Light it Red

Griffin Cunningham 0:00
Hey

Stone Boylan 0:11
what's up? Welcome back to light it red. I believe this is the 11th episode. That's my favorite number by the way.

Stone Boylan 0:20
We are back just me and Griffin, of course right now

Stone Boylan 0:25
Gonna be us two it has been and always will be for the foreseeable future

Griffin Cunningham 0:30
, don't lock me in like that, but always and forever

Stone Boylan 0:33
exactly forever. We're having fun, it's enjoyable. And we took a little break. It was a three week break. I think we're going to record last week. But if you don't know, obviously we are students, because this is part of the student media. So we have to go to school do schoolwork, and it can get some hard you know, hard sometimes I definitely have a harder semester than last semester. I don't know about you. I think you probably have some hard classes as well. I I'm handling it. I actually this is probably easier for me right now. Yeah, schedule. But I do have other things going Yes, Agromeck, obviously, what we were both in, which is the yearbook. They had a deadline coming up. And I was I'm not an editor. I'm just a writer, but Griffin is an editor and they were doing a lot of stuff to meet the deadline. So it's been a lot but we're back. This episode, we are just gonna chill and kind of hang out and talk about

Stone Boylan 1:28
the current winter sports that have been going on slash spring. Some of them ended in the winter like baseball, it's kind of weird, where they don't have anything going on. So we won't bring up baseball, even though they are probably getting soon into their start of the season. But stuff like swimming, wrestling, gymnastics, basketball, all that good stuff. We all have stuff to say about it. And we're gonna go through every single one. I think Griffin has been to almost every single event. I've been to a lot as well. We'll have stats to talk about but also just experiences that we've had. And it should be should be a good one. So we can start with swimming and diving. Griffin if you want to go over what they have been doing, and the most recent. Is it a game a meet when you call a swimming thing?

Griffin Cunningham 2:18
I'm gonna be honest with you. I haven't really figured that out. Okay.

Griffin Cunningham 2:22
I intended on going so I'm pretty sure they only host a handful of I'm gonna call them meats. Yeah, we'll call them meats. I think they only hosted like three of them this year. And the last one was this past Friday against UNC Wilmington.

Griffin Cunningham 2:38
Didn't make it to the one against Texas. But we also hosted Texas, the Longhorns.

Speaker 1 3:00
I do have notes on that. Unfortunately, I only have that it was kind of chaotic because it's swimming and diving. So I was watching them dive and like warm up or I thought they were warming up but I think they were actually going to be scored while they were actually swimming to like in races.

Stone Boylan 3:17
They do it at the same time?

Griffin Cunningham 3:18
I think it was at the same time. So it was a lot and it was also like 90 degrees in there. In the in like the pool house. Yeah, it was really hot. I was sweating. And I was with their with Hallie. The photographer that she was on she was on an episode if you remember earlier. And so she was like hot and it was just like really uncomfortable. And honestly,

Speaker 1 3:48
I don't know not wear a sweatshirt certainly maybe get in the pool. I I was thinking about maybe taking a lap, so I was hot. It was it was hot. Like it felt like August. Like but inside. Wow.

Stone Boylan 4:04
I wish it was you say 90 degrees. It was it was like thinking more like July or June is pretty hot.

Griffin Cunningham 4:12
And I mean whatever you want to say. It felt like the middle of summer, just in a building. Yeah. And it wasn't super comfortable. Anyways, that was what it was like inside. And it smelled like chlorine. Of course that assume so I didn't even know where it was. But I figured that out. You didn't know where I didn't know where the pool house was

Griffin Cunningham 4:34
facing where the chlorine was. No, I know. I have an idea. Yeah. No, that wasn't the question but they did a lot of races it was they did 200 relay freestyle backstroke, breaststroke, and then fly. I think that was all of them. Fly, and never heard of fly. That was what it was called on them on the board. But, I mean, basically all you need to know is that in NC State, I mean, the only one that they function as a team was the relay. And there was like an A team and a B team for NC State in in a team and a B team for Wilmington. And we like crushed them and our a team won for both the men and the women. And then, when we got to individuals, it was an NC State athlete was placing your first for a second third, there was no instance where a Wilmington swimmer claimed first place in any race. Damn. So I thought that was cool. And I thought maybe Wilmington might be a little bit good at swimming. That I mean, maybe that's ignorant. near the beach. Yeah, but I mean, who's to say that they you know, love. I mean, not to take anything away from NC State athletes where there are pools everywhere that you can swim in. Yes, right. But we're just better. We're just like that one would think that maybe a Wilmington was going to commit to being good at anything. It would be swimming. That's where my sister wants to go. She's currently awake Tech. My sister goes there. Really? I didn't know that if he wants to Wilmington. They should start a podcast when they meet each other Wilmington woke them up and what would they talk about? Football, no clue about how they like to spend hours on the beach. Shooting. She does love the beach and just sits there just get sun. That's pretty much it. I can't do that. I couldn't either. too fidgety. Like sitting on the beach like that. I used to not be able to tan at all because I wear contacts. And you're not supposed to lay in the sun with contact lenses actually. Yeah, I didn't know they can I work on I'm wearing contacts right now. Yeah, so I had eye surgery, so I didn't have to wear them anymore. You had eye surgery. Yeah, I had LASIK over the summer. Oh, so. Yeah. So I was 10 that was it good. Like do not regret it? No, I mean, it worked. So hurt. Is it hurt at all? It's uncomfortable. It's but the doctor. I mean, they did a great job. You're awake for it. So it's like, oh, yeah, no, you can kind of feel like messing around with it. You I mean, it goes black when they do lash. Because they're putting I mean, they're hooking stuff up to your eye. And like, making incisions and laser. Yeah. So it I mean, it is uncomfortable. And it is scary. But it does work. So that was cool. And so now this summer I'm excited about because I mean, I've been wearing contact lenses since I was like 11 Yeah, like sixth grade. And you're, I mean, you're not supposed to tan or lay in the sun with them. They get dry really easily too. So that can really ruin your day. If you're out and about and swimming as well. Like they dry out if you're so yeah, I can't open them at all. I did that one time when I was young and I lost it or whatever. Yeah. And I was like, dang it dude, I can't see it a one night so when knowing even working out sometimes with contacts can be tough because if you get sweat in your eyes, that sucks, but I just feel like they got dry when I would work out especially like in a into like a basketball gym. I'd be running up and down and I would get dry like in my eyes. I don't know if that's because the room for I don't know. I don't know. It's kind of weird. My I mean, I figured it out. But like contacts. I just decided I didn't want to wear him anymore. Yeah, so I got the surgery done. Well, you know, back with our sisters. Maybe they could do a podcast about being at the beach, I guess. I don't know. Um, because the idea will float it out for you guys. Open I can get to the beach a little bit this summer. Obviously, I'd love to go to you know, it's I mean, I You're gonna go on spring break. I

