News & Observer columnist Caulton Tudor is writing that N.C. State is flirting with historic lows based on its start this season. Tudor says the Wolfpack could be en route to one of its most disappointing seasons ever after being picked for fourth in the ACC in preseason.
Category Archives: N.C. State
With Wilson gone, look for Wolfpack to build around Mustafa Greene in 2011
N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien doesn’t expect Russell Wilson back, he said Wednesday, which means the Wolfpack will have a different look as it heads into spring practice and the 2011 season. The loss of Wilson to baseball obviously means Mike Glennon moves into the starting quarterback job, but the real change here may be the heightened importance of Mustafa Greene.
This past year, the Wolfpack’s first official depth chart included unheralded Dean Haynes as the starting tailback. That said a great deal about State’s personnel at running back, since the coaches switched a DB over to offense and he wound up being anointed the starter. But it also said a great deal about the emphasis on offense. If you were planning on building your offense around Wilson, then you could live with less of a running game. What you needed was someone who could catch and block and wouldn’t fumble.
State’s offense won’t have Wilson at the wheel this season – or at least, State isn’t planning on it. Glennon has height and talent, but the Wolfpack is likely to have a more conventional attack than what it had under Wilson. The hunch here is State will look to build more of a running game into its offense, and that means more emphasis on Greene.
Greene showed star potential in 2010. It’s asking a great deal of a true freshman to understand blocking schemes and route-running in addition to carrying the football, and that’s one reason why Greene wasn’t on the field all the time. But this fall could be different. He led N.C. State with 134 carries for 618 yards and four scores while averaging 45.9 yards per game. Significantly, he averaged 4.5 yards per carry, which is a pretty stout number for a freshman.
Wilson averaged 33.5 yards per game rushing, but you won’t see that from Glennon. Wolfpack coaches love to credit Glennon with being more mobile than you’d expect, but still, he won’t be weaving through defenses like Wilson did. We expect Greene to emerge as a critical part of the Wolfpack offense, and potentially as a good a runner as State has had since Ted Brown. This wasn’t stated Wednesday, but keep in mind that N.C. State built its offense around Wilson long before outside observers realized how good Wilson was going to be.
The hunch here is Wolfpack coaches believe they have a star in the making in Greene, and he’ll be a major part of the Wolfpack offense in 2011.
Sendek having a tough season at ASU
In case N.C. State fans are wondering, Herb Sendek is having a tough season at Arizona State. The Sun Devils just lost a tough game at home to UCLA, 73-72 in overtime, and are now 9-12 overall and 1-8 in Pac 10 play.
Sendek was 8-22 his first season at ASU in 2007 but followed that with records of 21-13, 25-10 and 22-11.
Hoops 4 Hope a success despite poor choice of date
The sixth annual Hoops 4 Hope game was held Sunday at Reynolds Coliseum, and despite some poor timing, appeared to be a success.
N.C. State had a good crowd at Reynolds and the Wolfpack women’s team put on a strong performance, rallying from a big deficit before falling to Florida State, 76-69. The game raised $53,000, according to The News & Observer, for the Kay Yow Cancer fund.
This is a worthy cause, and you have to commemorate NCSU for continuing the game and honoring their late coach. But the game was overlooked in a market consumed with the NHL All-Star Game. Women’s basketball doesn’t get much attention in the market, from media or fans, and this was a prime showcase for the game and a great cause. It just seemed unfortunate that the game wound up being played at a time when many had their attention focused elsewhere.
Wolfpack goes blank at UNC, and for a moment Monday morning
N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe obviously has more to worry about than the ACC media teleconference, but there was an awkward moment Monday morning when his phone line died in the middle of an answer to The News & Observer’s Joe Giglio.
Giglio asked about how hard the Wolfpack plays, and whether Saturday’s loss at North Carolina was an aberration.
“Um, I think this group will play hard. Saturday, that was just a game. I don’t know, it was a weird game. Guys seemed to be ready n the locker room, ready to go to and excited, with good energy,” Lowe responded.
“Initially, when we don’t hit a few shots early, our defense seems to suffer a little bit. Our energy goes down. And we can’t have that.
“We have to be better at overcoming that early drought of not hitting shots and picking up on the defensive end.”
Whoops! Not long after that, Lowe’s line went blank (Wonder if he has AT&T as his cell service?)
After a minute or so, he was back on the line. In the remaining time, Lowe touched on a variety of points involving the Wolfpack team. One was that State doesn’t seem to have great balance when it comes to scoring, and the return of Tracy Smith after an injury hasn’t bolstered the team as expected.
