NC State Picked 3rd In Preseason ACC Poll

07-08 Basketball37

We have already had a lot of conversation about the upcoming basketball season, but the ACC’s Operation Basketball will most definitely raise the conversation for a few days. (Pack Pride has some NC State coverage at this link.) Coach Sidney Lowe continues to impress with some fantastic comments and statements.

The following are some of the results from Operation Basketball and the ACC Basketball rankings FINALLY look as they should look – UNC, Duke and NC State sitting at the top. Welcome back to Tobacco Road! If you want related audio then just click here.

2007-08 ACC Predicted Order of Finish
1. North Carolina (768)
2. Duke (653)
3. NC State (641)
4. Clemson (514)
5. Virginia (492)
6. Maryland (447)
7. Georgia Tech (389)
8. Boston College (332)
9. Florida State (284)
10. Virginia Tech (162)
11. Wake Forest (157)
12. Miami (153)

Pre-Season All-Conference Team
Tyler Hansbrough, Jr., North Carolina
Sean Singletary, Sr., Virginia
Tyrese Rice, Jr., Boston College
Brandon Costner, So., NC State
Ty Lawson, So., North Carolina

Pre-Season Player of the Year:
Tyler Hansbrough, Jr., North Carolina (60)
Sean Singletary, Sr., Virginia (4)

Pre-Season Rookie of the Year:
Kyle Singler, Duke (36)
J.J. Hickson, NC State (15)
Nolan Smith, Duke (5)
5 others with 8 votes

For fun, we thought that it would be interesting to look back at previous posts related to the ACC’s Operation Basketball.

* On October 24, 2005, NC State was chosen to finish fourth in the ACC (Link)

* On October 22, 2006, NC State was chosen to finish last in the ACC (Link)

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07-08 Basketball

37 Responses to NC State Picked 3rd In Preseason ACC Poll

  1. thebigwood 10/21/2007 at 9:08 PM #

    did anyone go to Reynolds on Friday? how was it?

  2. vtpackfan 10/21/2007 at 9:21 PM #

    Pre season all conference team has three pg’s. Has it always been the five best players regardless of position?

    No dig on him, but I think Rice is going to struggle a bit w/o the presence of guys like Dudley, Marshall, Williams, and Smith.

    UMd is a close second as a dark horse coming into this season, although with all the attention springing up we’re hardy a sleeper pick at this point. I like their back court, and Williams always finds a way to get something resembling servicable out of his front court.

  3. SuperStuff 10/21/2007 at 9:44 PM #

    I’m a bit surprised Maryland is not higher. Those two rookie point guards did pretty well for Maryland last year and should be ready to up their game.

  4. RabidWolf 10/21/2007 at 9:52 PM #

    I really don’t, no wait, can’t see Dook finishing 2nd in the league. They will have to rely greatly on their backcourt for playmaking and scoring. Really, I mean, think about it…who do they have in the frontcourt? Henderson is a nice player, but he can’t dominate the frontcourt by himself. Sure, guard play has become the staple of college basketball in recent years, but name for me any team that has been successful with great guardplay and no frontcourt. Even though it was just McBob, Dook has lost a lot from last year in that area.

    State’s frontcourt will be their strength, and the question mark will be point guard. I do believe, however, that coaching of inexperienced position players can go a long way toward stabilizing a shaky position. (Especially when those coaches PLAYED the position in this particular league)

    Other than the top 4, I think I can agree with the preseason rankings for this season. 1–UNX 🙁 2–NCSU 3–Clemson 4–Dook.

    Call me crazy, or an extreme optimist, but that’s how I see it.

  5. blpack 10/21/2007 at 10:23 PM #

    I think the top 4 are fairly solid. Don’t hand UNC-ch the regular season yet though. After that it is anyone’s guess. I think Md and BC can be good. Who will score for UVa other than Sing? I like us to be as good, or better than predicted. Go Pack!

  6. haze 10/21/2007 at 10:39 PM #

    Duke will be good. Henderson is very close to breaking out into a true POY guy and they’ll have a lot of shooters (Scheyer, 2 Fr’s, Paulus). However, the weak frontcourt is a problem and I think they’ll struggle against the dominant paint teams (State and UNC).

  7. PackerInRussia 10/21/2007 at 10:48 PM #

    bigwood,
    Check out a few posts ago–the one about Calipari. Towards the end of the post there was some talk about the stuff at Reynolds Friday night.

  8. PackerInRussia 10/21/2007 at 11:14 PM #

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhkGCbE5XE4
    This is Lowe’s pre-B-Ballin’-At-The-Old-Barn speech. For some reason he mentioned wanting to see everyone at the RBC Center making noise when they play Carolina. Am I missing something? Isn’t that game still 1/16th of the conference schedule?

  9. Lunatic Fringe 10/21/2007 at 11:35 PM #

    UVA always seems to be too high on the preseason list than disappoints during the season. I think they are much too high especially given the lack of a true inside presence. The only true scoring threats are guys who make their living outside the perimeter or driving to the basket (Singletary, Joseph, and Diane). I think the deeper teams…UNC, NCSU, and Clemson will usher in guys to wear down the UVA guards. They will win some games against good teams based on Singletary’s talent alone, but I think the lack of an inside presence will make them inconsistent.

    On the other hand, I expect Maryland to be a damn good team by the end of the season. I like the duo of Vaz & Hayes while Gist gives them a nice option on the inside.

  10. RBCRowdy 10/22/2007 at 12:23 AM #

    Duke will not finish 2nd. Kyle Singler is not the next Greg Oden.

