Charlotte City Council acquiesced to GOP demands, legislative leaders failed to keep up their end of the deal to repeal HB2. In the missed opportunity to close some of the gaps that divide our state. Instead, suspicion and distrust carried the day. The bill that was offered Wednesday in the Senate was a devil’s bargain. On the one hand it would have repealed HB2, but on the other hand legislators would have continued to impose on cities and counties most of the provisions in the law. “This was not the deal. The deal was Charlotte repeals fully and we repeal fully,” said Sen. Jeff Jackson, D-Mecklenburg.
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Meet McNeese State, which could use an intervention

2017 NC State football: a glimpse at the schedule ahead

It's not going to be appreciably easier--and perhaps it will be harder--for Dave Doeren to break through next year.

Prior to the 2016 campaign, it was consensus among the denizens of BTP that a six or seven-win season would be acceptable given the rise in schedule difficulty and the vagaries of breaking in a new starter at QB. With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that the schedule didn't get as much tougher as expected in the nonconference portion due to East Carolina and Notre Dame having terrible seasons. That, and the excruciating manner in which the Pack plodded to 6-6 amidst so many missed opportunities, left the final mark feeling fairly unsatisfying.

Along with the "just get bowl eligible against this schedule and it's a pretty good year" notion of 2016, a common refrain I've seen, and propagated myself, is that 2017 should be the year Dave Doeren breaks through because the schedule eases up a bit, and, for the first time in his brief tenure, Doeren will have a veteran team.

The veteran team part holds up—NC State will return a lot of starters—but next year's nonconference schedule may actually look tougher "on paper" than this season's slate, especially considering how the Irish and Pirates underperformed. DeShone Kizer has announced his intentions of entering the NFL draft, but it's still hard to imagine that Notre Dame won't be improved in 2017. And State has to go to South Bend. South Carolina, at a neutral site, is a step up from a home game against Old Dominion in both talent and conference affiliation if not actual on-field footballing results. Furman and Marshall should be gimmes, but then again ECU should've been as well.

As State is no lock for 4-0 in nonconference games, improvement will need to come in league play. A couple of weeks ago, a road test against Matt Canada's explosive offense would not have seemed to be any sort of step down in comparison to this year's tilt with Miami in the rotating Coastal Division opponent portion of the schedule. However, Canada took the money and ran to LSU, thank goodness, and his quarterback, Nathan Peterman, is a senior. Adding to the fortuitous turns for the Pack is James Conner's intention to enter the NFL draft.

The Pitt game is looking a lot more winnable. Perhaps State goes 4-1 against the rotating part of the schedule rather than the 3-2 it posted this year. That would go a long way in the march to eight or nine wins and the removal of the "hot seat" tag from Doeren.

Here's a handy chart showing the rotating portion of the '16 and '17 schedules. I used Sagarin ratings since they include FCS teams. The bottom line is that each year includes three top 100 teams. All of the top 100 opponents were at home this year; none of them will be next year. Things aren't getting easier, but 4-1 still doesn't seem like too much to ask.

2016 Opponent	Record/Sagarin Rating	2017 Opponent	Record/Sagarin Rating
East Carolina	3-9/120th	Furman	3-8/148th
Notre Dame	4-8/57th	Marshall	3-9/160th
Old Dominion	9-3/82nd	Notre Dame	4-8, 57th
William & Mary	5-6/177th	South Carolina	6-6/84th
Rotating ACC Opponent	Record/Sagarin Rating	Rotating ACC Opponent	Record/Sagarin Rating
Miami	8-4/20th	Pittsburgh	8-4/27th

As for the conference slate, a lot will depend on early entrants, or lack thereof, in the NFL draft. State will get Clemson at home, but will it be a Tigers team with or without Deshaun Watson? State will get Louisville at home, but Lamar Jackson will be back. Will it be early season Ville or late swoon Ville? State will have to travel to an FSU team that was firing on all cylinders by year's end. Will juniors Dalvin Cook and Rod Johnson, a three-year starter at left tackle, be back? Could State see its own early-entry attrition from Bradley Chubb (and/or others)? Regardless, it's hard to imagine State being favored in any of these games (of course they nearly won two of three this year as dogs, so who knows).