Griffin Cunningham 8:53
don't love as much No, I normally. Normally what I've done the past two years is go to my grandfather's. He lives in Michigan, all alone by himself. So lonely. And normally I go up there and we watch the tournaments. Why? Why are you laughing? What's so funny? It's like, pick us through one of the bus and call them alone. No, like he's alone. Like he is lonely. I'm saying like admittedly lonely. No, I mean, sometimes Yeah. Like, that's kind of embarrassed Griffin. We've tried to get him to come down here for so you have no idea. This is a whole back so I don't need to get into it. We've tried to get him to come down for so long. But and he was going to but then COVID happened which is understandably why it fell through. But we're you know, I know. Oh, trust me. We know that it's been a lot. But I know me. I go up there. The past two I say normally it's only been two years. And I watched that at least when I was at Wake Tech because that's where I was my first two years. I watched the first round first and second round with him because during spring break when the NC State SOX and their spring break is a week before As the Tournament starts, so I'm like, Well, you know, tournament will be going on, I could still maybe see you. But, you know, I'm not sure exactly because it feels a lot of time to, you know, because it's not like you're gonna go out and about every day with a guy who's much older, like, they just, that's not good for them, obviously. And it's Detroit, it is not, you know, felt like you're going out and doing a ton of stuff, right. And we still have time to like, talk about it. But I've learned so much from him and just learn about him. You know, when he was obviously my age and went through, like, Hey, this is where like we lived before. This is where your dad was, this is where we did this and that, you know, when my dad was a kid, because it's on my dad's side. But a good majority and chunk of it is like we're watching the games, and now we can't. So maybe I'll go to the beach. Who knows? I would say maybe the beach would be better than Detroit. And yeah, probably. I mean, I do for him. That's the only way I mean, that's why I enjoy it. I love. I love college. I'm more of a football guy, if you couldn't tell by listening to the past few episodes, but maybe my favorite if not second favorite event other than like the Super Bowl is college basketball March Madness. I love it so much. It's so much fun. And I'm hoping we can get into it. We'll go into that later for both men and women. But yeah, maybe I should go to the beach for for spring break this year. But also back to the swimming thing. We actually had to. I just looked this up. We had two swimmers of the week. Noah Henderson and Renato Caldero, or Cal de raro. Sorry if I pronounced that incorrectly. They both ended up winning sooner the week. I think one was like just in the swimming portion. I think the other one was diving. So that's pretty cool. Because I know they had started off weak at least I think I can remember the men and the women both were open three, but we are open to but we didn't start off with any wins in the past three meats that we've done. We've won. So at least for the man I think so. That's good for them. But well, I don't I don't think either of them won any racist though. Any races? What do you mean? Like in the meat against Wilmington? You're talking about the swimmers of the week? Yeah. Like none of them won anything. Not their swimmers in the week? Not first place. I don't think maybe they did good. Maybe like Sisley. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I just saw it. And I was like, Oh, this is cool. Let me write this down. But yeah, whatever. That's that's swimming. That's what they're doing. Wrestling, which we are, if you don't know, very good at been champions of the ACC, what, six times and since like 2017, or something like that. Done, including of, you know, being obviously very competitive nationally. So that's been great. Recently, we just beat a ranked team pit, not even close 31 to nine in terms of their scoring. It was our first conference game, and then we've backed that up with another win versus UNC, even more dominant 33 to six. And against our rival. We have won the last 11 matchups for wrestling, which is dating back all the way to 2013. And now we play Virginia next, or I say play maybe it's better say like we match up we wrestling. We wrestle. Yeah, we've wrestled Virginia. And we've won our last nine games versus them. So I don't expect any sort of issues there. But after the Virginia game, we play Cornell, which, who's ranked