Bryan Nieman is a superstar.

Box Score

NC State

Four Factors	Percent
eFG	48.4
Turnover Rate	18.1
Off Reb Rate	31.7
FTM/FGA	24.6

Michigan

Four Factors	Percent
eFG	43.7
Turnover Rate	18.1
Off Reb Rate	34.1
FTM/FGA	7.0

-- Does anyone have an estimate on the size of the stick that was up Jimmy Dykes' ass tonight? I love how these national media guys have been all over us since Sendek left, even though they neither care enough nor are close enough to the situation to have even an inkling of what's actually occurred. "In my opinion, they're hard on their personnel here." Oh, really, Jimmy? You've been in Raleigh for two days, but hey, staying at the Marriot sure puts you right on top things! This went beyond Herb Sendek. He was slamming us for firing Chuck Amato because Amato is an alumnus. Nevermind that we just finished a 3-9 season. I bet Dykes hasn't seen more than three quarters of Wolfpack football over the last three seasons. He has no idea what we've dealt with.

What really kills me when announcers do this is that it perpetuates the perception. Oh, those terrible NC State fans! They're so unrealistic! Enough of these yammering nincompoops rant despite little firsthand knowledge and eventually it's just accepted that Wolfpack fans are a bunch of idiots with ridiculous expectations. Yes, how dare we aspire to a well-coached football team. Thanks for taking us to task on that one. Seven years for the football coach--ten for the hoops coach. Would that we could learn some patience.

-- So, anyway: awesome effort by the team tonight. I can't say enough. They got off to a terrible start, were getting pounded on the glass and allowing easy baskets, but they came back. They hustled. They rebounded. They played a stifling 2-3 zone defense.

-- I wouldn't think it'd be possible for us to beat a team like Michigan with Grant and Fells playing so poorly, but there you go. Gavin shot 26.9% (eFG) and had a turnover percentage of 32.0 while using a massive chunk of possessions (33.0); Fells shot 33.3%.

-- The game had about 72 possessions, so the Pack's offensive efficiency was 103.3. Michigan's was 93.5. We didn't turn the ball over too much and held our own in the rebounding department; I'm really happy about that.