“I can’t remember the last time we had a game where everybody played well. We haven’t had that in a while,” he said. “Having Tracy back certainly helped but we need other people to play well for us. We’ve had a couple of times now where we would take three or four players who played the majority of minutes and they went 4 for 16. And we can’t do that.
“But with Tracy back we should be better defensively. I don t think we’ve taken advantage of that. I don’t think we’ve defended as well as we need. We need to get games where we have more than two guys playing well.”
Speakingly broadly, Lowe had an almost deflated tone in this news conference. He talked about how tough the Wolfpack’s schedule has been in ACC play, and how this team still has time to make a run, but if you listened to his tone of voice, you had a hard time believing this team is about to roar through the rest of the season.
No excuse for lazy performance by N.C. State
The North Carolina game is always a crucible for N.C. State, a test that football coach Tom O’Brien has embraced. But the men’s basketball team produced an embarrassing effort Saturday that highlighted the deficiencies of this Wolfpack team.
State has talent, but that’s not enough. Whether Ryan Harrow is on the bench or not with the flu, there is no excuse, none at all, for lazy play. College basketball players, whether playing their rival in the Smith Center on ESPN or playing Delaware State before a small crowd, should give their all. UNC did that Saturday, and great coaches like Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski get maximum effort from their teams.
That’s not the case with N.C. State. Carolina roared out to a 19-6 lead early in the game thanks to a 15-2 rebounding advantage. That’s simply an outrageous imbalance. One of the rare mistakes the Tar Heels made in the game is they once had six players on the floor, which was comical given that UNC seemed capable of winning this game with only four.
But there were little moments that were telling. Carolina’s Kendall Marshall zoomed right down the middle of the NCSU defense untouched, missed a shot and there were two Tar Heels to rebound. Richard Howell got caught in a double-team, and as ESPN astutely pointed out, not a single Wolfpacker rushed to get the ball. You could see it clearly on the replay – with Howell in trouble, his four teammates just stood there.
State never moved with crisp efficiency on offense, preferring to hope a player could beat his man and get a basket.
And as for overall hustle, you just didn’t see that from State. Harrison Barnes once beat two Wolfpack players to a loose ball. Late in the game, C.J. Leslie made almost no effort for a loose ball as two Carolina players went after it.
The only conclusion you can draw is N.C. State is simply a lazy team. They have some guys who play hard – Tracy Smith, Lorenzo Brown, Ryan Harrow – but not enough. By game’s end, UNC fans were chanting, “Not our rival!” Right now, that’s the case. This was a ridiculous performance from N.C. State, and it’s school, and fan base, deserve better.
Clemson’s Brownell is off to a strong start
The headlines in the Triangle will focus on how N.C. State blew a 19-point lead at Clemson Tuesday night, and with good reason, but a larger story developing here is the Tigers appear to be in good hands with new coach Brad Brownell.
Clemson had built up its program under Oliver Purnell, a respected hand who brought good prospects to Clemson. But he up and bolted to DePaul, making you wonder if Clemson would ever really win in basketball.
Brownell, though, can coach. He did an admirable job getting the Tigers ready for their game at North Carolina, and Clemson might have broken that phenomenal streak if a few shots had gone down.
Tuesday night, the Tigers were nearly smashed in their own gym, but rallied for a 10-point win that was tougher than it looks.
The ACC is taking plenty of national bashing for its lack of teams in the polls this year, but several programs are in better hands than casual observers might think. Tony Bennett is a rising star in his second year at Virginia, new coach Steve Donahue is doing a great job at Boston College and Brownell might establish something at Clemson. Only Wake Forest, Georgia Tech – and N.C. State – appear to be programs where the coaching appears uncertain.
N.C. State will go as far as Harrow can take it
There are big games and biggest games and games you simply have to have. Sunday’s contest with Miami was just that for N.C. State at an RBC Center where the disgruntled nature of Wolfpack fans was evident in the swath of open seats downstairs.
State won 72-70 (see box) but had to hang on after coughing up a 17-point lead in the second half. Coach Sidney Lowe is hardly having an impressive effort this year, and a loss Sunday would have been disastrous for Lowe’s tenure. To his credit, his team hung on and played with toughness in the final two minutes.
Miami actually had a 70-69 lead when freshman Ryan Harrow took a tough driving shot that missed badly. But Tracy Smith tipped the ball so hard it ricocheted off the backboard. Then Smith grabbed it, leaned to his right and scooped in a shot with 43.9 seconds left.
Harrow stole the ball at the other end, and C.J. Williams hit one free throw for State with 15.9 seconds left.