Rounding out the Atlantic slate is a home game against improving but certainly not intimidating Syracuse and roadies at Boston College and Wake Forest. The only time State swept BC and Wake on the road in the same season was 2015. Actually, that's the only time the Pack beat either of them away from home since BC joined the league. Yikes. But you've pretty much got to sweep these three and go 4-1 against the rotating part of the schedule to get to eight wins.

And of course we cannot forget our old friends from Chapel Hill. UNC loses four senior starters on offense, including the much beloved Ryan Switzer, and Mitch Trubisky is nearly a lock to leave early as a projected first round pick (perhaps even first overall). Elijah Hood could jump as well. It's unlikely the Heel defense suddenly becomes physical against the run. This one's in Raleigh. We gon win. (Yes, I am ignoring that we've been alternating winning on the road and losing at home in this series). So, there's your eighth win without needing any major upsets.

Of course that eighth win is assuming a 7-1 mark against noncons, Pitt, BC, Cuse, and Wake. That's a lot to assume. I do think it's a safe assumption that the Pack faithful won't be as forgiving with 6-6 next year regardless of what the schedule looks like in hindsight.

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Asheville wins decisive battle in the early days of the Water Wars

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Meet incoming House Minority Leader Darren Jackson

North Carolina House Democrats selected a new minority leader on Monday. Darren Jackson was just re-elected to his fifth term, serving eastern Wake County. He’ll be the first Democratic leader who has spent most of his political career in the minority party. Jackson also brings experience that might resonate with the North Carolina voters that […]
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Give HB2 a new name before it's flushed

Susan Ladd has some great ideas:

Whether or not the legislature repeals HB 2, it needs to own the responsibility for this law and the damage it caused. I think we should give it a new name, because the HB 2 designation is used over and over.

How about Potty Pat’s Pugnacious Pile of Putridity? Bigotty Berger’s Bulging Bag of Bile? Misanthropic Moore’s Malodorous Morass of Morality? And we can’t forget our local legislators — state Sen. Trudy Wade and Reps. Jon Hardister, John Blust and John Faircloth, all Republicans — who supported it. It could be Terrible Trudy’s Toxic Travesty. Jon, John and John’s Jaundiced Joke. The possibilities are endless.

I do love taking the English language out for an exercise run...

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Wednesday News: The last days of Puppet Pat

COURT REJECTS MCCRORY'S IMMUNITY CLAIM IN PUBLIC RECORDS CASE (WRAL-TV) -- Gov. Pat McCrory said a coalition of groups could not sue him for failing to provide records in a timely manner. The state Court of Appeals rejected that argument. A coalition of media companies and nonprofits, including Capitol Broadcasting Co., WRAL News' parent company, has sued not only seeking specific public records but asking the court to find that the McCrory administration has a pattern of dragging its feet on requests. The coalition wants the court to order the government to find ways to ensure swifter delivery of records going forward.
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2016 Independence Bowl: Vanderbilt needs late surge from passing game to carry over

Vandy finished with a bang but its offense struggled for most of the season.

Ah, Vanderbilt, what isn’t there to say about a 6-6 team? About all 6-6 teams? So many things, so so many things that I am going to struggle not to abruptly jump from one compelling line of discussion to another.

[five hours of staring at blank computer screen]

Vanderbilt! Football. Because we are obligated to do some football in Shreveport. Sports. Vanderbilt is in Tennessee.

Vandy	S&P+ national rank	Yds/Play (national rank)	Yds/Rush (national rank)	Yds/Pass Att. (national rank)
2015 Offense	118	4.5 (120)	3.8 (109)	5.5 (120)
2016 Offense	90	5.3 (97)	4.3 (82)	6.7 (91)

I kid but 2016 has been a fairly noteworthy season for Vanderbilt, which did not weather the loss of head coach James Franklin well, to put it kindly. The Commodores posted losing records in each of new coach Derek Mason’s first two seasons, slipping quickly from 9-4 in 2013—Franklin’s last year—to 3-9 in 2014 and 4-8 in 2015.

But the Commodores managed to get up off the deck, and none to soon for Mason, who is a first-time head coach.

The offense has been a major part of the team’s overall improvement, as the unit’s gone from horrible to just not very good in the span of a season. For some perspective on the Commodores’ 2015 numbers, bear in mind that Boston College averaged 4.4 yards per play that year.