number 10. We're ranked number eight. So maybe we'll go up after the three wins in a row. But that'll probably be a very good matchup. If you haven't been to any wrestling games, that'd be a cool one to go to. We've only ever faced Cornell twice, and we are wanting one against them. So who knows? Maybe we could get a really cool win and it might be a great matchup. There. I don't know the date. I forget the date. I didn't write it down. But it's sometimes and leave in the next week, two weeks, three weeks from now or some Friday, Friday. Okay, yeah. So Well, today's the seventh at the time. We're recording this, which you'll hear it probably three days later. Because it's never really out on time, but who cares? Doesn't matter? Well, I'm on the topic of wrestling. I tried to go to the match against UNC. And it really reminded me of that one time we went to volleyball against Pitt. Didn't just it just wasn't the best experience. Let me just like, paint the picture for you. Okay. Do they have Chick fil A because that was the issue last time they didn't. They didn't have Chick fil A. The Cornell match is on the 16th By the way, okay. Just 16th through Arizona on a Friday. anyways, yeah, back to back two against UNC. So, as the sports editor of Agra mech, I was like, Okay, maybe it's time for me to go to a wrestling match. This is a big one, they're sold out. rivalry game, even though UNC isn't really on the same level as NC State, I thought, you know, this, this would be a good one to go to, for some for some coverage if we needed to use something or get some quotes or, I mean, we had photographers there. And long story short, the way that they do wrestling now is I guess different as far as like, media credentials stuff, like because we I mean, we have we have credentials for all sports. But, um, they, since I guess wrestling is becoming bigger, they want like, a 24 hour notice for like approval and stuff. You I mean, in the past I like if I wanted to go to a volleyball game or gymnastics meet, I would just show up, because I have the credential. Yeah. And usually there would be a seat. But what I was hearing was there were there was no seat or no space for photographers. Fortunately, we we sorted that out. And were able to go, but I did get there. And I did not have a seat. So I was like to see save for agronomic never, you know, now, because we didn't, we didn't check in advance before I was an event. Right. So I didn't know that that was something that I was supposed to do. And I mean, that message didn't get back to me until after the fact which is like, fine. But yeah, I wasn't able to do my my job that night because I didn't. I didn't have a meeting. I went and like I sat like Do you remember where we sat against the volleyball or spit game? In the Coliseum? Yeah, in the back? Well, it's all on the call us in Reynolds. Well, I know I'm saying for people who don't know that it's in the Coliseum at Reynolds. But yeah, it was in the in the back where you enter but you go towards the back of the course it was on the second level. Yeah. In the back. And that's where we have seen since they had like TV crew and stuff on the on the like, not the baseline, but like on the sidelines. So all media got bumped up to that area. Like is it like an awning? Is that what it's called? Yeah, something like that. So I grew up there. And just the mean, I didn't have a seat. So I sat and went to like the empty seats that didn't have the table. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, this kind of like, there's like three random chairs next to the table. Okay. Was it labeled for anyone or no, no. I mean, there was nothing. There was nowhere to label anything they just shared. Yeah. So I sat there for a while. And I was just like, I'm uncomfortable, because I didn't feel like I belonged where I was like, Well, I mean, I'd never covered wrestling before. And I got, you know, like an email about me, not suppose I mean, I guess it wasn't allowed to be there. Because I didn't. I didn't ask, did they check and like, kick you out? Or no, no, I mean, I had the credential. So I was like, allowed to be there. Just when it came time to like, take my seat, there wasn't really a place to sit. So you just sat in a chair. So I sat, I sat in a chair. Until, you know, I felt like those were probably seats for somebody, it was a solo game. So I did end up getting up and leaving before the match started. And I felt like I was I was a little upset because I felt like I had just gotten to swimming and diving. And that was the first time and then wrestling was the first time and I felt like I was putting in