State made an impressive defensive stand on the other end. Lowe wisely put Scott Wood on the Canes’ Malcolm Grant, who had hit all five of his three-pointers and had 23 points in the game. Grant tried to shoot but Wood cut him off, so Grant made a wild drive and Smith stepped in. Grant’s only chance was a tough pass inside a teammate could not handle, and the horn went off with the ball loose.
What was interesting about this game was who did play, and who did not. The debate over point guard, where Lowe had stubbornly clung to Javier Gonzalez, is over. Gonzalez, a scrappy kid with marginal skills, got only nine minutes and Harrow played the critical minutes in the stretch. C.J. Leslie, the talented but erratic freshman, played just 14 minutes against the rugged Canes front. And freshman Lorenzo Brown, who had started most of the season, gave way to Williams in the starting five but still played 22 minutes.
The team that finished the game – Smith, Harrow, Williams, Wood, Richard Howell – is probably State’s core five going forward. If the long injury to Smith helped in any way, it is probably that Howell gained critical experience and State saw what Leslie can, and cannot, do.
The official attendance was 15,222, but empty seats are a sure sign of a fan base that is losing faith. N.C. State got a win it coveted against a Miami team that is better than some might think. Harrow learned some hard lessons – like the wild shot he took toward the end – but State has to keep the ball in his hands. He was just 2 of 10 from the floor Saturday but had seven assists. Heck, when Gonzalez played, it seemed like months would go by without him getting seven assists.
When you watch N.C. State, you get the sense that Smith is one of the league’s best players, but that this team will go as far as Harrow can take them, and no further.
Yow: Wolfpack program will be reviewed
N.C. State’s loss to Duke Wednesday night highlighted the problems with the basketball program, which was why Thursday’s talk shows were full of discussions about the future of Wolfpack basketball.
Athletics director Debbie Yow, in her first year with the program, told The Fan’s Adam Gold and Joe Ovies that the program would be reviewed at the end of the season. Yow said “our focus” is to give full support to the team as the season unfolds.
“After the end of the season, when all the games are played, there will be a review, of course,” she said.
Speculation about Lowe’s future is now reaching such proportions that it was a strong topic of conversation Thursday afternoon on Taylor Zarzour’s show, which is now based out of WFNZ in Charlotte. Charlotte is hardly a big N.C. State town, so the fact that this was a center of conversation says how widespread the unhappiness is with Wolfpack fans.
Yow, of course, is an experienced administrator who knows how to say the right thing. But the fact that she is openly saying there will be a review is telling. Do you think Duke athletics director Kevin White is going around saying Mike Krzyzewski “will be reviewed” after the season.
Of course not. As noted here earlier, Lowe could be driving this team toward a losing season, and that won’t wash with Wolfpack fans – or Yow.
NCSU, Duke heading two different directions
N.C. State and Duke were two teams going in separate directions Wednesday at the RBC Center, as the Blue Devils rolled to a 92-78 victory over a Wolfpack team that still struggles to play defense.
Duke’s depth was evident, and the play of sophomore Andre Dawkins was particularly impressive. Dawkins skipped his senior year of high school to enroll a year early last season after Gerald Henderson left for the pros, but he had little impact on the championship year as Duke favored a big lineup. Dawkins averaged just 4.4 points and with Kyrie Irving coming in and Seth Curry eligible, you expected him to get swept aside this season.
Instead, he appears to be solidifying a spot in the starting rotation as Curry’s defensive woes are highlighted in the rugged conference play. Dawkins played 23 minutes and scored eight points at the RBC Center, and as you watched the game, he clearly seemed comfortable on the court. Irving’s situation is hard to predict – and you can’t blame his family for being cautious with an NBA future ahead – and so there are minutes to be had in the backcourt. Dawkins looks like he can hold the job, and that gives Duke real depth there with Curry available for sharp-shooting duties.
Last year, Duke used its loss at N.C. State to redefine itself and become a halfcourt, grind-it-out team. This year, the Devils are heading toward more balance as players like Dawkins exert themselves.
N.C. State is spiraling down a different path. Losing to Duke is no reason for shame, but the Wolfpack now faces a huge game Sunday at the RBC Center against Miami. The Hurricanes are 12-5 overall and 1-2 in the league and a team State should beat. But the Pack can’t take anything for granted.
“There are still a lot of games left,” coach Sidney Lowe said after the game, according to The News & Observer. “But we need a run. We need a nice run. It’s not a panic situation. But too many of those [losses], and yeah, it will be.”
Games at Clemson and UNC follow the Miami game, and State’s 11-7, 1-3 record could soon take a beating.