On the back of this entry by Tom Suiter, we get more great praise for our Wolfpack today!
As I write this, it’s late and I’m tired, but if the N.C. State basketball team can keep doing it, I suppose I can stay up just a little longer. I know I can’t be as tired as those guys.
I don’t know what the State basketball team is eating and drinking but whatever it is we all need to have some of it. Somehow, someway, this team which has to be running on fumes, keeps playing winning basketball. They’re like that Energizer bunny: they just don’t wear down.
The NIT selection committee gave the Wolfpack, coming off four grueling days at the ACC tournament, the almost impossible task of having to play a fifth game in six days and do it on the road to boot. The Pack could have moaned and groaned said, “Who cares about the NIT. Let’s just get this over with and take a break.”
But not this team, which since last Thursday has found something deep inside them that has transformed this 10th-seed in the ACC tournament to something that is becoming a little bit special. It’s usually hard to get excited about a team that’s just 19-15, and I almost never care about the NIT, but the grit and determination that this weary team has shown has to be admired. At least that’s what I’m thinking.
Tuesday night, having been exiled to Philadelphia for its first-round game, N.C. State turns back Drexel, coming from behind to do it by the 63-56 score. Drexel was bitter about being excluded from the NCAA tournament. The way State’s gutting it out, they have more right to complain about being left out of the big show than Drexel does.
There’s no question State had to reach way down into the well of emotion to win this one, but again the heart was there.The legs got a little rubbery, but the will to win was very much present. There’s no question a strong will can overcome a lot.
I’m watching this game and State’s down 15-4 and I’m thinking, “Well they don’t have it, the legs are gone.” That’s what you don’t say about this group. Maybe a week ago you could, but you can’t now. These guys just don’t quit. State keeps battling.
Five games in six days, four of them wins, none of them at home. What Sidney Lowe is selling, the team is buying. “We talk about being mentally tough and focused, taking what we want and not what they’re giving us.”
Sure it’s just the NIT, but that’s a championship to be won.
Seems like it, doesn’t it?
I know that I don’t have to highlight this to a lot of you…but, don’t you see the beauty in this? Don’t you recognize the significant change around both the macro and the micro ‘attitude’ of the NC State Basketball program?
Suiter, and much of the country, are talking about NC State’s spirit and the renewed passion around the program. (So much for the myth that ‘continuity’ is so important to a program. That is bullshit. Continuity MAY SOMETIMES be relevant when taking a narrow view of looking at the ‘next season’…but it is irrelevant on the progress of a program).
Basically – NO EXCUSES will be tolerated. Allowing yourself to wallow in excuses and look for reasons to rationalize issues only opens the door to conveying blame onto
Sound familiar?
When was the last time we really had this can-do spirit in Raleigh? When was the last time a Wolfpack team seemed to openly welcome any any all challenges despite the odds? Even Engin Atsur’s injury this year was carefully positioned as something that was obvious, but was no excuse for not trying to make good things happen.
Even before the ACC season got rolling, beowulf indentified a trend directly related to the new spirit in Raleigh when he penned – No Lead is Safe from Sidney Lowe’s Wolfpack.
This was quite a departure for many Wolfpack fans who innately believed that once a Wolfpack team falls behind by 8 to 10 points then there is no chance for a comeback. Why should they believe differently? They had 15 years of experience that taught them to believe it.
Conversely, it is just part of WolfpackNation’s psyche to expect the bottom to eventually drop out of any lead that the Pack builds. And we aren’t talking about just individual ball games. Does anyone remember the entire second half of the 2001 season? Talk about mental fortitude!
It would blow all of us away if we went back and analyzed the differential between the number of ‘leads lost’ and ‘comebacks’ at NC State over the last decade. It would be staggering.
Hell, one year after collapsing and losing a double digit lead in the last ten minutes half of the ACC Championship game – Herb Sendek’s BEST TEAM in his BEST SEASON managed to be the victim of the worst collapse in ACC Tournament history and produce one of the Top 10 collapses in NCAA Tournament history within one week of each other!!
By contrast, Sidney Lowe’s first team pulled off the second largest comeback in the history of the ACC Tournament that was second only to Maryland’s defeat of Sendek’s Pack in 2004.
This is just one set of specific examples to exemplify the change in NC State Basketball. But, the difference in attitude and environment around the program is very important to publicly recognize and not to ignore!
The Pack Pride here is reciprocal. NC State fans should be extremely proud of the Wolfpack’s 2006-2007! And, the NC State basketball program should be very proud of the support of its fan base who sold out Reynolds Coliseum in just three and half hours yesterday in hopes to show their appreciation and support to the team.
