THE NEWS & UNOBSERVED
packwbb.com • Imagined Access • We weren’t there
The National Voices Have Spoken. They Have Also Never Been Hit.
What NC State’s women’s players would have said about the lazy takes on hiring Philip Rivers if anyone had asked, which they did not, because the pundits were busy typing from rooms with no charge circle and Coach Moore was already at the whiteboard trying to get Pierre 25 rebounds a game.
Nov. 11, 2026
A note from PackWBB.com
PackWBB.com does not have official media access to NC State women’s basketball. We also do not have a locker-room pass, a credential, or a realistic chance of Wes Moore calling on us in the second row.
The News & Unobserved. Imagined Access. So we are publishing the quotes as they probably would have occurred if the players had been asked about the national opinion that NC State is making a mistake by hiring a high school coach who happens to be Philip Rivers. None of these interviews happened. All of them feel true. Favour is still waiting for someone to explain why the sport is not spelled with a U.
RALEIGH — NC State is finalizing a deal to hire Philip Rivers as head football coach. The man who set the records here, wore 17, spent 18 years getting hit in the NFL, and then spent six seasons telling high school kids to sit down is coming home. Dave Doeren is out. Rivers is in. The Board of Trustees still has the paper.
Somewhere in a studio that has never required a mouthguard, the takes have already started. Stewart Mandel and the rest of the national chorus have the same note: no college experience, high school coach, nostalgia hire, risky, what are they doing. The women’s basketball players heard the note. They treated it like a live-ball turnover that nobody bothered to pick up, then asked if the person who dropped it was even eligible to play.
Annsley Trivette did not need the history lecture. She needed a jersey.
“I was ready to check in,” Trivette said. “I know it is football. I do not care. He is from here. The seats already know the name. Names do not box out. Names do not close out. If he can make Carter-Finley feel like Reynolds, that is the whole job. Those national guys have never been hit in the mouth in this building. They type about experience like experience is a podcast. Experience is getting up after somebody just put you on the floor. He has done that. They have done a Zoom. I would not let them inbound. They would turn it over before the first step and then blame the floor for being slippery.”
Favour Ossai needed the criticism translated into something that made sense.
“They say he only coached the little building,” Ossai said. “The little building still has a ball. He held it. These people who write the words, did they hold the ball? Or did they hold a laptop? I have seen a laptop. It does not tackle. It does not get tackled. If they cannot hold the ball, how can they tell him he cannot coach the people who hold the ball? Also, why is it not futball? If they cannot spell it, they should not be allowed to type about it. I would make them sit in the back and hold the water bottles.”
Khamil Pierre treated the takes like a missed box-out.
“He already played here,” Pierre said. “That is not a theory. That is film. These opinion people talk like film is optional. I have watched film. Film does not lie about who got hit and who did the hitting. He got hit. He hit back. They got a deadline. I would not let them guard a walk-on. They would complain about the contact, ask for a timeout because their laptop got hot, and then write that the walk-on was the problem.”
Zoe Brooks kept the standard simple and the punchline sharper.
“Experience is what you do with the next possession after a bad one,” Brooks said. “He has had bad ones. On the field. In front of people who were trying to take his head off. The people writing that this is a mistake have had bad takes. On the internet. In front of people who already agreed with them. That is not the same possession. That is not even the same sport. One of those groups has a charge circle. The other has a comment section and a very strong Wi-Fi signal.”
Wes Moore was already at the whiteboard, marker in hand, trying to draw up a way for Khamil Pierre to grab 25 rebounds a game.
He had sketched the key, a couple of arrows pointing toward the glass, and the number 25 circled in the corner. He did not look up when the national takes were mentioned.
“Twenty-five,” Moore said, still staring at the board. “Pierre can get 25 rebounds. The math works if the other team misses and we box out. These people on television have never boxed out. They have never chased a rebound that bounced off the glass and hit the side of the backboard. Rivers has been hit. He knows what the floor feels like. Tell him to keep the ball. Tell him to sit when he needs to sit. And tell him if he needs a whiteboard, this one is already full. I’m trying to get Pierre 25.”
Then he added another arrow and went back to the problem.
At press time, Ossai was still reading the headlines and frowning at the spelling.
“Pretty name,” she said. “Confusing opinions. If they never got hit, they should sit down when they type. Sitting is easy. I can teach sitting. Coaching the people who get hit is harder. He already did the hard part. They did the easy part. The easy part does not need a credential. We already knew that. We also knew how to spell the sport. They should ask. Or they can hold the water bottles. I am flexible. Pierre is getting 25 rebounds. That part I understand.”
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