Vanderbilt averaged only 15.2 points per game last season and got shut out twice, which is also as many times as the ‘Dores hit 20 points against an FBS opponent. It was bad all around.

The bright spot was running back Ralph Webb, who has been Vandy’s feature back since 2014. He’s hit 1,100 yards rushing in each of the last two seasons and has more than 3,000 for his career. He also has another year of eligibility remaining.

Previously Webb was stuck in something of a grinder role—he needed 23 carries per game to average 96 yards per contest in 2015, for example. This season, with some better support, his per-carry average is a career-high 5.1 and he’s scored 12 rushing touchdowns.

The Commodores probably would prefer not to put the game in quarterback Kyle Shurmur’s hands, despite the hot streak he’s riding into the bowl game. He lit up Tennessee and Mississippi to close out the regular season but overall his year was a struggle, especially against other power-five teams. It’s just hard to know what to make of how Shurmur and his teammates finished out November.

The overall body of work says this offense, and the passing game especially, is bad. The Commodores were dreadful on passing downs. Then again, Shurmur closed out ‘16 with 400+ yards passing on 12.1 yards per attempt and his team scored 45 points. I dunno, man.

Vandy	S&P+ national rank	Yds/Play (national rank)	Yds/Rush (national rank)	Yds/Pass Att. (national rank)
2015 Defense	20	5.2 (33)	4.0 (47)	6.4 (26)
2016 Defense	45	5.9 (81)	4.7 (85)	7.1 (52)

The advanced metrics don’t see the same level of drop-off on this side of the ball that some of the more traditional stats imply. Still, there are some rather significant red flags. For one, the Commodores’ rushing defense has been pretty rough against competent offenses, and they’ve allowed 200+ yards rushing four times.

This unit is also extremely bendy-don’t-breaky which may say some things about scheme or approach but also here we’re getting into a bit of fluky randomness territory. Vandy has allowed 44 trips into the red zone, which is only average. (Alabama, astoundingly, allowed 20 red zone trips ALL YEAR. I don’t have a point with this, I just thought it was incredible.)

In those 44 red zone trips, Vandy allowed scores only 29 times, for a score percentage of about 66%—that leads the nation. Vanderbilt’s defense also ranks ninth in touchdown percentage. These are impressive numbers, and no doubt they were crucial to Vandy’s win total, but they do not accurately reflect the down-to-down quality of the defense.

But then again, we’ve seen NC State squander approximately eight hundred thousand billion pristine scoring chances in 2016, so if you want to take a glass-half-empty approach here and consider this a nightmare matchup, well, your friends and family will understand.

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College football bowl schedule: Popeye’s, famous potatoes, and Boca Raton, oh my!

There should always be college football on every day of the week.

This is a good time of year, what with the vacations and the holidays and various meats in large quantities being consumed. Also football, there’s football. Weekday football, hooray!

The bowl schedule gets underway in earnest this week, as there is at least one game every day, leading up to the tripleheader on Friday. These are not all good matchups, mind you, but having some mediocre college football is a lot better than having none college football, in my opinion.

The over/under on the Boca Raton Bowl game Tuesday night is currently at 79, so this one might be fun. Always hard to tell how a team in the midst of a coaching change like Western Kentucky is going to react emotionally, though.

(Skip on past the Miami Beach Bowl, as that was yesterday, which was yesterday, and as such has already transpired.)

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Of course it’s politics

Republicans are twisting themselves into knots trying to blame the fallout from HB2 on Democrats. Now that the law is about to be repealed they’re blaming—gasp—politics. Who’d a thunk it? Of course it was politics. The bill was a political scheme designed to motivate the GOP base while giving some goodies to the business community, […]
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Tuesday News: National coverage of HB2 Repeal

N.C. LIMITS ON TRANSGENDER RIGHTS APPEAR HEADED FOR REPEAL (New York Times) -- The North Carolina legislature plans to hold a special session Wednesday to consider fully repealing the contentious law curbing legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The move comes after the Charlotte City Council rescinded a local anti-discrimination ordinance on Monday that had prompted passage of the statewide law in March.
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BTP The Podcast Vol. 16: Omer Arriveth Edition

It’s not all working at the same time, but it’s working: welcome to NC State basketball.

