N&O: Lowe likes his options

General NCS Basketball63

Great N&O read on Sidney Lowe and 2008 Hoops.

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General NCS Basketball

63 Responses to N&O: Lowe likes his options

  1. Dr. BadgerPack 06/29/2007 at 9:21 PM #

    As far as Ferguson goes, I think he might actually have some utility next season (Horner will also excel in the following role): the inside presence should result in a lot more instances of zone defense. Regardless of who the player is, the team will need some “zone busters” to emerge. If Horner can knock down a high percentage of shots, he may not necessarily have to take a lot of them to force defensive adjustments. Ferguson seemed to be the type of player that might do a nice job shooting over zones. (Don’t get me wrong, I’d prefer they just pound it inside and jam it down the oppositions throat, but the ability to shoot a team out of a zone doesn’t hurt either).

  2. sf59 06/29/2007 at 10:41 PM #

    FYI-word from summer is fells has improved/ develpoed/ worked more than anyone….

  3. redfred2 06/30/2007 at 9:54 AM #

    primacy, What in the talking hell are you about my typing saying?

    Dr. B, I have thought the exact same things concerning Horner and Ferguson. This new roster may be just what the doctor ordered for both of those guys. Horner will impact either way and he seems to have the confidence and ability to put it in the hole, but it’s like he’s waiting his turn and passing it to the other players when he should be shooting. I appreciate that somewhat, but he’s already proven he can make the shot when needed, so please, just shoot the ball when you get an open look.

    Ferguson, on the otherhand, may need more playing time to just blend in on the court without really contributing much. Then, after he’s out there on the court long enough to get comfortable, and while the other team gives him more and more space, I can see him possibly becoming a deadly outside threat. I’m just concerned that last season was really the perfect opportunity for him to come out of his shell so to speak, because in this upcoming season playing/adjustment time will be at a premium.

    Packgirl, from what I’ve read on Javi, he is a distributor and a strong finisher. I may be wrong, but I don’t think that the outside shot was considered one of his strong suits coming out of HS. When Marcus Johnson becomes eligible he is supposed to be able to shoot the ball and he could also be a valuable asset to open up the court and break down zone defenses.

    Sidney has a lot think about. Fortunately, he’s already gathered most of the necessary tools to get it done and put himself in a position where he has to now figure out chemistry, and what works best together. I CANNOT say enough about the remarkable job he and his staff have done there.

  4. redfred2 06/30/2007 at 11:10 AM #

    I give Lowe and staff full credit for the unbelievable turn around and the positive change in the perception of the program and I hate to say this, nah not really, but it’s really not as hard to recruit to an ACC program and a two a two time national championship on top of that. I wonder if any of you ever think, like I have all along, how many HS players would have readily committed to the Wolfpack back then, and how much better the basketball program could have been all along, if we had JUST played the game of basketball without the quirky and decidely boring “style” that we had to endure for all those years??? There were certainly a lot of built in advantages wasted, and too many missed opportunities back then.

  5. noah 06/30/2007 at 2:30 PM #

    Ferguson is not an ACC-caliber player. It doesn’t mean I think he ought to quit…there is a role he can still play. But it’s unreasonable to expect him to ever be anything more than the 11th man on the bench.

  6. Dr. BadgerPack 06/30/2007 at 3:32 PM #

    There pretty much should be only 2 roles for him if everything pans out as expected from a depth perspective. 1, come in in obvious fouling situations and 2, come in when 3 point shooters are necessary (provided he demonstrates he can hit them at roughly last years clip). Plenty of non ACC-Caliber players have serviced well in the shooter’s role. And, no, I don’t call ‘garbage time’ a role.

    Basically this means I agree w/ noah here– I just defined what I think the roles should be.

    redfred- If we hadn’t played the “boring” style for years, just think of all of the quality discussions you would have missed out on.

  7. redfred2 07/01/2007 at 8:36 AM #

    Dr B,

    I don’t particularly know about the “quality” of most of my discussions on that topic, but there definitely was some quantity there.

  8. redfred2 07/01/2007 at 9:09 AM #

    To agree, and put it mildly, I’ll say that I haven’t been overly impressed with Ferguson efforts so far either. But, I’ll hold out hope in thinking that he just might be the type of slow motion/unorthodox player that is hard to gauge and guard, and that he still may be able to come in and contribute, at least in spots. I think maybe he will have a few games where he lights it up for us. Again though, he has to get into the games to begin with, and if he lacks the confidence to become a factor, just like he and some much more physically gifted players did last season, then he really doesn’t stand much chance of getting out on the court now.

  9. PackGirl 07/01/2007 at 9:25 AM #

    Looks like Engin is going to have to learn a fifth language. According to a poster on PackPride, he has been picked up by an Italian team called Benetton Treviso. Congrats Engin!!!

  10. redfred2 07/01/2007 at 10:49 AM #

    Ah, the Benetton Treviso, probably my favorite among the Italian teams.

    But seriously, I would bet that Engin figures a way to become a consistent and heavily relied on player, just like he did here. I don’t think he’ll have much problem learning the language either.

  11. Dr. BadgerPack 07/01/2007 at 1:37 PM #

    Nice to see Engin will play on. He’s one of my favorite wolfpack players of all time. Of course, my favorites were the football players that were in my chemistry problem sections during the O’Cain years… Yeah, football players and chemistry… and they got A’s too– by earning them.

  12. brown pelican 07/01/2007 at 2:48 PM #

    engin will be successful—and—should he decide so—a fine coach one day—coach lowe and the staff will be tested to see how they can do with team chemistry—hopefully as well as BadgerPack’s footbally guys—last year it was ‘us against the world’—we were the ultimate underdog—everybody pulling for each other—how coach manages the egos and the playing time or lack thereof will be a huge factor in our ultimate success—given what i’ve seen so far—i’m willing to bet that he’s up for the challenge—lastly—fells will always be fells—kinda like gavin—ya gotta take the bad for awhile to get the periodic falshes of greatness—go pack

  13. PackGirl 07/02/2007 at 12:31 PM #

    Here’s an interestng tidbit: Vinny del Negro played for Benetton Treviso for 2 years. After that he went back to the NBA and played with the Spurs for 6 years and then various NBA teams after that. Maybe Engin still has a chance for the NBA.

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