Griffin Cunningham 18:49
my time and my effort into something that wasn't like it was wasn't it wasn't perfect and and sometimes that makes it hard to to go about your routine. But I will say that I did get I started getting a whiff of some that smells really the band. That's what you're referencing. I don't I don't really care. I could say whatever Yeah, when we went to the pit volleyball game went back when the band smelt frickin horrible. It was horrendous It was so bad. Like I don't know if it was the is partly I guess to give him slack news The instruments are like the instruments I guess they have some sort of thing but there's like a glass what he's talking about in the back of Reynolds is like a glass that awning or whatever. And if you sit down in the tables, they provide your you know, the glass is technically blocking it but you can still see through it obviously it's glass but when you stand up, it's like you just get a big ol with and it's like what the heck is this like, Oh my God, I want to chop my head off and I totally Understand what you what you need. I'm sorry to go through this for a second time, but that's why in basketball, like I'm like, please don't put me like in the student sector exit I go to a ton of basketball games like students section, do not put me near the like band like please don't want to be near them or whatever. So anytime I go a little bit earlier than just get I get a seat that's just like, just not near the band. Like I just can't I just can't do boy, sorry if you're in the band, but I maybe you're numb to it at this point. But maybe it's your you it's either you instruments or both. I'm sorry. But it's it's not all. I think there might be an option C. Is it both? Do you think? Not Bo? I didn't think it was the band. What's you those whole point of? I thought it was something else? Was it the people next to you? Reporters next? Yeah, maybe? I don't know. Few. I don't know who someone was letting it rip. No, no. I mean, it was no one that I knew personally. So if anyone that I know is listening to this, I was at the game. I promise. It wasn't you. You don't smell bad. But I think someone Someone did smell bad. Okay. Someone did. He was a guy. I guess it was the same guy. It was the same guy as that. I thought it was last time. Oh, really? Yeah. No, the ban totally smelled though. I think it was the guy. No. Are you kidding me? No, it was totally the band. It had to have been. Because we every time you stood up at the at the Pitt volleyball game, it was like, Oh my God, you know, like when they started playing or whatever it is. I know. But maybe this the time you're talking about I wasn't there. So I have no clue. It was maybe it was the guy I thought it was assuming we're talking about there's some random guy that's you know, reports on stuff for NC State and he's not a student. I don't know what he's a part of no clue. Price some other organization but they have seats. And you know, he sits down bends over and anytime he sits down the crack shows in the river flows you know, and some some part of the river flows out I guess and it's been gotta Griffin is probably the correct this is probably the correct I. I'm not gonna comment. Well, I'm not gonna comment. I was never gonna listen to these doing this job. Yeah, cool. No, no, yeah, it's not hate on him. Just saying like, poor pants up. That's all. Alright. Did you mass? Did you man Gymnastics? Gymnastics? Is it? Yeah, I said it wrong gymnastics, not Gymnastics. Gymnastics one. There are their first wins of the season had been in the past three games, which was UNC Pitt and Clemson. And the next three games they have, I guess it's not games. It's technically meats. I think they're all versus the same teams again. So I think they had some sort of thing where they played, or they asked like a 14 group and they called a quad. Quad me yeah, sorry, I, I knew that terminologies it wasn't coming to my head. And they all meet one one time that their place and no time at the other place. We want all three of them. And two of them were away. So that's very good. So the next three, what are you talking about? For 25th? Yeah, we're I mean, that's coming up. Yeah. Well, no, we won. Two of them of the three games, which is UNC Pitt and Clemson are the three colleges that we played this quad meet, I believe two of them were not at home. They were on the road. So now I'm confused. When you're talking about No, no, like, that's Oh, and the whole season did Yes. Oh. So now in the future, being the next week or two plus, we're gonna have two of them at home, which is UNC and Clemson. So ideally, if you're at home, you have a higher chance of winning, we might be able to sweep in when you know be the top of that quad meet and beat everyone said be really cool for gymnastics. Yeah, I mean, just the explained the quad me know I mean, you're not you're not, I don't think you're far off or even wrong. I just wanted to take a second to explain it because I do go to a lot of gymnastics meets. So basically, a quad meet all four teams show up to I mean, there's a home team and their home gym. And gymnastics isn't a sport where you're like, directly competing against your opponent. You're basically just trying to get the highest score possible through all four events. And so all four teams are rotating on four events. And by the end of it, they all have their scores and then they just get ranked one through four. So if you get first You get three wins zero losses. But if you get like third, you get one win over the fourth place team, but two losses against the other two types. I just didn't phrase it correctly versus like with who they were. So I mean, the quad meet that they had early in the season against Cal BYU in Michigan State, they placed last so they pick up real losses. And that just that hurts the record a lot. But if you're able to, you know, win, get the best score, but those scores are actually kind of insane. That was like the first like, quad made of the season and BYU is putting up one that like, Cal put up. 197 What's like an average score? I between 195? No. Gymnastics, I just don't follow as much as you and you explain that better than I did. I apologize. I understand what it is. I didn't explain it very well. When I mentioned like, they didn't win anything. It's because they got last. When I say three games, I use games as a term just because that's a general sporting thing. It's us, right? It's technically the three teams we played are the three colleges we played in that quad meet we got, you know, right. And it's all at once. And yeah, I'd say an average and average score. For like a medium good team is one between 195 and 196 196. So probably when you a match, I mean, you can see that against Carolina and against Pitt and against Clemson the last three meats that they've had against teams. Have all they've hit the 196 mark against all of them. And the other teams that they've beaten out all the only the three ACC teams mind you. There's only there's only four ACC gymnastic teams. It's a new new thing. It's a brand new, they just made gymnastics a part of the ACC. That's cool. And it's Clemson Pitt Carolina and NC State well hopefully they can get more well they just beat all of them. They beat all three so yeah, I would just keep it like this and dominate that'd be cool too. I think four is or is a small number. I think eventually the other ACC schools will probably get in on it. But you can see like the non ACC when I say non ACC and its cow but I mean they will be but Cal put up 190 7.875 That's what NC State hit the 197 mark one time last season. So 197 is really tough to get so that's why they didn't pick up any any wins. They only hit the 195 mark in that quad me Yeah, I maybe I forgot to write it down what's their, what's their future meats coming up is the ACC they have a home made against Carolina on this upcoming Sunday February 11. And then they have Clemson that home on the 17th. So that would be all three ACC teams at home and then they have to go on the road against Pitt because obviously they've already hosted Pintos referencing earlier. So once they're done with those ACC and I mean, they're, it's just a one on one for the rest until the 25th. And then we open up against nonconference quad meets again. I was saying Northern Illinois and Temple is the first one. And the second one is temple Maryland and, and Penn, Pennsylvania, Penn University of Pennsylvania, you UPenn Penn.

