Flashback Friday: ‘Sidney Lowe Should Be Sendek’s Choice’

Flashback General NCS Basketball Sidney Lowe50

A very loyal reader sent us a note to remind us of this old entry that we had penned on May 4th, 2005.

At that point in time, Larry Hunter had just left Herb Sendek’s staff and fans were discussing alternatives for a potential replacement. In the entry, we propose one name to fill the void – Sidney Lowe.

Click here to see – Why Sidney Lowe should be Sendek’s choice.

We hope that innovative thought and conversatioin like THIS is why you read SFN!!

The following is a quick summary of some of the comments made almost EXACTLY ONE YEAR PRIOR to Coach Lowe’s coronation as the HEAD COACH at NC State. Please don’t let the summary replace the act of clicking on this link to go back and read the entire piece.

Now that I’ve had some time to think about this…I am convinced the IDEAL candidate for the current open position on the staff is Sidney Lowe.

I’ve heard some rumblings that Lowe may be interested in the position, but I admittedly do not feel as confident in these sources as many. Regardless of Lowe’s current level interest, I think that it would be a huge mistake not to aggressively reach out to the one time Wolfpacker for the current job.

Lowe is the IDEAL candidate for the current opening because he adds the most strength to most parts of Sendek’s program that are the weakest. He seems to be a perfect complement across many parts of the program — the most important of which would be adding some NBA luster to Sendek’s resume that is woefully short on professional-level success.

Outside of Nate McMillan, Sidney Lowe is as NBA-centric as anyone directly related to the NC State program…

Sidney is a natural link to NC State’s championship tradition, he is loved by Wolfpackers and has a reputation in basketball circles as a likeable personality with an easy-going demeanor. If one of the most popular players who ever donned a uniform for the venerable Morgan Wooten AND Jim Valvano can’t build relationships with key high school coaches and top talent, then I’m not sure anyone can.

Maybe you are (unfortunately) like so many around the once proud NC State program that only want a “competitive program” that is “really good” (but not necessarily competitive in our own state). Or, maybe some subjective criteria like “improvement” is more your style. If the program continues to evolve toward these supposed goals, then it will be fun to see what obscure assistant who re-inforces Sendek?s already low national profile is hired to help bring some hidden gem of a prospect to Raleigh from Turkmanistan.

If not, and NC State finally shifts gears toward legitimately attempting to compete with top national competition, then we will see Sidney Lowe (or someone that offers a similar kind of resume) sitting next to Larry Harris and contributing to the re-emergence of the Wolfpack program.

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

Flashback General NCS Basketball Sidney Lowe

50 Responses to Flashback Friday: ‘Sidney Lowe Should Be Sendek’s Choice’

  1. primacyone 05/18/2007 at 3:00 PM #

    “I’ve heard Big Lew is a presence on D and has a nice little lefty jump hook.”

    Big Lew gave Brandon Costner all kinds of trouble during the first half of the red and white game last year. Big Lew on D and Brandon trying to take it to the hole. After Brandon’s year last year, I could difinetly see the above statement being acurate.

    Brandon could get the ball off but it was an adjusted and unaccurate shot every time. Big Lew was a constant interference and I don’t thing Brandon made one over or under him all night. Big Lew was just a Big Pain in the rear. He kept him arms up and out and there were no where to go. He was covering 9 feet vertically and at lest 7 feet horizontally.

  2. lush 05/18/2007 at 3:07 PM #

    nitpicky arent we. first of all, was there ever really a 5 or a 4 or a 2 or a 1? not that i can tell. it looked to me like 5 3’s all at different heights.

    IE was used as our post presence, whatever you want to call it, and you know damn well that he was always at a disadvantage on defense because he was either too small or too slow for whoever he was matched up with.

    good shooter though and a great passer.

  3. lush 05/18/2007 at 3:11 PM #

    “I thought Powell, Collins & Ced played center.”

    they did, but none of them ever played the minutes that IE did.

