Andrew Jones said a lot; N&O added to it; SFN finishes it off

07-08 Basketball Sidney Lowe138

On Monday we asked why should we put ourselves through the pain of typing it when Andrew Jones’ article says it all?

On Tuesday, the News & Observer chimed in with their heavy hitters.

First, Chip Alexander asked, “What is going on with the Wolfpack” and then Caulton Tudor calmly opined that “The Wolfpack isn’t hitting the panic button yet”.

As much as I appreciate the ‘faith’ that things will get better this year exhibited by both the team and Tudor I exercise my right to remain worried because of the nature of the Wolfpack’s problems. [See (1) many previous entries; (2) Jones’ article; (3) Alexander’s article]

I PRAY to God that I am wrong…but, I don’t see a switch to be flipped here for the Wolfpack to get things fixed.

If we were ‘one shooter away’ or just needed to fix our broken 3-2 zone issues then things would feel different to me. But, NC State’s problems are significantly more systemic and fundamental than items that can be fixed with some tweaks in practice or a player becoming eligible or a player finding his shooting touch.

NC State doesn’t exert much effort on the court, period. This manifests itself in literally NO defensive or rebounding effort. (And, it will manifest itself into weak home crowds as fans do not respect or invest in teams that don’t seem to care).

You can’t just flip a switch and suddenly learn how to play defense and box out. As you will see here the offense is so bad it can only improve as the team finds its groove and Ben McCauley and Porkchop Costner (hopefully) find their heads and get out of their slump.

But, what good is scoring ten more points a game if you can’t stop the least talented opponents in America from scoring?

Worse yet…if Coach Lowe can find that magical switch and get these guys on a roll…is anyone convinced that our players are in the physical condition to even execute tough defense?

Have you seen the ‘physiques’ on these guys?

A friend of mine who has been very close to the NC State – and other ACC – program(s) for the last 15 years told me that he has never seen an NC State team – and rarely seen an ACC team – with the out-of-shape bodies of this team. Did Brandon Costner live at the Golden Corral in the off-season?

Seriously…what did these guys do in the offseason? They obviously didn’t work out…and they obviously didn’t work on defense and rebounding.

Don’t misunderstand me – as Coach Lowe and Caulton Tudor believe I recognize that there is a lot of basketball to be played this year. But, I also seem to be the only one who recognizes that the season is actually 25% completed. You don’t get to play that much basketball in March when you have two horrible losses on your resume with 75% of the season ahead of you to potentially lose more.

Don’t look now…but Friday night’s home game against a Davidson team who is significantly better than their record looms as one of the biggest games in Coach Lowe’s young career. With a loss, you can legitimately put a fork in the Wolfpack until they boys find a miracle run of upsets in ACC play to at least get us back to a fighting chance. With a win, some cupcake games sprinkled with Cincy and Seton Hall provide State an opportunity to get back on track for an NCAA Tournament bid with a 9-7 ACC record (and maybe an 8-8 record with the right mix of wins and losses).

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07-08 Basketball Sidney Lowe

138 Responses to Andrew Jones said a lot; N&O added to it; SFN finishes it off

  1. RAWFS 12/10/2007 at 10:23 AM #

    Test comment. If you can read this, then I fixed the comments section.

  2. PAPacker 12/10/2007 at 10:48 AM #

    God made December as a time when things like this could be addressed. They are absolutely terrible and I worry about the lack of heart more than anything. They still look at lot like they did last year when Atsur wasn’t playing. Remember how bad they were then? I see two main problems: McCauley/Costner’s funk and no point guard leadership.(I know how obvious this is to everyone.) Both could improve but I think those two things are making everyone lethargic, except Grant who is playing his ass off, in my opinion. Playing fundamentally strong basketball is one thing but I think they should all go play paintball for a day and blast the hell out of each other as a way of getting past what ever bad blood is there. If there are striving to work together as a team, which they are not, they will get much better.

  3. Girlfriend in a Coma 12/10/2007 at 10:49 AM #

    I’m wondering if Noah’s “second worst team in ACC history” prediction was accurate, but just a year off.

