The individual pieces are there. You could see it Monday night in Ed
Davis' breakaway dunks, John Henson's between-the-legs bounce pass,
Deon Thompson's career-high-tying 22 points.

But even during its 93-72 victory over Gardner-Webb at the Smith Center
on Monday, it's obvious that North Carolina is still trying to mesh
them all together.

N.C. State offensive coordinator Dana Bible has been diagnosed with a form of leukemia, Wolfpack coach Tom O'Brien said this afternoon. 

Bible, who did not travel with the team for Saturday's game against Virginia Tech, will remain hospitalized for 30 days, according to O'Brien.

"He'll fight it. If he has a chance to beat it, he'll beat it," O'Brien said.

North Carolina has group of junior defenders contemplating skipping their final season for the NFL, linebacker Bruce Carter is not one of them.

The junior from Havelock said Monday he's staying in school.

• Late Hits archive

ECU: After a 1-2 nonconference start, the Pirates could have folded. After bungling a trip to SMU, and losing on a 96-yard dagger, the Pirates could have checked out.

Editor's note: J.P. Giglio is one of 60 AP voters.

• JP Top 25 archive
• AP, USA Today polls
• Pollspeak (how everyone else voted)

The top eight didn't change for the first time all season but No. 9 through No. 25 is the same roulette wheel it has been since Week 1.

Oregon (9) took control of the Pac-10 with a wild, comeback win at Arizona. Even with two losses, both on the road, I think Oregon's better than Pittsburgh (10).

A dismal shooting night for Tracy Smith? Maybe. He was 2-for-16 from the floor before he hit the two biggest shots of the night.

With Smith hitting the winning basket with 1.3 seconds to go, N.C. State remained undefeated at 4-0 with a 60-58 win over Auburn.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- If N.C State can ever put a second half together like its first halves down here in Florida…

“We’re going to be a force to be reckoned with,” N.C. State guard Julius Mays said.

Once again, N.C. State produced a suffocating first-half defensive performance. Once again, the Wolfpack found itself clinging to a lead late. Saturday, Austin Peay got within four points with a minute to go before the Wolfpack hung on for a 66-59 win.

DURHAM -- It wasn't the zone part of the equation that eluded Radford, but the defense.

Duke shredded the Highlanders' ill-advised zone with 18 3-pointers in a 104-67 romp in Saturday's untelevised game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Four N.C. State turnovers - including two lost fumbles on the Wolfpack's first three plays on offense - helped Virginia Tech win 38-10 on Saturday at Lane Stadium.

Linebacker Cody Grimm forced three fumbles to tie an NCAA single-game record for the Hokies, and redshirt freshman Ryan Williams ran for four touchdowns to hand N.C. State (4-7, 1-6 ACC) its sixth loss in the last seven games.

BLACKSBURG, Va. - N.C. State play-by-play broadcaster Gary Hahn isn't working today's game at Virginia Tech because he is recovering from prostate cancer surgery.

Wolfpack Sports Marketing general manager Brian Asbill said the cancer was discovered in an early stage.

"His prospects for complete and total recovery are excellent," Asbill said.

Hahn, who is in his 20th season as the voice of the Wolfpack, was replaced on play-by-play by Tony Haynes, who usually serves as sideline reporter. Mark Thomas replaced Haynes on the sideline, and Johnny Evans remained in his usual position as color analyst.