7 percent from the threepoint line and 83

NC States 2008-09 post-season consisted of a first-round loss in the ACC Tournament. Wake Forest is looking for leaders since Jeff Teague and James Johnson left for the NBA.Conflict: Wake Forest appears to be at their best when limiting opponents on the perimeter The Deacs held Purdue to just 1-15 from long range. NC State, though, does not rely on threes to be successful.The Wolfpack is only scoring at a rate of 32 behind the arc As a team, the Pack has only taken 138 trifectas. Can the Demon Deacons defend the laneAl-Fraouq Aminu leads Wake Forest with 15.9 points and 10.4 rebounds. Tracy Smith leads the Wolfpack with 18.3 points and 9.4 rebounds.

But this battle could be decided by the point guards.Ishmeal Smith leads the way for Wake with an assist to turnover ratio of 2.09. Against Purdue, Smith struggled in the second half.Wake lost a two-point halftime lead and Smith committed six turnovers, many in the second half Beyond that, Aminu turned over the ball six times. Many of those miscues the result of Smith having to give up the ball too soon.Gonzalez has an assist to turnover ratio of 1.8 The junior averages more than a steal per game. Can the Wolfpack bring enough pressure to disrupt Wake Forest Can C.J Harris and L.D. Williams come to the Ishmael Smiths rescue if neededChas McFarland gets seven boards per game At 70, the only thing holding him back, is himself.

McFarland will need to stay out of foul trouble.Dennis Horner averages 15 points and 5 rebounds. State will not all of that and more tomorrow if they are to win their conference opener.Resolution: Aminu is ready to push himself into the elite category, and he has more support than Tracy Smith has. Wake Forest will outlast North Carolina State. 1st Team All CaseyPG Sherron Collins KansasSG Elliot Williams MemphisSF Wes Johnson SyracusePF DaSean Butler West VirginiaC Greg Monroe Georgetown 2nd Team All CaseyPG Jon Scheyer DukeSG Andy Rautins SyracuseSF Gordon Hayward ButlerPF Patrick Patterson KentuckyC Jason Love XavierPickin' Splinters. As Kobe Bryant continues to add to his already-brilliant legacy, the debate between him and Michael Jordan rages on.The majority of the NBA fans believe that the comparisons are foolish and that Jordan is still much better than Kobe.However, I am going to show why Kobe is closer to Jordan than is perceived.The following are major reasons against Kobe when people compare him to Jordan and why they are incorrect. 1. Jordan Simply Has Much Better Stats Than Kobe in Every Area Jordan's career stats are that he averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.3 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game, while shooting 49.7 percent from the field, 32.7 percent from the three-point line, and 83.5 percent from the free throw line.On the other hand, Kobe has averaged 25.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game, while shooting 45.5 percent from the field, 34 percent from the three-point line, and 84 percent from the free throw line. At first look, it seems that Jordan dominates Kobe, but Kobe's career averages are severely hurt by his first few seasons when he did not play much, due to him coming out of high school.Now when you look at Kobe's career stats without his first three seasons (Jordan played three years of college), his numbers are 28.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game, while shooting 45.8 percent from the field, 34.1 percent from the three-point line, and 84.4 percent from the free throw line. Kobe is just on par with Jordan on all stats except for points, steals, and field goal percentage.Now, the reason why Kobe averages two less points than Jordan is because Jordan averaged 1.5 more field goal attempts per game than Kobe without his first three seasons.Jordan was simply slightly better than Kobe at steals, which really is not that important of a stat as Allen Iverson, a below average defender at best, led the league in steals three times. 2. Jordan Shot a Much Higher Percentage from the Field Than Kobe This is one of the worst arguments in favor of Jordan compared to Kobe because Kobe shot many more three-point shots than Jordan did, thus resulting in a lower field goal percentage.Instead of looking at field goal percentage to compare the two, I like to look at a stat that is never used, but is the best indicator in field goal three-point and free throw efficiency and that is points per field goal attempt. Jordan averaged 1.316 points per field goal attempt in his career, while Kobe has averaged 1.312 points per field goal attempt a difference so small in should not ever be argued against Kobe.On average, when Jordan shot 20 times, he scored 26.3 points, while Kobe averages 26.2 points per every 20-shot attempts.