Daily Links & Banter 7/20: NC State, NBA 2K, Slot Receivers

Does NC State have the easiest Power 5?

in recent seasons, the NC State Wolfpack has often struggled against teams that many people believe they should’ve beaten. But will that change this year?

This season, the folks over at ESPN have stated that the Wolfpack has the second easiest schedule of all the power five schools, however many faithful, and the News & Observer’s Joe Giglio don’t necessarily agree with that sentiment.

NC State’s perpetual ability to choke away games against easy opponents (Wake Forest) or to just flat out quit against tough competition (Clemson and Texas A&M last season) has been the lynchpin to a number of disappointing finishes for the Wolfpack.

It is also worth noting that the Clemson Tigers also have the ninth easiest schedule and the Wolfpack will be playing the Tigers at Carter-Finley Stadium this season as well.

And if any of the teams on the Wolfpack’s schedule end up in the AP Top-25, you can kiss any chance the Wolfpack has of winning that game goodbye.

Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren is 2-13 against teams ranked in the Top-25. Doeren has also never beaten a team ranked in the top-10; in fact, he’s been outscored by an average of 21 points in such games.

Combine that with the fact the Wolfpack will replacing almost all of its weapons on offense, this team is ready to disappoint during 2019.

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NBA 2K Comes After the Hornets

Whew, what a bad offseason the Hornets have, and the most popular NBA video game is making it known that they are not good.

Most of us expected the Hornets to be fairly terrible after the loss of Kemba Walker, but 2K has taken it a further step.

The Hornets don’t even come close to sniffing the top-20 players in the game, the 20th best player belongs to Blake Griffin of the Detroit Pistons. The Hornets’ best player, according to 2K, is Cody Zeller and he is currently sitting as the 78th best player in the game.

The Hornets are going to be bad this year, there is just no sugar coating it, but 2K has made it known what to expect from the team on the virtual court.

WR Battle for the Slot Will Be pivotal

You can check out our breakdown of the Panthers wideout situation here, but Panthers Wires said that the real battle will be in the slot, and I couldn’t agree more.

While everyone expects Curtis Samuel to take over the reins in the slot, his injury history makes us a bit more concerned that he will be able to hold on to the job.

Should Samuel stay healthy, then this will be a non-issue. If he gets hurt, however, this could open up Chris Hogan, Terry Godwin or Rashard Ross for an opportunity to take that spot away from the third-receiver from Ohio State.