Replay our live chat about last night's N.C. State-UNC game and all things ACC

Welcome back everyone to the day after round one of this ACC basketball season's UNC-N.C. State doubleheader.

Last night's bout in Chapel Hill delivered a dominating win for the Tar Heels, their 11th straight over the Wolfpack.

Columnist Caulton Tudor will be online shortly to take your questions on last night's game and on the rest of the ACC, so fire away.

Caulton Tudor here. Up and running

State didn't have a good idea of what to try offensively. I think Gottfried got outcoached, but UNC would have won anyway

Re: Strickland. Defensively, the matchup for UNC worked better with Bullock's height on Wood.

But long term, UNC will need Strickand on shorter wing shooters. There's still enough overall talent to win big, but Bullock won't match up as well against everyone he'll be asked to check

Yep. UNC shot down State and the horse it rode in on

That was amazing. We have a replay of it up on accnow.

Gov. Ol' Roy? I can't see it. He'd have to take a $2m pay cut

The talent's there to win it all, but I'm not completely sold on this team's ability to totally focus on each game. The flop at Fla. State can't be just written off as a type error

Five minutes before our first "biased media" accusation. That has to be a record.

Oh I think UNC fans know State will be tougher to beat as Gottfried goes along.

That didn't pop up on my radar. UNC's defensive was so good and State's offense so bad that the game lost definition fast.

Well, there's no way to take the Duke games for granted and State will be more competitive in Raleigh. But if UNC has another FSU-like performance, who knows? Lots of teams would have beaten that day.

It was a case of both. It's difficult to try to go inside on UNC without hitting enough shots from perimeter to draw the bigs away from the goal. I just thought State played right to UNC's strong suit, which always backfires.

There are so many. I'll never forget the Dudley Bradley - Clyde Austin game in Raleigh. The '83 ACC semifinal in Atlanta was an amazing game, too. There've been a lot.

I didn't see that. It might have been Leslie McDonald.

I think that was the case last season at times. This season, I think Leslie has pretty much been all in. He's still not the model player, but I think he's making an effort ... maybe because he's learned that the pro scouts look at more aspects of the game than dunks and swats.

The biggest problem I thought was lack of offensive direction. Scott Wood is a great pure shooter but he still can't create very well. The decision go at Henson and Zeller had zero chance, which added to the half-court breakdowns.

Well, the schedule clearly favors Fla. State in the regular season. There's no 2nd game against UNC and the next game against Duke will be in Tally. That said, I'm skeptical that FSU will keep it up for another six weeks. In the tournament, I'd pick UNC barring more injuries. There's a lot of depth even without Strickland

You've got a good point. Fla. State's size and numbers made a big difference. It really hurt State last night that Richard Howell got in foul trouble early yet again. He's a big with some punch but he's fouling too often and too early

Roy Williams has said he thinks Barnes' offensive game is almost perfectly balanced. I do think he's got some NBA slash moves, particularly when he splits the post defenders. There were a couple of examples of that last night. But at Fla. State, the defense's size was able to seal Barnes out most of the time

Being from Angier, I'd love to see Camels shock the world

Hmm. Phil Ford, Kenny Smith, Derrick Phelps, Tommy Kearns. KM will have the assist records, though.

My guess is he'll go for at least 4-5 years regardless of championships. But I don't see coaching much longer than that -- unless his golf game falls apart, which is entirely possible at his age.

He'll get this season and next for sure. But Ron Wellman has a professional investment in the hire, of course. Assuming Frank Haith -- read my column in Saturday section -- is cleared in the Miami probe and keeps winning at a decent clip at Missouri, he'd be Wake's best option. But do you leave a big public to take a private, even if it is the school he really likes?

Oh, I think White did fine. He could play 20 minutes at about 3-4 ACC schools, including the aforementioned Wake. He's not a jet, but he's plenty quick enough to move the offense. That's really UNC needs from him for 5 or so minutes.

That is maybe THE question. If State loses to UVa on Saturday, that would give Pak home court losses to GT and UVa and there's not a 2nd game against Cavs. My guess is there'll be five if State can finish 9-7. But the fifth team may be in those First Four games.

I think he's done a very good job of instilling a sense of program ownership in the players and his assistants. The work ethic is better and other than last night, the game plans have been above average. BUT now the crossroads games are coming. I really think State needs to beat UVa more than any team they've yet given the way the game at UNC unfolded.

The one thing Tony Bennett's teams always do fairly well is control tempo and hang around, which is exactly what Cavs will want to do tomorrow night. If Rich Howell has the match up against Mike Scott, that will be important. The way Howell is fouling so much, D-Painter might get the start just to save fouls. Cavs also have a quick, short perimeter. State will have the size but there'll be some tricky matchups against the 5-11 guys.

Yep. I agree. I think the size of college players and game paces have tripped him up some. In a program with lower expectations, he could get more PT to up his comfort zone. But UNC can't afford that luxury with a lineup good enough to win NCAA. McAdoo will probably have a make or break off-season. If he figures it out, he'll be plenty good. If not, he may have to down size.

In football, I don't think it'll make any difference. In basketball, it'll depend in large part on who gets the SU job when Jim Boeheim retires. I don't Pitt will be a big hoops winner long term. Bringing in Panthers was a move for a TV market and that's about it. Notre Dame eventually is going to have to make a conference decision, whether the powers that be want to or not. But that may not be until after the dust completely settles on the realignment front. That's impossible to predict. A big mistake was not making a stronger play for Penn State years ago.

I don't think the football situation will have much bearing on basketball. The school's image has pretty much already taken the hit. If there's a bowl ban, it'll hurt football recruiting.

I think if State can beat UVa tomorrow, 9-7 should be there for the taking. And I do think 9-7 will be good enough. After all, the other conferences are just average, too. Well, maybe the Big 12 is an exception, but that's it. The Pac-12 is down. The Big East is weaker than almost anyone expected and the SEC is off some. The problem would be if UNC, Duke and FSU all finish 11-5 or better and no one else can get above 8-8. That would be tough nut to crack for anyone. The winner Saturday in the RBC has a solid edge in the run for 4th.

Thanks everyone for participating. We'll do this again as the season moves along.

And thanks again to Tudor for joining us today.

Until next time, here are a few links to our coverage from last night's game:

http://bit.ly/zPe7e7
http://bit.ly/xBjhyn
http://bit.ly/yyADHo
http://bit.ly/yaDkJ4
http://bit.ly/yzLBwu
http://bit.ly/x8kG8I