  11. StateFans 10/22/2007 at 9:49 AM #

    Test

  12. Wolf-n-Atl 10/22/2007 at 10:03 AM #

    Did anyone see G. Williams comments on how high we were picked and how low Maryland was picked? He said that he never pays attention to the preseason picks, yet commented on how his team beat us twice last year and is picked below them.

    SFN: I would have no problem with what he said…if this were LAST YEAR. They lost Mike Jones, DJ Strawberry and their foreign-named-bigman-of-the-year. We lost one point guard and gained 5 abled bodies to support a talented core group of players.

  13. PamlicoPack 10/22/2007 at 10:18 AM #

    ^^
    In light of Gary Williams snarky comments, I wonder if he is the unnamed ACC head coach quoted in Barry Jacob’s column on the WRAL website:

    “Last season, Sidney Lowe’s first at the helm, N.C. State finished tied for 10th in the conference and settled for an appearance in the NIT, hardly a dramatic arrival. There is no experienced point guard. What’s more, one ACC head coach confides that, in his opinion, Lowe’s squad played little defense last season despite winning 20 games.”

    BTW, Jacobs agrees with our ranking in the top 3, so don’t shoot the messenger…

  14. waxhaw 10/22/2007 at 10:19 AM #

    ^ It will be fun watching that cry baby try to control his language. If there is a school that has two more classless and dislikable revenue sports coaches than Maryland, I can’t think of it.

  15. newt 10/22/2007 at 10:31 AM #

    Has there been another ACC player in Hansbrough’s career that could match up with him like Hickson?

    I see one of two scenarios when we play Carolina:

    1 – Hansbrough gets frustrated facing his physical equal and ultimately explodes in a fit of steroid rage.

    or

    2 – Hickson picks up three fouls within the first five minutes of the game.

    SFN: Get ready for option #2

  16. Mr O 10/22/2007 at 10:33 AM #

    Our D was lacking last year, but with our lack of depth we couldn’t afford to play more aggressively not to mention our top four players played more than 32 minutes per game and got very little rest.

    Not to mention that our leading shot blocker was Courtney Fells.

  17. LRM 10/22/2007 at 10:45 AM #

    My thoughts: who cares where we’re ranked preseason? No one gets a banner for that.

    The great thing about college basketball is that if you win your games, the rest takes care of itself. This team will win its games.

  18. beowolf 10/22/2007 at 10:50 AM #

    Our D was lacking last year, but with our lack of depth we couldn’t afford to play more aggressively not to mention our top four players played more than 32 minutes per game and got very little rest.

    Bingo.

    It’s hard to speculate on Hickson’s matchup with Tyler OhMyStars HisWillHisWillHisWilltoWin UgExcuseMeNeedaKleenex Hansborough, but goodness knows the ACC refs and assorted sportswriters agree it’s hard to block out someone effectively who can walk on water.

  19. StateFans 10/22/2007 at 11:13 AM #

    Everyone, including the coaches, readily admitted that our defense was poor last year. They also have hinted that the increased depth and talent on this year’s squad has created a situation where competition on both sides of the court has been noticeably elevated.

    I think this is where the projection of improvement actually lies. If NC State can simply be as efficient on offense as we were last year, any improvement on defense will yield much better results.

    As tough as Engin Atsur was…even while he was on the court or defense struggled a bit because he was limited due to injury. Defense starts with pressure on the ball. The opposing point guard usually has the ball in his hands the most. With the athletic ability and toughness of both Degand and Gonzalez, you can’t help but expect immediate improvement on defense JUST because of improved pressure on the opposing point guard.

  20. LRM 10/22/2007 at 11:21 AM #

    I think the run in the tournament actually provided proof positive that depth was an issue all season.

    You can’t play twice a week for two months and survive — much less win — on heart and intensity alone. But you CAN muster up enough energy to do it for one very long weekend when your season is over when you lose.

    I think the fact that we were so competitive in the tournament says a lot for how good this team can be with depth.

  21. RochesterRedWolf 10/22/2007 at 11:24 AM #

    I don’t know if any of you guys saw the interview with Gavin Grant on WRAL.com but its awesome. I love to see that guy give interviews cuz he treats stupid questions from the media exactly like they should be; that it was a stupid question.

    Anywho, in the interview they asked him about JJ and he said something like: “the guy has a great work ethic, he’s a beast, but i like the most that he blocks shots and rebounds.”

    He also mentioned again: “if we hang out hats on defense we’ll be alright.”

    and of course this quote from Coach Lowe shows that “The AD that shall remain nameless” basically lucked out and got not only a players-coach but more importantly a fans-coach, and someone who not only is a fan of the game but a fan of the history of the tradition and the rivalries…i love this quote.

    “All the fans that wake up in the morning and their neighbors might be a Duke fan or a Carolina fan or a Wake fan. We are representing them. The fact that they can go outside and get their newspaper with a smile on their faces – that’s what its all about to me.”

    And that’s what its all about to me too!

  22. haze 10/22/2007 at 12:58 PM #

    ^ The newspaper quote is as eloquent an expression of true fan understanding as any I can remember. It is PRECISELY the truth.

  23. PackGirl 10/22/2007 at 2:25 PM #

    I think Handsblo may just break down and weep after he realizes what JJ can do to him.

  24. Dr. BadgerPack 10/22/2007 at 3:07 PM #

    I for one am looking forward to basketball so I can watch Hansborough “listen” again… Some of the best listening I’ve ever seen was the presser after the Georgetown loss. Truly special listening…

  25. beowolf 10/22/2007 at 3:29 PM #

    That really was stellar listening, Dr. B. Who can ever forget it? People all across America that day said to each other, “Look at that kid listen! Have you ever witnessed such glorious listening?”

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