  4. wufpaxno1 12/10/2007 at 10:53 AM #

    It has become painfully obvious that Atsur meant a lot more to this team then just his ability as a point guard. His leadership and drive where the glue that held this team together, without his leadership motivation and inspiration this team looks lost.

    I have read a lot of posts concerning Gavin Grant, his poor decisions, and outlandish prediction, but right now I would not trade him for anyone else on this team. Gavin seems to be the only started playing with any intensity.

    IMO Sid needs to rearrange this line up, Grant, Horner, Hickson, and Simon Harrison should be starting, and you can pick the point guard. This is not a talent problem, this is a motivation problem. The players showing the most effort need to be getting most of the time until everyone else decides to join in.

  5. thebigwood 12/10/2007 at 10:56 AM #

    If this season continues to go south, do you think that will provide more motivation for Hickson to leave, or, maybe that would lower his draft status and help to keep him around…what do y’all think?

  6. colapack 12/10/2007 at 11:09 AM #

    I think all of this is interesting discussion but I think its too early to blame the coaching. Its obvious that something is amuck, even to the casual observer. This whole thing looks like some unforseen yet huge adversity that has not been dealt with YET. Adversity by nature is not planned. And good coaching may take a while to overcome this level of adversity. Let them get about 6 games into conference play and then see if the adversity gets dealt with.

  7. WolftownVA81 12/10/2007 at 11:16 AM #

    This article just stated the obvious. It’s pretty well publicized what is wrong with Wolfpack basketball (though not why so.) Now, it’s up to coaching staff to earn their pay by fixing it. The time is well past for some drastic changes in the practice gym and on the court.

  8. old13 12/10/2007 at 11:30 AM #

    “Lee Fowler is a dark cloud hanging over Wolfpack athletics.”

    AMEN!

  9. WolftownVA81 12/10/2007 at 11:50 AM #

    Note to NCSU Chancellor: See Univ. of Nebraska HR Policy Manual, Chapter 1, Consequences of Poor Performance.

  10. redfred2 12/10/2007 at 12:08 PM #

    I’m wondering if Noah’s “second worst team in ACC history” prediction was accurate, but just a year off.

    ^Girlfriend, that’s funny! I gave noah absolute hell about that comment way back before the season started last year. I don’t know about the rest of you, but since he’s a season off with that prediction, I’m sure not giving him any credit for it.

  11. RBCRowdy 12/10/2007 at 12:08 PM #

    Lowe needs to pull a Tom Izzo. After MSU lost an exhibition game to a D-2 school he made the team get dressed in the visitors locker room until they earned that privilege to use their new fancy locker room. Lowe needs to stop coaching a NBA team and crack some skulls to wake this team up.

  12. wbnation 12/10/2007 at 12:22 PM #

    Everyone, even myself needs to back off a little. Are we more mad at this team, or our expectations of this team. Both us and the pundits I think had an over inflated feeling about how good this team was going to be. THEY ARE A YOUNG TEAM. Its not like Costner and McCauley Blew up their junior years and now they are seniors. These guys are now so. and jrs. Most of the team is only now playing their second year as true starters. We have only one starting senior on the team, and if you notice he is the one playing the hardest. Its not an accident. Give this group time. Young teams play bad games against bad opponents, it happens all the time with other teams (see Kentucky).

    This team has to grow and go through growing pains, and no amount of coaching is going change that. I wish I could make everyone of those 19 and 20 yr olds think and play like 23 yr olds, but only time will make that adjustment. Unfortunately we like to think that because it seems as though Duke and Carolina just add piece every year and keep winning that its the same for all programs. Its not. Those teams starting five are almost entirely made up of top 50 to top 25 players in the country. That kind of talent can make up for youth. But youth still matters.

    This team is young so we need to back off and let them find their footing, they need to gain the experience now so later down the road when this team is hopefully made up of starting Jrs. and Srs. Then we can have an inflated view of where this program should be, but until that time this is going to be an up and down year when we will win some unexpected games and loose the head scratchers it just comes with youth. Oh to be young again.