  4. PapaJohn 05/18/2007 at 3:16 PM #

    “I’ve heard Big Lew is a presence on D and has a nice little lefty jump hook.”

    Maybe we didn’t waste that scholarship after all????

  5. PapaJohn 05/18/2007 at 3:18 PM #

    Wouldn’t it be nice to have a team with two REAL centers? JJ starting and Big Lew backing him up? Like a real basketball team?????
    What a concept!

  6. vtpackfan 05/18/2007 at 3:19 PM #

    Recruiting scene is pretty interesting. It seems kind of like a “All’s Quiet on the Western Front”, not alot going on action wise for us but a ton of excitment and uncertainty up ahead.

    We took a run a Baciu, but Clemson put all they had into it. He may do nicely down there in the up tempo game they try to push. I got scared when I saw some clips of his HS team and saw that they never came out of a zone on D. If anyone has witnessed Courtney Fells on defense, one can get an idea of the type of damage a prep coach can do to a player by only implementing a zone. No knock to Courtney, he worked his but off last year improving his foot work and discipline to become a very respectible defender by the end of the year. But a Div. 1 player should come equipped with that skill set IMO.

    I wouldn’t be surprised now that Walker and Baciu have committed elsewhere that we throw atleast one offer to one of the following. SG/SF Jarrett Mann. PF Roscoe Davis. SF Dequan Jones. It’s just a question of timing and availability. Will we know if a spot opens up on the roster in time to grab one or more of these guys attention? Right now it’s just hedging our bet, guessing Hickson or someone else leaves early, or there is another type of roster move. Not the easiest sell to a potential recruit.

    Personally I like the nucleus that’s intact and would like to see us continue making in-roads with ’09 and ’10 classes. SG Noel Johnson could take over for Fells in ’09, and the local crop of ’10 guys are shaping up to be unreal. Tabb, Leslie, Mabry, and Eddie are all going to be elite prospects nationwide in the coming years. It might just time out that we have alot of schollies and playing time available at just the opportune time. First things first, we have to take care of business on the court, develop the current talent and reach some team goals.

  7. burnbarn 05/18/2007 at 3:26 PM #

    In Ev’s last two seasons, he played post defense. He was usually matched up against someone quicker than he. Herb would usually put Ced on the quicker guy and Ev on the slower guy. He was never as fast after his knee injury. I thought Ev was a very good post defender for his size and did a great jobs against some guys that should have just abused him. But he was usually a defensive liabilty for us and made up for alot that with his savy and experience.

    I would take another Ev without a blown knee.

  8. redfred2 05/18/2007 at 3:31 PM #

    “Herb had weaknesses?

    That’s just slanderous.”

    Actually, I think that was more than polite.

    Speaking of Lewandowski, right when I arrived I was looking for him specifically, in warm ups, at the first official game against Wofford. I had my 10 year old daughter with me so it a little difficult to focus on the players and answer all of her questions at the same time. But from I what I could focus on that night I was imediately impressed with way he moved for a player his size.

    I’ve said it all before, I want ACC championships and everything else, but half of the fun, or maybe even more for me personally, is watching a kid bloom and develop under the right tutelage. I think we’ll see even more major improvement from McCauley and Costner next season, but I hope that Lewandowski, Degand, Johnson, Fells, Ferguson, and on and on… will give us an old school glance back at what the former WOLFPACK players of days gone by were able to accomplish while they were STILL wearing their NC STATE uniforms.

  9. redfred2 05/18/2007 at 3:52 PM #

    Glove, damnit, quit slipping those things in on me!

  10. redfred2 05/18/2007 at 4:13 PM #

    So, back to the original header and Tudor’s ideas on Lowe filling the void left in Hunter’s absence back in 2005, I’m guessing that no official contacts were made to find out what Sidney’s thoughts were on returning to NCSU, in any capacity, back then?

    Sorry, that’s a dumb question.

  11. doug74 05/18/2007 at 5:07 PM #

    How does our 07 class rank now?