Griffin Cunningham 28:29
And those are all or I'm sorry, the first one is at Reynolds Coliseum at NC State. The second one is in Philly. And then there's one more that is in Reynolds again. And the last quad meet of the season is on the road. So they have a handful of meets at home that I mean to ACC and then to quad meats basically is how it is right now. Awesome. Well, good luck to them, and nice that we are dominating the ACC, for gymnastics, and now we'll get into our final two sports, and that is men's and women's basketball. And we can start with women's basketball. They most obviously, they had had a loss earlier in the season, but their I'd say more defining loss was the super close loss by one point at Virginia Tech, which was at the beginning of January. Since then, they have won I believe it's now been five of the I believe it's been six of the last seven and are back to being a projected one seed in the NCAA Tournament. Only loss was to Miami on the road Uzziah James has lost a Virginia term. Yeah. I'm saying like after the Virginia Tech loss, so my loss only two total. Yeah, no, no, I'm saying like after that really close loss, which is it totally totally could have been When it was on the road, Virginia Tech's a great team. After that loss, only one has been Miami on the road. We've won every single other game, which includes ranked teams like UNC and Louisville. But as I James has been the leading scorer so far for the season, she's averaging 1515 points per game, but it's a very inconsistent 15 points per game. The last five scoring outputs for her have been 24, and then 733, and then six, and then 50. So she's kind of, you know, 15 once, but it's more of an up and down 15. Five, at least for the for the team itself, we have five and almost six, well, I think one of them is very, very close scorers averaging double figures. So team is, as we've talked about, super balanced a lot of people to go to the game that I was at, that I covered was UNC, and that was a great game, they had gone back and forth in terms of runs, I think NC State kind of had the handle on it more so like in the fourth quarter. But UNC definitely had times where they were pulling ahead, especially in the beginning. I know as if James didn't play like almost at all, in the first half. She, I think only shot like maybe over four or five and the coach just pulled her but they had great, you know, bench outputs, they ended up out scoring UNC his bench, I believe, like 12 to two. So the bench really stepped up. And then obviously shehnai Rivers was there, she's always doing her thing she played every single minute, she played 40 minutes. So she was out there doing every single, like, just doing a great job during both halves. And then Uzziah came back in, got it together and helped pull away from UNC to get the dub. After the game, I remember, I looked at a few stats. And this was I think I can't remember the exact score I think was like 62 to 59 or 58, or something like that was the win against UNC. And I asked their coach, because I had looked up and I had saw that this was the lowest amount of points the NC State has scored with, or this is the this is yeah, this is the lowest amount of points that NC State had scored while winning while winning a game. And his response was he said that he told the team, if we hold, it doesn't matter. If we hold UNC to under 60, we're going to win guaranteed, if we hold any opponent under 60, we're going to win. So that seems to be their philosophy is defense first. And I mean, that definitely shows in the stats, which we'll get into later. But Coach and team seems to focus a lot on defense and saying, Hey, we don't, we'll the points will come, we'll get him through drives through free throws through trying to make three pointers. But our main focus is defense. And if we hold the team under certain points, he's pretty much being like, Hey, we're gonna guaranteed win this game. Next, they end up playing Virginia Tech, which I believe is tomorrow as we're recording this, which we're recording this on Wednesday. So maybe it might be I don't know, Friday, Saturday, and by that time, but Virginia Tech, obviously it was the team that we lost to really close on the road. They are ranked and we've beaten to rank teams, the past two games you can see in Louisville, you went to Louisville game. So hopefully, we can at home, defend our our home turf, our home court and go ahead and take down Virginia Tech to solidify us even further as being a one seed because right now we are third in the country, which obviously if you don't know there's four regions in the NCAA Tournament. So we would at this moment get one seed, which would be super cool. But I had a cool experience with the USA game. It was nice. Did you have anything crazy happen at Louisville or have any quotes from that game? I mean, it was it was a chaotic night for me because that was like you mentioned our algorithmic deadline night. So we had like, I'd like deadline six stories to edit. And in between that I went to this game for aggro mech because it was the play for K game. Obviously that the Kay yow cancer research. I don't know what it's called Exactly. exact name. There's a there's it's a Cancer Research Foundation, like raising money for breast cancer, which was if you don't know a former legendary basketball coach for NC State. Right. And so that was an interesting experience they had, like, survivors come out at halftime survivors of breast cancer and they will come out based on like how long they've been surviving, like one to two years and the the end it was like 30 Plus or something. Wow. It was just like, I thought it was cool. that they did that. And I know they had the jerseys as well. I think they were like that. It's really cool. Yeah, both jerseys. They're like different obviously. Obviously, they're different, you know, shades and different stuff like, yeah, we, we were black with pink accents. And then they wore pink. Yeah, labeled. And multiple. I mean, teams across the country do this play for Kate, because it extends beyond our school. Obviously, breast cancer affects almost everybody. It seems like Yeah, I saw another ACC game. I can't remember who was with maybe Boston College and another team, maybe Clemson but they also had all the pink as well for rescue. Yeah. Yeah, that was. That was cool that that, you know, it's getting to a point where it seems like there are more and more survivors of breast cancer. And so that was really why we were there. It's a game but then it's it's more than a game. And so that was the story. But as far as the game goes, as I James did ball out. I haven't been to as many women's basketball games this season. So it's been hard for me to kind of keep tabs on them. But I will say that the biggest difference I'm seeing last year compared to this year is three point percentage, especially in this game, they shot almost 50% from three Madison Hayes and Uzziah. James both hit several three, they both hit for four for seven and four for eight respectively for both of them. And they both played 40 minutes. They both started. And they were the two leading point scores, I believe. Yeah, I will say credit to to NC State. Obviously, they're not the women's team. I would say it's not as deep or doesn't have as many people that they're comfortable throwing out there as the men's team but they're women like play a ton of minutes. Like should I obviously when I said Ireson is sorry, when I like after the UNC game. She was like, wow, I don't even realize I played all 40 minutes. Like they, they have a few of them that can go out there and just be like, Yeah, I'm good the entire game. So that's, that's a good standard and credit to them. I I like this rotation. I think they have six players. They've Zoey Brooks off the bench. There's a six man. So they have six players that can play 25 plus minutes a game. And then they played Mallory Collier and Lacey steel a little bit here and there. And they scored. They both scored off the bench. But they didn't play any like significant minutes. And the six that were in there seemed conditioned and ready to play those big minutes. And we're able to build a pretty a 20 plus point lead that kind of got whittled down to about maybe like six or seven. And then James and Hayes were able to kind of pull away and then rivers and Brooks both big down the stretch as well. Yeah,