It was a good week for NC State basketball, which has its complete roster for the first time this season. Where this goes, nobody knows, but we will randomly speculate, dammit! Listen to the podcast below or check your local Apple store dealer.

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Tuesday Twitter roundup

A serious appraisal of current events:

I don’t even understand what is going on right now #ncpol

— Nan (@amanda_nan) December 19, 2016

Join the club, sister.

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Dave Doeren on 247Sports’ 2017 hot seat list

on the bright side warm seats are excellent this time of year

Plenty of frustration landed at Dave Doeren’s feet in 2016, despite a win at UNC to close out the regular season, and I don’t think many folks would disagree that 2017 is an important season for him. Travis Haney of 247Sports compiled a hot seat list and it includes Doeren, though his situation is not quite as desperate as some of the others on the list. (I’m lookin’ at you, Steve Addazio.)

Doeren’s inclusion on this list is not super interesting, but Haney does share a tidbit about how the NC State job is perceived by outsiders in the industry:

Some fans believe that State should at least be comparable to Louisville. Doeren had better go find a Lamar Jackson, then. Until then, various coaches and agents feel as if 6-8 wins should be considered an acceptable window.

A little reality check never hurts, even if it’s not the reality any of us wants to confront. There’s nothing in NC State’s modest football history to contradict what Haney writes here, though I would say it’s fair to expect State to consistently play on a level similar to Louisville’s—the Louisville that doesn’t have a mutant superhero quarterback, that is.

The counterpoint would be that you can schedule four absolute gimmes every year in the non-conference portion of the schedule—which Doeren has done—that will lead to bowl season after bowl season, but that quickly begins to feel hollow.

That’s the problem with being so general with what’s “acceptable.” Sure, 6-8 wins should be a pretty okay-to-good season in Raleigh, but a lot depends on the context of the season, too. Doeren’s problem is his lack of big wins, his program’s struggles at home, and his four-year streak of losing records in ACC play. That stuff does add up. Don’t think it makes anyone unreasonable for being upset about a six- or seven-win season.

I digress. Always appreciate the outside perspective and there is some good food for thought here.

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Charlotte caves on LGBT ordinance, 5th Special Session tomorrow

This is why we can't have nice things:

In an action to remove inactive city ordinances from the books, the Charlotte City Council on Monday effectively lifted the controversial city rule that led to the state law known as HB2.

State lawmakers are expected to respond with a special session of their own repealing the law, which requires people to use public bathrooms that match their birth gender and excludes gay and transgender people from discrimination protections.

Aside from the fact that the last #$%^&8 thing we need right now is another "special" session led by the GOP Clown Car, if this was such a good idea, then why sneak it in? Because that's exactly what they did. And when the arguments between Democrats start to heat up over this, keep that in mind.

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Norms and traditions

If you were to read most accounts of the special session of the legislature in North Carolina this week, you would probably think that it was designed to strip power from incoming governor, Democrat Roy Cooper. It had all the makings of shenanigans. The session came on the heels of a session called to address […]
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The NCDP's roadmap to victory: Candidate recruitment and voter outreach

Miles to go before we're through:

But without an organized, well-funded, persistent effort by Democrats—and even independents and genuine conservatives who understand how badly the legislature violated basic democratic norms last week, and have since early 2013—all the protests in the world will add up to noise lost in the wind. Planting a flag on the moral high ground may win sympathy. It generally doesn’t win elections. “I can hear protesters chanting in the building,” N.C. Senator Jeff Jackson, a Charlotte Democrat, tweeted Thursday. “Appreciated, but if we can’t channel this into a solid effort in 2017, it means little.”

And that’s the most immediate lifeline: A federal court ruled on November 29 that the General Assembly must redraw 28 legislative districts because it unconstitutionally relied on race to draw the original lines—and that the state must hold new legislative elections in 2017, usually an off year.