  12. WolfPup35 05/19/2007 at 7:09 AM #

    I never saw Lewandowski play, but if he has a nice little lefty hook, he can realy cause problems for defenders. Most players don’t have ‘lefty’ in their thoughts when they D up. I should know..I’m only 6’2″ and play games in the low post a LOT. The left hand ability throws most defenders off their game and can be infuriating. Pair lefty with 7′ tall and ….OMFG….a big man who can score virtually at will (or at least get the opposing big into foul trouble quickly) and cause match up problems all night.

    Does anybody know if Big Lew has any mid range shot at all or is he low post all the way?

  13. TNCSU 05/19/2007 at 7:37 AM #

    Not sure about the mid-range shot, but he’s had all season to work on it. I think he may be a pleasant surprise to all of Pack fans..

  14. stejen 05/19/2007 at 10:25 PM #

    At the time Lowe was a successful NBA assistant but he also did not have a degree (so State could not have hired him), if you remember, he had to get his degree before he could be hired as a head coach (officially). To be fair, at the time he was in the NBA as an assistant and, according to Joe Dumars, was one or two years away from having another NBA team ask him to be a head coach, so I can see why he put off finishing his degree. I am just glad he is back in Raleigh. But seriously, do you think his charisma and Sendek’s lack of charisma would have worked? I still find it amusing that the “State did Sendek dirty” crowd seem to forget that pretty much all of Sendek’s assistants were offered jobs at ASU and, at least Harris, went with him, but they decided to come to work for Lowe. It says something about Sendek, I think.

  15. Gene 05/20/2007 at 7:27 PM #

    pretty much all of Sendek’s assistants were offered jobs at ASU and, at least Harris, went with him, but they decided to come to work for Lowe.

    Harris is the only person to come back to NCSU. I think it probably has more to do with his family being settled in Raleigh and not wanting to relocate, than it does for anything personal between him and either Lowe or Sendek. I’d think if Harris didn’t get along with Sendek, he’d not have spent 10 years as his assistant.

    Just a thought about Atsur. Atsur played PG, when he had to and did a very competent job, but when we had other ballhandlers on the team, like Bethel, Atsur played as a SG. Basically, I wouldn’t knock Atsur for being a “slow” PG, because he isn’t a true PG and did an admirable job, ever since his freshman year, whenever he was asked to play PG.

    I really like Evitimov a lot. He didn’t complain about playing out of position, when he had to play center, after Powell left. He also created a lot of match up problems, when he was a center, because of his shooting ability.

    I’d love to have guys like Atsur and Evitimov on my team. Very classy individuals, who did whatever the team needed of them to win games. They are both great representatives of the university.

  16. westwolf 05/20/2007 at 10:12 PM #

    ^True, they are very classy young men and terrific representitives of the university. However, for a school to spend tens of thousands in recruiting, millions of dollars in salaries, and build multi-million dollar facilities having nice young men on the team isn’t enough; we rightfully also need to more on the court success than we have had the past ten years.

    I laugh now when I think of Lowe being an assistant to Sendek. The contrast in experience level would have been very stark, especially at the time we were looking. There’s Herb, who had an undistinguished high school career, didn’t play college ball, was an assistant at UKand lead exactly one team to the ncaat, next to Sid, who played for a national legend in high school, won a national championship in college, was an assistant in the NBA for some legendary coaches, and was a head coach in the NBA.

    Who is better qualified?

  17. Rick 05/21/2007 at 7:41 AM #

    If I was a 7′ teenager I would spend 8 hours a day developing a left and right hand hook. You CAN score with those consistently as they are unstoppable when shot form 7′. Karrem was 83 years old, could barely run up and down the court and still scored easily with his. I do not understand how kids do not see that.

  18. RickJ 05/21/2007 at 8:23 AM #

    ^Kareem’s sky hook was a beautiful shot. I heard him interviewed after he had retired and he said in his entire career only one player had ever requested advice on how to shoot the sky hook – Magic Johnson.

