NC State Basketball Still Has A Way To Go Before Reaching Respectability

What’s happening in Raleigh is somewhat embarrassing. You don’t have to be too hard on the NC State Wolfpack for their loss to the Michigan Wolverines. By the time the season is over, that probably won’t be viewed as a bad loss; but they’ve still dropped three of their first nine games, and those other two shouldn’t have been losses at all.

These things happen in college athletics, though, and the Wolfpack and their faithful press on. Yes, this team and their fanbase continue to believe that they’re on par with the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels; but the truth is there’s no real evidence that the Tar Heels and Blue Devils see the Wolfpack as the rival that the Wolfpack wants to believe they are. This season is not going to raise the guys in Raleigh to the next level of significance.

So here we are. Make no mistake about it. Anthony “Cat“ Barber is the man and worth tuning in to see. I know he shot 30 percent from the floor in this past contest, but don’t pay any attention to that. He’s right at 21 points per game, and he’s also pulling down five rebounds to go with his five assists per game. Mark Gottfried may want to think about saving some minutes to make sure Barber still has some legs by season’s end because, currently, he’s only averaging about three minutes of rest per game. Outside of Caleb Martin, Maverick Rowan and Abdul-Malik Abu, there isn’t much help.

It’s been a long year already, and it may get longer.

Geoffrey Knox is a Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow on Twitter @gq_4_eva, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google+ and Linkedin.