I've seen a lot of hand-wringing over the redrawing of maps and special elections coming up, and no doubt the GOP will try to somehow turn this to their advantage. But there's only so much blood you can squeeze out of a map and still get a nod from the court who demanded it, so it's time to look at this for what it is: An opportunity. The GOP overplayed its hand in this 4th "Special" session, and it will be fresh on the minds of voters. But here's a few words from Sun Tzu, of the lesser-quoted variety: If you know neither the enemy nor yourself you will succumb in every battle. Here's how they (claim) to have won:

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Monday News: Divide and contaminate

MCCRORY, LEGISLATURE, LEAVE N.C. MORE BITTERLY DIVIDED THAN THEY INHERITED 4 YEARS AGO (Capitol Broadcasting Company editorial) -- Unfortunately for the citizens of North Carolina, the performance of the General Assembly and Gov. Pat McCrory over four days last week was reflective of the last four years. The state is being ridiculed across the nation for its autocratic rule and backward, discriminatory practices. “Brazen Power Grab,” declares the headline on the New York Times editorial page. “GOP coup in North Carolina” says The Washington Post. So much for improving North Carolina’s “brand.”
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Sports Illustrated calls Notre Dame-NC State the worst college football game of 2016

I disagree.

Fine, Sports Illustrated, fine, I can see where you’re coming from on this one. The football game between Notre Dame and NC State was not quality sports by any measure, but with that said, let me offer several counterpoints.

1.) SNAP PROBLEMS

2.) Lake Dayes

3.) That was some rain-assed shit.

Yes but what’s wrong with that?

------------

I realize this game was not exactly the pinnacle of football but looking back on what became a long and difficult season for State, it was a great game, as far as my emotions are concerned. Sure, the game could have been postponed and maybe should have been postponed, but it ended up being a lot of ridiculous nonsense fun on a water slide.

It’s not often we ever get to see a football game like this, and I’d probably have a problem with it and say it was terrible if NC State lost, but NC State didn’t lose, making a bizarre, hurricane-addled game a highlight of 2016.

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Video: Abdul-Malik Abu’s vicious put-back slam

It’s not easy to do this.

If you needed a reminder, Abdul-Malik Abu can jump for miles and he is pretty athletic. Depending on how a game is going for him, this is not always apparent. Against Fairfield on Sunday, it was extremely apparent.

Woooooooooooo buddy can I get some more of that please. Abu cuts for the hoop as Terry Henderson shoots the ball, and Fairfield’s Jonathan Kasibabu has his eyes on Henderson, letting Abu get the jump on him. It’s already over at that point, it’s just a matter of how and where Abu claims the rebound.

He claimed it rather loudly, which is fine by me. Abu played a really solid game on Sunday. We’re gonna need that pretty much every night beginning very soon.

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NC State runs past Fairfield for a 99-78 win

Shoulda had 100 but we’ll take 99 I suppose.

Fairfield does not waste much time at the offensive end, and for better or worse, that was on display Sunday afternoon. The Stags were forever willing to fire away from wherever, which gave them some scoring spurts but also helped them disappear for long stretches. NC State’s offense was pretty consistent throughout and the Pack pulled away for a 99-78 win thanks to a strong second half.

Four Factors	NC State	Fairfield
eFG%	63.3	44.9
Turnover Rate	18.6	13.7
Off Reb Rate	28.1	16.3
FT Rate	35.9	25.0

	Pts	Poss	OFF_EFF	DEF_EFF
Fairfield	78	81	96.9	123.0
NC State	99	81	123.0	96.9

Terry Henderson led all scorers with 25 points—he was 6-10 from three, and knocked down his first four attempts from deep. NC State weathered Fairfield’s zone defense nicely after some early hiccups. Dennis Smith hit five three-pointers, and Maverick Rowan was 2-5 from outside.

State’s outstanding perimeter effort spoiled what Fairfield wanted to do, and anyway, there were a lot of opportunities to be had in the paint against the Stags’ defense. Omer Yurtseven and Malik Abu thrived with some nice wide-open mid-range looks in the middle of that zone, and when State made a point of getting the ball into the low post, it usually paid off.

Fairfield managed to pull within four early in the second half but this was a thin team spending a lot of energy on token or full-court pressure and that eventually caught up with them. NC State was just relentless at the offensive end, while the Stags were either tired, in foul trouble, or both.

Dennis Smith finished the afternoon with a rather low-key 17-9-5 performance. Abu finished with 14, while Dorn and Yurtseven has 12 apiece. It was a balanced effort, and a glimpse at how good this offense can be, especially with Yurtseven manning the high post.