  13. redfred2 12/10/2007 at 12:34 PM #

    Hate to see it, but Sidney Lowe is very busy digging his own hole at the moment. He’d better snap out of this funk he’s in and get SOMETHING or SOMEBODY wearing RED looking like he’s not wasting everyone’s time during practice sessions. Somebody needs to start looking like they’re being taught, and showing it, at gametime.

    These early games have been everything but well thought out, well played, or well coached. I may be jumping the gun a bit, but is it too early to start worrying about how these miserable efforts will effect recruiting???

  14. PackerInRussia 12/10/2007 at 1:04 PM #

    I don’t know why everyone is so upset. One more loss and they will have reached their loss quota for the season early on and then we can enjoy wins from here on out!

  15. RAWFS 12/10/2007 at 1:05 PM #

    I think that both redfred2 and wbnation are correct: Sidney certainly hasn’t inspired much confidence this season but at the same time, maybe we need to back off a bit and wait until the year is said and done to pass judgement. Of course, we won’t because that’s not what fans do, but I would bet the farm that’s what the AD and major donors are doing — taking the long view.

  16. WTNY 12/10/2007 at 1:36 PM #

    I do see a ray of sunshine in Jones’ article.

    Two-man NBA stuff won’t ever work in college. You aren’t going to get many offensive rebounds if players are nowhere near the basket, and two-man requires that players clear out. There’s very little screening, rarely much movement other than one guy, and there’s too much standing around.

    I wasn’t able to watch the ECU game (a blessing, I know) but if we are always running this “two-man” then ditching it may be the answer.

    Screening and movement will improve many things — getting more involvement from all 5 on each possesion, creating shot opportunities / mismatches, and having our bigs in place for rebounds. But the most unexpected change would be on the defensive end, IMO.

    I believe standing around on O leads to standing around on D. Conversely, being active on O leads to being active on D.

    I believe if Coach Lowe will ditch the two-man we may see more dividends than expected.

  17. GoldenChain 12/10/2007 at 1:37 PM #

    Let’s look at the Sid not having experience situation.

    Larry Harris: 22 years D1 assistant coaching experience.

    Monte Towe: 21 years D1 college coaching experience with 5 years as a head coach (not counting any of his pro stuff).

    Pete Strickland: 17 years experience as a D1 coach, 7 as a head coach (Coastal Carolina).

    That’s 60 years total experience on Lowe’s staff.
    Maybe us Statefans need to take a chill pill.
    I can’t imagine that this situation with this team is something so unusual that they can’t work with it.

  18. LRM 12/10/2007 at 1:44 PM #

    I’m less concerned about Sid’s inability to change things than his refusal to do so.

    Again, coaches are notoriously egomaniacal; rarely do they change their ways. It shows a lot for a coach that can evolve along with the game. After all, that was one of our chief grievances against Sendek — his refusal to adjust.

    One of the things that sold us most on Sid last season was his knack for versatility in-game. For whatever reason, we’re not seeing that yet this season.

  19. GoldenChain 12/10/2007 at 1:51 PM #

    If you didn’t think Sid was willing to change or adjust to the college game why do you think he hired 3 assistants with so much experience?

  20. gopack968 12/10/2007 at 2:02 PM #

    It seems that fundamental defense, shot blocking, guarding, and rebounding, is our weakness. We cannot stop the other team and as a result get very few transition baskets. Without an experienced point guard our half-court offense is weak – and we are in it constantly.

    Here is a thought that occurs to me: Last year’s starters had all attended the Herb Sendek school of defense. We may very well have benefited from that carryover. Now, two seasons into the Lowe era, the defense is all Sidney.

    Not a criticism or a ludicrous call for Sidney’s head. Just an observation that teaching defense is hard work and never stops. Herb, for all his faults, understood that. Perhaps he understood that too much in fact (see the sad saga of Scooter Sherrill).

