For the second time in a six-year span, Debbie Yow had to find a new basketball coach because if she hadn't, Mark Gottfried would have become Herb Sendek 2.0 with half of the fanbase calling for his head and the other half rallying behind him. Two bad seasons followed four consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. In reality, Gottfried had three disappointing seasons because in Year 2, the Wolfpack were picked to win the ACC, but the team wound up playing the first day of the ACC Tournament and flamed out against eventual champion Miami in the semis. It's pathetic that football schools and Virginia were able to win four straight conference titles while this program is still looking for our first conference title since 1987.

Kevin Keatts needs to realize that Sweet 16s won't cut it any more. This program wants regular season titles, ACC titles, and to be in the mix for the Final Four from this point out. After all, FSU, Miami,Virginia, and Notre Dame were able to do at least one or two of the aforementioned. If Keatts doesn't get the job done, then, apathy will reign supreme. After all, the University of San Francisco also has two national titles but has been insignificant ever since Bill Russell left.

Gottfried wasn't alone in helping this program underachieve. C.J. Leslie was exposed for what he really was: being selfish. He was so much of a problem his freshman year that Sidney Lowe suspended him at Duke and benched him in what would be the ex-coach's last game at the 2011 ACC tourney. Gott tried to work with the dude but C.J. was too problematic in the end.

Rodney Purvis is someone who I wish nothing but ill for because of how ungrateful he turned out to be. He was the hometown player who was supposed to lead State back to the promised land but cut and ran to UConn after his freshman season.

A Requiem for Oak Hollow Mall: August 9, 1995-March 10, 2017

Oak Hollow Mall is now closed after less than 22 years. On the last day, nothing but the Dillard's was open. So, a city with more than 100,000 people is now without a mall.

The place should have closed much earlier but due to the obstinacy of Dillard's and Sears, it lingered on until the surprise announcement that I didn't even know about until over a week ago. The pharmacy school fiasco of 2014 also exposed High Point University president Nido Qubein for not being as good of a negotiator as he was made out to be.

The mall was what it was. I'm not going to express my opinion in detail--others have evaluated the situation much better than I ever could. I, however, do remember a high school classmate saying how Westchester Mall should have been expanded and how much my vocational teacher agreed with her--mind you, this was two years after Oak Hollow opened. 

Nobody knows what will happen next, but with all of the major retail in the city's north side, given the divide of the city, is bad news for other parts of town.