SFN Note: SFN welcomes a new author to the stable today. LRM actually helped contribute to the original Statefans.com back in 2002 and 2003 and has re-attached to our new blog team here at StateFansNation. We look forward to more of LRM’s “View from the Cheap Seats” in the future!
I’ll be honest: I really wanted Rick Barnes.
Hiring Sidney Lowe just seemed a bit contrived and markedly uninspiring. Let’s take the guy we know will say yes.
Sure, Lowe seemed to be telling us all the things we wanted to hear, and as part of The Family he fully understands – unlike the coach he replaced – what is truly important to the average State fan. Folks, say what you want, but this is really quite simple: beat Carolina, beat Duke, and win a few ACC titles along the way.
We’re staring down the loaded barrel of a potential Wake Forest versus Rutgers Orange Bowl. That may be the sign of the apocalypse so don’t tell me my expectations are too high.
But Lee Fowler touting Lowe an “excellent choice� just reeked a little too much of Dick Baddour’s rhetoric after he had to settle on Matt Doherty. Truth is, about the only positive things I could find to say about Lowe were that he has ties to the NBA, which should invariably help recruiting, and that he is not Herb Sendek.
Or maybe I was just disappointed that I’d bought so vehemently into the Barnes hype and then wound up having to begrudgingly take down all those future championship banners already hanging so beautifully from the rafters. Even still I have to wonder, if Lowe had been on the 1984 Georgetown championship team, would he still be such a great choice?
Excuse me if I didn’t exactly go out of my way to be ecstatic about this hire.
The thing is, I’ve been a State fan my entire life. But I’m in no way whatsoever an insider and I don’t frequent any message boards. I scan SFN and a few other sites to keep up, but for the most part my best source of “inside� information is usually my buddy Eric’s “gut feelings.�
You know, my gut just tells that we’re going to get Cowher in ’08. Sweet, that’s good enough for me.
I’m nothing more than your average State fan; I complain and criticize, yes, but having sold my soul to the Wolfpack Club, I’m entitled. So right or wrong, I remain convinced that missing out on Barnes, et al, is indicative of much broader issues at the top of our athletics administration.
Everyone knows that perception is indeed reality.
Yet, the simple fact remained that for years the disenchanted among us – that lunatic fringe – had demanded a change, and finally we had gotten our opportunity for a change, albeit not the change. Native Son Barnes wouldn’t be our next coach nor would a host of others not interested in competing against Roy and K.
Instead, it would become former player (not alum) Sidney Lowe, if for no other reason than because Lee Fowler said so.
And so I started crunching the numbers, and it didn’t look promising. By autumn, Lowe had inherited a team that would return only 36% of its scoring and 34% of its total minutes. We would likely be starting three guys – Costner, McCauley, Fells – that combined to average seven points and six minutes last season. We had given a scholarship to some guy named Bryan Nieman.
Luckily, over the years I have blacked out almost every unremarkable memory from that wretched 1995 season, sans the victory over #1-ranked Carolina in Reynolds. But after I realized what this season would likely have in store for Pack fans, it was déjà vu.
But like most State fans that will always be loyal to a fault, I went to see them play Wofford Friday night. And while I won’t say I have great expectations for this season, something strange happened before I could completely write them off as hapless losers. In a season-opener that felt more like one of those 14-versus-3 opening-round NCAA tourney games, where the underdog scorches the nets for 58% behind the arc in the first half while branding its brief cameo into One Shining Moment, and where the favorite has to surge at the end to advance to the next round: They hustled their tails off out there and won a close game.
For the most part, these are guys that have played very little together as a team. Only Atsur and Grant have significant playing time with each other; the others have either the benefit of being new to the team or being excluded from the rotation for most of last season – perhaps a blessing in disguise.
On defense they were fighting for boards, scrapping for steals, and diving for loose balls. On offense they ran the court and created scoring opportunities rather than try to score when some systematic approach dictated, and most importantly, exploited Wofford’s weaknesses in the low post.
They also scored 92 points and genuinely looked like they were enjoying themselves; I know I was. Wait, is that allowed?
Grant and Fells showed flashes of athleticism we could have only dreamed of in recent years with their finesse in the open lanes. Grant feels like the type of player that can explode and quickly take over a game – he’s more talented than Grundy and purer than Hodge. Atsur seemed more at ease running the point in a new offense where he can create plays rather than wait patiently for passing lanes to open up. McCauley is by no means ready to match up with McRoberts – he lacks refinement and probably the overall poise – but he didn’t hesitate to go strong to the basket every time someone dished him the ball in the paint.
Big men in the low post? What’s next, the forward pass in football?
The deplorable truth remains this is likely a 12-win team that will finish at the bottom of the ACC; depth and the obvious inexperience will prove to be huge issues in the long grind of an ACC schedule as well as a respectable non-conference schedule.
But if this team continues to play with the passion and intensity every night that they showed against Wofford, then it will be very tough not to get behind this team. It’s not something I’ve said a lot in the past decade, but this could be an exciting State team to watch. And the dreamer in me can’t help but think Lowe’s first team has at least a couple big upsets, defining victories, in store.
I can think of two right now that would make me very happy.