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Science vs fantasy: Coastal development needs to be curtailed

Another annoying history lesson by Rob Christensen

Dude, you're killing me:

The whole business of mass firings in state government pretty much began with the election of Democrat Kerr Scott in 1948, a Jacksonian figure who beat the more conservative machine. North Carolina was a one-party state then so this was factional Democratic warfare.

“Virtually every appointive department head in state government, and many in subordinated positions, was given his walking papers by Kerr Scott,’’ wrote James H. Pou Bailey, a conservative columnist and later a Superior Court judge. “Whether the man had done a good job in office made little difference. More important was whether he had supported Kerr Scott for governor.”

What the holy hell does Kerr fricking Scott have to do with 21st Century Republican machinations? I know why he did this, because he feels compelled to show off his shiny time machine, and how it can go back farther in time than anybody else's. I just don't know why he thinks its relevant, or why he doesn't just go all the way back to the Wilmington Massacre. Or even this far back (quoting myself from Facebook): "What the Democrats don't seem to want to discuss, is how the Visigoths marched right into the Senate demanding gold, and casually relieved themselves right there on the marble floor!" Seriously, using dust-covered history as an excuse or rationalization for bad deeds is about a immature as you can get.

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Sunday News: Courtside seats available

HOW COURTS COULD VIEW MOVES TO STRIP ROY COOPER’S POWER (Raleigh News & Observer) -- The new year in state politics looks much like the last five, with the N.C. legislature under threat of lawsuits. Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper threatened a lawsuit over limits the Republican-controlled General Assembly voted to place on his power to make political appointments. McCrory won a lawsuit against the legislature earlier this year over a separation-of-powers question, on the claim that the legislature created commissions that encroached on executive-branch functions.
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Meet the Fairfield Stags, deep in some ways, extremely thin in a lot of others

How to watch or listen to the game

Tip time: 2 p.m. ET, Sunday, Dec. 18

TV: None

Online streaming: ESPN3/ACC Network Extra (same thing)

Radio: Wolfpack Sports Network (affiliates)

Fairfield vitals

Record: 5-3
Pomeroy ranking: 178
Best win***: 76-67 over Rider (No. 190 in Pomeroy Ratings)
Worst loss: 81-66 to Loyola MD (No. 260 in Pomeroy Ratings)

(***Based on opponent's Pomeroy Rating, not margin of victory.)

Adjusted tempo: 71.9 poss/40 minutes (ranks 70th)
Adjusted offensive efficiency: 100.6 (ranks 220th)
Adjusted defensive efficiency: 101.8 (ranks 138th)

Fairfield roster
Fairfield schedule
Fairfield stats 2016 / 2017

The Fairfield offense and starters

Fairfield Offense -- Four Factors	eFG% (National Rank)	TO%	OR%	FT Rate
2015-16	51.3 (111)	17.6 (135)	24.8 (313)	32.6 (276)
2016-17	52.3 (99)	22.1 (311)	27.5 (239)	32.3 (232)

Since bottoming out at 7-25 in 2014, Sydney Johnson's Fairfield program has slowly been working its way back to respectability within the MAAC. See, there's drawbacks with coaching a mid-major, but there are perks too. If a coach goes 22-15 (12-6) in his first year and then goes 7-25 (4-16) in year three at a power conference school, he is probably toast.

But Johnson survived both that 7-25 season and the 7-24 season that followed to re-establish the Stags as a decent, top-five program within their league. Not a lot of people come back from that--or are given the chance to--but he did.

Before heading to Fairfield, Johnson was the head coach at Princeton, but his Fairfield teams aren't quite modeled in the way you would expect from a Princeton guy. They don't shoot a ton of threes (though if they want to, they can), and they don't play halfcourt basketball--the Stags rank 71st in adjusted tempo and 48th in average possession length at the offensive end.

They shoot slightly above average from three and well above average inside the arc, but apparently one of the bugs that comes with Johnson's system is turnovers. The Stags have been pretty bad in that category throughout his tenure, and his Princeton teams were bad in this regard as well. Add to that substandard offensive rebounding and an inability to get to the free throw line and you get an offense that one thing--shooting from the field.