Stone Boylan 37:48
shout out to Zoe Brooke, she, the game I went to the UNC game, when Uzziah was not in and just not hitting it, she really took over, she's the backup guard like the sixth man. She was doing a phenomenal job. And then another shout out to Maddie Cox, she got in, she was a forward and she was getting also a good amount of minutes in the UNC game. And she had like a nasty layup that she did, there was an one made her free throws was playing good defense. So she took advantage of a lot of the minutes that she got as well. So they also have a lot of you know, people that are learning and coming off the bench and, you know, progressing to where if there's any sort of maybe foul trouble with, let's say river Baldwin or something, who's our senator? She can come in and fill that role nicely. So it's it's good to have necessary depth but not where you're confused about who you should play. That's a good transition like men. Yeah. Because that's what they have been now. We have a few notes down here. The first one I'll bring up after, but we get started off with MJ rice. He, if you don't know was a forward high relatively high recruit and he was a fully serviced Villa forward. He's no no I mean, like, if you don't know he, he has done for the year in terms of his redshirt playing this year. He they have requested they've applied for didn't apply to redshirt so he will not be playing anymore this year. He is a forward but I'm saying he was a four star recruit. relatively high recruit coming out of high school ended up coming to Kansas, obviously, Kansas men they are very prestigious and you know, have won a lot. But he didn't really play his first year and ended up transferring and came to NC State and it was a pretty big deal at the time. I remember it was like wow, Keats has gotten a lot of transfers and he capped it off with this one. And there's a lot of potential that could go on here. And in the late into early later or an earlier episode that we did about our trip. You know, the basketball teams. We, when we had a special guest, I believe that was Holly's episode Holly Walker, who we referenced earlier, does a lot of photo stuff for agronomic who we work with, we went over transfers that were interested in and mine was MJ rice. I was like, this dude is a high recruit like, I think he's gonna be super well. He's big. He's like six, nine, but he can still handle and shoot, like, huge Mitch Matt mismatch. And obviously, he didn't really he wasn't really here, which we were trying to figure out why like he was absent from the team in the beginning, didn't really play a ton. But then slowly, I think after the first few games, he came back and was getting minutes, and was okay, he could slowly work his way into the rotation. But now he will not be playing anymore for this season. And we just kind of have to hope that maybe he stays. I have no, we don't really have any inside info. They kind of kept it on the low in terms of what is going on. Yeah, it was a very short press release. Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if he is not here next year. I'd hope he would be. But it would not shock me if it was a short stint here, which is very disappointing. Oh, yeah. Very disappointing. I was I was pretty upset about that. Yeah, the first game that I actually our his first his debut game was I was at covering it was the heritage game. And I forget who was that against? Like, Middle Eastern Maryland shore, like, some no name, no name school team, but like, it was in Reynolds is the only Reynolds game. So I went and he really did look like a game changer like that we thought he would be. And then just to see his minutes go down. And then to the point of him deciding that, or whoever. I don't know who really yeah, maybe it was a trigger on that decisions. But he Yeah, I mean, it makes me disappointed in the team. Yeah. Well, I mean, I was like he we obviously could have used him. I think in terms of our team we have that's probably the one piece we are missing. Like we have, you know, what a superstar No, no, I mean, obviously, but I mean, in terms of like, their play style. Like we have a big wing, we have guards that can handle and shoot, obviously DJ horn guards who are better at facilitating and passing like McConnell, athletic guards slash forwards like, you know, Taylor, and then obviously the big man DJ, but also like, big men who are, you know, good defenders like Middlebrooks and Diarra and good rebounders, but we don't really have like, a big man who can, you know, shoot and create for himself? DJ can create for himself but it's like a slow creation, if you know what I mean. Like a backhand you down, he's gonna do a lot of moves. And He'll either fade away or pass which is a good passer in his own right. But not like, Give me the ball. I'm gonna dribble step back, you know, or I'm gonna literally shoot over you. That's kind of what MJ was almost like KD s, not comparing him to Katy. But like his style of play. And Kevin Durant. Yeah. Like, that's kind of his style of play, because they race Katie. Yeah. Well, that's not like direct comparison. But if you know what I'm talking about having Deray they play, you know, TJ, you almost can't, it's hard to compare him to anything, because he's, he's very unique. And his his style. Yeah. But MJ, it would have been nice to, to to have him but yeah, in terms of the, the team and how they're doing right now. It's, I wouldn't say it's surprising, maybe a little bit disappointing. But I think Kevin Keats is definitely coaching for his job, not saying he should be fired, or he will be fired. I think it'll be determined based on the next few games. But I do think this team had an expectation of making the tournament this year, it at the very least. Now they did lose treyvion Smith, who was their star guard, and is better than any, you know, guy on the team now. But he went in the transfer portal and got a ton of, you know, solid players, as we just mentioned, to play their roles. And do you know, obviously not, they're not gonna be hot every single night, but you kind of have to write the hot hand, you know, from night to night. And I think we still have that expectation. In the ACC, we are actually relatively high. I think we're in the top five, at least maybe even four in terms of just our ACC record. But, you know, obviously it doesn't matter because the whole thing is can we make the tournament and that's that's kind of the ideal scenario. And as of right now, if I were to give you like a percentage chance, I would say like probably a one in three chance by 33% chance right now. Of us making the tournament. We the ACC itself this year by By the way, is is weak in compared to other years, it's not very strong. UNC is at the top, and they just recently lost at home to Clemson and Clemson's good team, but they them along with Duke are like, and I would throw Virginia in there as well are like the four teams right now that are in the tournament. But there's teams like Wake Forest, who I believe is in The First Tee is one of the first four out Wake Forest, Virginia Tech pit. And we're also in that mix as well. I think we did a good job separating ourselves relatively speaking from like the Georgia Tech's of the world and stuff like that, who we just recently beat. But the good thing about, you know, what we've done is we have wins over Wake Forest, you know, we do have that when we have wins over Virginia, the biggest thing was the loss at home to Virginia Tech. Because if Virginia Tech is higher than us in the net ranking, we are currently, I believe, 78. And net rating, which is obviously not amazing, which if you don't know, net rating is kind of like a mix, they try and put some sort of ranking on your wins. So there's like four different quadrants of wins. And if you're at home, playing maybe like I don't know, one through 25 ranked team, it's the same as playing a lot. If you win the game, it's the same as being like a one through 15 team on the road. So it values the road wins more than you're taking away from a net rating. Yeah, terms of quad one wins are Yeah. It's not like, oh, I be a 25 seed, I'd be I'd be, you know, the number 25th ranked team in the country, it's going to be the same as beating them at home as it is on the road. It's not, if it's on the road, it's more valuable. But let's say you beat you know, a little bit worse team at home, but be a little bit of a better team on the road, you know, the road one is going to value out way more than the home one. So it took you a while to get there. That's kind of well, that's just want to explain to people because a road win is more valuable than a home. In most cases