    Burleson had a very nice hook shot.

  19. CedarGroveWolf 05/21/2007 at 8:59 AM #

    “was there ever really a 5 or a 4 or a 2 or a 1? not that i can tell.”
    there’s your problem right there.

    “he was always at a disadvantage on defense because he was either too small or too slow for whoever he was matched up with. ”

    would it be better to be tall & quick but had no clue how to play good post D, the angles, getting position, etc.. ? There’s more to being a good bball player than height & quicks.

  20. Rick 05/21/2007 at 9:50 AM #

    “would it be better to be tall & quick but had no clue how to play good post D, the angles, getting position, etc.. ? ”

    Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

    This is a warning of the Emergency Binary Alert.

    You have been given two choices and only two choices. You must make a decision between these two choices only. These two choices have been choosen for you in order to direct your answer to fit a delusionists preconceived notions.
    Since this is completely unrelated to actual real life please use this warning for educational purposes only.

    Thank you that is all

  21. ShootingGuard 05/21/2007 at 1:54 PM #

    Atsur and Evtimov were both excellent basketball players that EVERYONE should like to have on their team…

    However, Sendek’s ultimate doom was that he either chose or, because of recruiting misses, had to depend on guys like Atsur and Evtimov to carry his teams or play roles that were much larger than their natural abilities allowed…

    Atsur and Evtimov were great gritty “team before self” guys or “glue” guys that deserved to play key roles on a championship or Final Four contending team in the spirit of Jeff Shepard at Kentucky or even a Shammond Williams at UNC…Unfortunately for them, they only ever got to play with ONE legitimate star who was recruited down to the very end by a championship coach—Julius Hodge.

    If Sidney Lowe or any other coach makes State a championship contender again, it will be because he puts legitimate star college and/or NBA draft potential talent at one post, on the wing, and in the backcourt—and THEN fills in the floor burn holes and set shots with guys like Atsur and Evitmov…

    You can do it the Jim Boeheim way and pull in several consensus top recruits and give yourself the odds that one or two of them are going to pan out and make you look good OR you can do it the (old) Gary Williams way which was to find lower rated guys with potential to develop and become respectable NBA players…

    Sendek could do neither, and, thus, we never smelled a Final Four or a trophy…

    The jury is still out on Sid, but JJ is a nice start, especially in Year 1 rather than Year 6…

  22. packbackr04 05/21/2007 at 3:22 PM #

    great post shooitng, good to see you around…. do you know anything about Smith being eligible? and if not, what do you hear of Sid’s thoughts for his 08 class? miles Plumlee? Jarret mann?

  23. redfred2 05/21/2007 at 8:45 PM #

    I am seriously believing we’re on the verge of a season in which we will see this group of BB players giving the ACC, and the rest of the college basketball world, a glimpse of a where we belong and the type basketball the WOLFPACK will be playing in the future. I expect to see major improvement in Fells game, Gavin Grant’s role to be narrowed and more defined, but even more productive. Also if there is any hope for Ferguson, with regards to confidence and his shooting potential, it will start to show in early OOC play. I also have a feeling about Lewandowski becoming a contributor.

    Those are hopes more than anything for Ferg and Lew, but my only worries about the overall picture is how much the off-court incidences are affecting our head coach’s progress right now. I hope things are somehow working out there.

  24. redfred2 05/21/2007 at 8:53 PM #

    Just to add to that last post, I wouldn’t doubt that Sidney Lowe isn’t working on a law degree right now as we speak, and that he may totally exonerate his own son in a court of law. I’ve seen him do some pretty amazing stuff already, and I wouldn’t put it past him.

1 2

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. StateFans Nation » Blog Archive » 2007 Basketball Recruiting Rankings & Review - 05/30/2007

    […] Basketball recruiting for this year’s class is complete and first year Head Coach, Sidney Lowe has an awful lot of which to be proud!! Coach Lowe made the best of his opportunity to make a big impact as early as he could last summer. […]

Leave a Reply