I mean, if you have to choose one thing to be decent at, shooting is always the choice, it's just never a good idea to be one-dimensional like that. The Stags shot reasonably well in two of their three losses but were overcome by their weaknesses everywhere else. That is likely to remain a problem, though Fairfield nonetheless should finish in the top half of the MAAC.

Starters

Jerome Segura (5-11, 175) -- Jerome here has your standard short guy problems, or as I like to put it, Short Guy Struggle. For his career, he is a 42.5% shooter inside the arc, which is very bad, and worse, he much prefers twos to threes. (He isn't much of a three-point shooter, either.) The good news, at least, is that he does not hog a lot of possessions with his ham-fisted clankery. Really turnover prone, won't get to the free throw line much.

Tyler Nelson (6-3, 185) -- Nelson has assumed the alpha dog role this season and is averaging almost 20 points per game. This kid is just really good--he's been no worse for the wear of an increased workload, and he can score effectively both inside the arc and beyond it. An elite free throw shooter who is pretty good at drawing fouls. Won't turn the ball over much.

Curtis Cobb (6-4, 175) -- A pretty good shooter up to this point in his career, if a tad overzealous. He basically lives as a jump shooter, whether that's from outside or from two, as he rarely gets himself to the free throw line. Needs to cut down on the turnovers.

Matija Milin (6-9, 220) -- Milin the patented stretch four, just as likely to try a three as he is a two. Not much of a rebounder at either end and probably won't end up at the free throw line often.

Amadou Sidibe (6-8, 215) -- I love me some dudes that can rebound well at both ends of the floor, because those are separate skills. Sidibe is currently fifth nationally in offensive rebounding percentage and 38th in defensive rebounding percentage. Kid's been a Hoover throughout his four-year career. Decent scorer in the paint, but he is prone to fouls and turnovers.

The Fairfield bench and defense

Reserves: Jonathan Kasibabu (6-8, 240), Jerry Johnson (6-2, 210), Olivier Cadieux (6-4, 205). Kasibabu is a decent role player--he'll get a couple buckets, block some shots, rebound some rebounds, but goodness is he foul-prone. Johnson is a three-point specialist shooting better than 40% for his career. That's about all he does. Fairfield ranks 339th in bench minutes this season. Not a deep team, to say the least.

Fairfield Defense -- Four Factors	eFG% (National Rank)	TO%	OR%	FT Rate
2015-16	49.6 (161)	18.9 (122)	34.1 (321)	34.1 (110)
2016-17	47.0 (75)	19.3 (163)	30.1 (190)	27.5 (43)

(I don't think I note this enough: the Four Factors are raw numbers, which is to say they are not adjusted for quality of opponent. And Fairfield ain't played nobody, Paul.)

Fairfield probably will mix things up a bit, though the flow of the game may dictate the extent of that. If the big men are in early foul trouble, they don't have a lot of options off the bench, so more zone would be likely in that case.

The Stags have not been disruptive at all this season, ranking 315th in block rate and 264th in steal rate. I think a lot of times those numbers cut through a team's overall defensive turnover rate. Fairfield's TO rate ranks 163rd, which basically says to me they've played a bunch of crappy teams since it doesn't come close to matching their BLK/STL rates.

There's no proof that this is a good dfensive rebounding team, and they have been extremely fortunate in a couple of areas: opponents are shooting only 28.7% from three and 60.3% from the free throw line. Neither number is sustainable.

The Pomeroy Predictor likes NC State by 13.

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Saturday News: Grim parliamentary tales

AS GOP LOSES GRIP ON N.C., THEY DEAL ONE FINAL BLOW (The Guardian) -- Many of Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper’s supporters hoped the new governor, seen as a moderate in his long career as state attorney general, would at least be able to slow the barrage of conservative lawmaking that began with a concerted effort by major Republican donors to flip the state legislature in 2010. Immediately following Republican incumbent Gov. Pat McCrory’s concession, however, GOP lawmakers called an emergency meeting of the state legislature. It was initially billed as a special session to pass a year-end disaster relief bill. Instead, they unleashed a wave of laws that wiped out the incoming Democratic governor’s power and crippled the reach of the state supreme court, which voters had also given a new Democratic majority.
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