Stone Boylan 47:17
like that. Yeah, but that's how they do it. And there's four quadrants and NC State is like, it's almost like what I literally had said, at the beginning of the season, we beat the teams that were priced close to, and we lose the team lose to the teams that were probably supposed to lose to, we are with that we're Owen five in quad one. So we didn't want to single quad one, game, quad two or four and two, and then we're undefeated in quad three and quad four. So we also rely a lot at home, our home record currently is four and six. So not amazing, or that's away from home. So rode in neutral games is foreign six, and you know, teams that we're trying to pass, like Virginia Tech, whereas we're ranked 78th. In that rating, they're 54th. And they're trying to you know, just on the edge of getting in. And then teams like Wake Forest, our 32nd as they just had a big win last night. So the chances are low. But I would say if potentially, they could obviously win their game tonight versus pit, that's a must, because pit is right there with us. And we need to separate from them. And you know, they could also make the tournament. But we also are going to have to win at least one of our next two road games, which is vers Clemson and Wake Forest, which are both better than us. So it's gonna be really hard to win those games. But if we can win one, I would feel relatively confident of saying, Hey, we've done this, maybe we could make the tournament as an 11 seed, if we lose both of them, and just continue what we're doing when to the teams we're supposed to win against lose the teams we're supposed to lose against, we would have to hope and pray for a great ACC tournament performance, almost reminiscent of two or three years ago when Virginia Tech went on a run in the ACC tournament and beat Duke and they were guaranteed in because if you win your conference, you're automatically in. So they forced you know, the third the committee to put Virginia Tech in because they won the ACC. I don't think we maybe have to win the whole thing. But we'd have to get darn close if we don't finish out the season with at least some sort of good win, because they're not putting us in as a, you know, a automatic you know, as a just at large bid, meaning that they just pick us even if we didn't win our conference. If we don't have a single quad one win, that's just not going to happen. So kids in the team are going to have to find some sort of defining win to to get it there. I still can't believe the number three two Even the country lost at home. Why don't we even see it on ranked team? Yeah. Well, we were talking about this before. Obviously, yes, it's an unranked team. UNC lost to Clemson was ranked early in the season. So they fell out the rankings are insane. They, you know, go up and down all the time, but they're in the other receiving votes. So they're a closely ranked team. And I had watched the game and everything Clemson kind of just, like just straight up beat him. I mean, they, the stats were pretty close and everything. It was just Clemson had like three more offensive rebounds. And they had three more or two more 3.3 pointers made. So it was that simple of just two possessions where Clemson got an offensive board, kicked it out, got a three and that was the difference in the game. Everything else was pretty close. So shout out to Clemson doing that at Carolina is very good. Obviously, a lot of teams are losing, you know, there's so many teams at the top that lose conference games, Purdue lost to Northwestern a UConn has lost to like Seton Hall. So people lose conference games at home, though, was definitely because the big teams like Purdue and stuff like they didn't really lose at home UNC as a home loss. That's not great. But I still think if they win the ACC was their favorite too, because I think they're a little bit of a level above Duke. I know that the committee gives blueblood favoritism, which is definitely a thing. But I think they're doing it more so for Duke than they are for Carolina, I think Dukes definitely overrated. I think they should be maybe a four or five seat. And they're at like a two to three seat right now. So maybe they'll eventually fall off. But Carolina, if they win the ACC, I think they'll have no choice. But to give them a one seat, doesn't mean they're deserving of it. But that's just probably what the committee will do. But yeah, you can see, in ACC, obviously, we're having a great year. But we, I think the biggest thing was, I had gone to a funny story. The game I had most recently went to was Georgia Tech. And we beat Georgia Tech, which was a good win because UNC and Duke both lost to Georgia Tech, which is a weird loss for both of them. But we beat Georgia Tech. So it's kind of like a funny gag of saying, hey, you know, we beat this team that these two teams last two. But I was walking with my friend, we went to go eat and I was walking back. And my neighbor calls me is like, hey, he also went to NC State. He's like, Hey, I have, you know, these two tickets. I was going to do you know, go to the game. But I had to go pick up my daughter from this and my son from that. And I don't really feel like going and I want to watch the UNC Duke game. Do you want him? I was like, Yes, sure. Like, do you have someone to go with and like, well, I got my friend right here, you know. And we literally just, it was like an hour before tip off. So very close. So we just went straight to the bus got there. And they're like in the suite level. And I like go up. And they have to like stamp our hand with invisible like ink or whatever to show that like we were here if we ever like have to go out. And it was like, it was insane. There was like, the atmosphere was just crazy. They had all this food, like the chef's just make the food in front of you. And you go and get it was 10 times better than this crappy cafeteria. You know, stuff that we get at NC State in the dining hall. It was amazing. It was so crazy. And like there were seats everywhere there was a bar. There were like fireplaces and the seats room. I was like gonna get reservations to that. Yeah, my friend was like, what kind of neighbor do you do at? I'm like, they call him my family calls and my rich dad. So my dad is going to Mazda? We're friends with them. So shout out to him. His name's Tony, for giving us those tickets. We were able to experience that game pretty well. But you know, men's not not killing it. But I think one thing that I at least with stats wise when ended off on is, you know, the big difference between the men and women's team. Women is obviously killing it man is not. So you know, irrespective to each you know, team, why is the women's doing so good. And I would say the biggest thing is the rebounding, the women's team is number one in the ACC and rebounding, their top 10 in the country as well. Whereas men are ninth in the ACC. So that's a huge disparity right there. The women in general are averaging 45 rebounds a game and the men are averaging 35. So even if it played, obviously, we're not putting that scenario out there but they're averaging 10 more rebounds than the men's team. And the men on average are getting out rebounded, which only three other teams In the ACC get out rebounded per game, the women on average are out rebounding out rebounding their opponents by 10. So it's a huge disparity. The men also do not shoot well, especially compared to other men's team. With the women's team, they're only 1% worse in terms of shooting, specially three point percentage, which, if you don't remember the Wake Forest game, where, you know, DJ horn, put up two birds on a raft, when you shoot a free throw, which I went to that game, totally deserved. There were some definitely weird stuff with the refs that was going on there. And they came back and they won the game, they didn't hit a single three, and they want, it was pretty insane. But they, they just are not shooting the ball super well. But I think the biggest thing is definitely defense and turnovers. The women's team allows the second least amount of points per game in the ACC, which as we mentioned, it clearly shows because coach focuses on that a lot. And they also have allow the lowest field goal percentage, and they have the highest, they have a top 10 defensive rating in the entire country, the women do. So women is just killing it on defense, the men's is not bad, it's definitely what we do, is what we specialize in. But they're just the cream of the crop. And the other thing is the turnover differential, you know, if you turn the ball over so much, if you're not making threes, then it's going to hurt you and the men have a total average turnover differential of minus four, which is second worst in the ACC, meaning that they are giving up for more turnovers than they create per game. Which if you don't shoot well, it's going to be super hard to come back when you're giving the ball up. And you're not creating for your own team. And as we said, Men, they have too much depth for their own good. We mentioned the women's team they have a bench is doing much better. But they have, as Griffin mentioned, like six, a six, you know, person rotation slash seven, that they really like men try and change up all the time just to find some sort of consistency. And that's, that's just really hurting them right now. So that's pretty much the main difference between these these two groups. Yeah,

