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Brandon Costner, a Thurl Bailey/Kenny Carr/Hawkeye Whitney/Tom Gugliotta-like forward has been a focal point for NC State Basketball this offseason. After a fantastic redshirt freshman season, the emerging force was invited to try out for the US Pan-Am team and his relationship with his father featured in this article from a Philadelphia newspaper. (Philly was coincidently the site of the Wolfpack’s first round NIT win over Drexel.)
Tony Costner returned to his home in France at 2:00 a.m. expecting to find his wife Stacy and two young sons tucked away in bed.
Walking into his house, he found his wife still well awake.
Even more surprising was his oldest son Brandon, a three-year-old, was yet to fall asleep.
“I said to my wife, ‘What the heck is he still doing up,'” said Costner laughing, recalling the story 16 years later. “She said, ‘He won’t go to sleep until he plays you to 21.'”
Today…Caulton Tudor wrote a nice feature on Costner in the N&O.
It took a while, but something finally went wrong on a basketball court for Brandon Costner.
When last seen, the young N.C. State forward, arguably the hottest player in the ACC, was dropping 30 points on Duke one night and 28 on North Carolina three days later in the conference tournament.
Shortly thereafter, in the third round of the National Invitation Tournament, the Wolfpack’s season ended in a loss at West Virginia, but only after Costner left fans with a 22-point, 13-rebound preview of things to come.
When Villanova coach Jay Wright later invited Costner to participate in tryouts for the United States’ entry in the upcoming Pan American Games, he seemed like a lock to land one of the 12 roster spots.
“But it wasn’t my week,” Costner, back in Raleigh, said Thursday.
The problem wasn’t so much Costner’s game as it was his right knee. Early in the July 15-17 camp near Philadelphia, a tendon in Costner’s right knee popped. The injury wasn’t serious enough to keep him out of drills, but it hampered his mobility.
In the article, Costner applauds Wolfpack recruit, Javi Gonzalez and provides a little insight into what we might see this season on the basketball court. Worth noting, our community has already weighed in on some of this with this great entry.
“The new guys are going to help a lot,” he said. “I’ve played with them a lot this summer, and I think they’re going make a difference. [Point-guard recruit] Javi Gonzalez is the real thing. He’s definitely going to help.”
Costner says his knee is back to 100 percent and that he’s counting the days until his next official practice session.
“I wish it would be tomorrow,” he said.
With his play, his quotes and his leadership in only his first season on the court, Brandon Costner has already proven that he ‘gets it’ and that he is committed to NC State.
Folks, Brandon Costner is the type of kid that ultimately play huge roles in building very successful, sustainable basketball programs.
I view Costner’s off-the-court characteristics as something akin to a alum like Terry Gannon — He will succeed while he is in school. He will attract media attention and other players with his attitude. He will have the opportunity to make good money and have a long professional career in basketball. After his career on the court ends, he will move on to some other kind of professional success…all the while remaining invested and involved with developments in West Raleigh.
We’re looking just as forward to BC’s sophomore year as he is.