Griffin Cunningham 57:08
the only thing I'll really comment on about what you said was, you're talking about rebounds, and I think the, the guards on the women's team are, are, you know, good at rebounding and playing on the glass. So I mean, Madison Hayes had a had a double double, he's like six foot one, like just kind of going after it. And not to say that the men can do that, but they don't do it as well. So and Sanaya rivers too, can do it all. And most of the women can do you know most of the things on the floor, whereas men, they, you kind of do your role. And that's the main thing, right? So we just don't have a lot of versatility. But again, hopefully they make it but shout to the women killing it. There'll be a one seed hopefully for sure. That's what all signs are pointing to. They still have more ranked teams to play in the future. The women do Notre Dame in Syracuse along with a game at Carolina, which when we played Carolina, they were ranked, so maybe they'll get back to being ranked. Which if we lose one of those games, I think it'll be okay. But hopefully we can be a solidified one seat and men. As we said, got have got to create some sort of big win if you want to make the tournament this year. If not, we'll be we'll be looking at the NIT for them. Is that all we got? I think is that all we got? I think that's all we got. All right, well sign us off then. All right, well, I hope you enjoy. We will have another we're gonna do bi weekly, bi weekly episodes. Just because we were students obviously we have a lot of stuff to do. And it takes some time to plan it out. And we'll let some time go by just to gather. Gather a lot of info but we'll bring up and talk about transfers next week. I believe the transfer portal for football is closed. And sneak peak state did pretty dang good. So we will talk about that and give you some insight into some players for the football team you should watch next year as well as maybe obviously we'll talk about this one the NFL Draft happens but maybe if there's any sort of NC State players that could be going into draft this year, there definitely is one hopefully you can guess who it is. And find out next episode but that's what we'll do. So thank you for listening. And we'll see you guys later

Griffin Cunningham 59:35
music in this podcast was Jonas hipper is king of sports and vibe and sneaky, licensed under creative commons from the Free Music Archive

Transcribed by https://otter.ai