  21. nycfan 12/10/2007 at 2:06 PM #

    The assistants have 60 years in coaching, but how many at a high major level (pretty much only Harris, under the unnamed one)? What is their combined winning percentage in those 60 years? I bring this up not to disparage them, but to point out that I think the spot-light of high major expectations is something almost entirely outside Towe’s and Strickland’s experience. Personality issues, well, anything, is exponentially magnified in the hot house of Tobacco Road hoops. Even their experience as college players at the same school is so distant as to be almost irrelevant in the internet/24-hour meida age (same goes for Lowe).

    That said, as bad as State has looked, it is fixable (and I have little doubt everything will work perfectly against UNC). The precedent is not favorable in terms of the history of teams with chemistry issues turning it around, but, as has been noted, there is plenty of time.

    The next big question is whether the addition of Johnson improves the PG situation. I thought going into the season that State merely needed a competent PG to be an outstanding (but not championship caliber) team; right now I’d say PG play is barely competent, if that, when Degand is on the floor, below par when Gonzalez plays. There are reasons Johnson wasn’t getting minutes as a PG (or really much otherwise) at TN, even as a reserve, so we’ll have to wait and see if those issues manifest themselves in his play for State.

    The issue now is that, assuming the Pack escapes with no more than 1 more OOC loss (Cincy, Davidson or @ SH?), they’ve painted themsleves into a corner were 8-8 in the ACC is unlikely to get a bid, so even if they do right the ship, there is no margin for error. The ACC seems to be down this season, so there is hope in that.

  22. LRM 12/10/2007 at 2:23 PM #

    Look, I’m behind Sid 100%. I’m just not a very patient person anymore, having expended all of it (and then some) — I want to win and win now. It’s losses like these that keep us skeptical as a fan base. I’m obviously not satisfied with our response to a very disheartening, embarassing Michigan State loss. But by no means am I, seven games into his second season, jumping ship.

    But the fact remains, right now Sid’s not doing a bang-up job with team development. I need to believe — be convinced, perhaps — that we’re not getting an NBA-style effort with an NBA-style coaching philosophy. There’s a reason I haven’t watched an NBA game in 15 years, and after the past few State games, I remembered why.

    I remember the Marbury-led ’96 Georgia Tech team that started out with very similar issues and a handful of bad losses before conference play but recovered nicely to win the ACC regular season.

    Unlike college football, college basketball has a very redeeming regular season, and one of the best things about it is how teams can struggle early and then improve and play their way into the tournament.

    Perhaps we can still do this, but right now, the evidence doesn’t point that direction.

  23. wbnation 12/10/2007 at 2:23 PM #

    Everybody thinks that Lowe should either make a change in personel(start different players) or change his coaching(ie the two man game) Unfortunately like I have posted before maybe the coach knows his team better than we do and knows what our true weaknesses are. We have no perimeter threat. None! and no drive penetrate threat. None! so we are at best one dimensional. You guys think that we can just change what we are doing and somehow become two dimensional? Ain’t gonna happen. We are stuck with the two man offense because of this teams difficientsies its the only thing that gives this team any hope of winning. Unfortunately it leaves us vulnerable in the offensive rebounding category. This offense isn’t going to change. It is what is, because of what we have.

    Now defense is another story. Because of the diffeciencies in our offense we have no room for error on defense. Now we have bad habits because of last years depth and those habits haven’t changed. No excuse for being outrebounded on this end though. And thats where we need to see a change. More aggresive defense and defensive rebounding. The offense is what it is, the defense is the only change we can make that I see that will make us a better team and hopefully make us respectable. Not having Atsur and a Sr. guard I don’t expect this team to see the post season. But the building blocks are still there and this team will make some noise in the future just not this year or maybe next, but its coming be patient. Lowe will get it done.

  24. GoldenChain 12/10/2007 at 2:28 PM #

    Two of his 3 assistants were D1 head coaches when they came here. One of those had produced 3 AA’s. The other was a long time assistant mostly with our program. How about this: Towe was an assistant at NCSU and UF, is that high major enough?
    We didn’t hire a big name guy with major D1 experience, none of them wanted to come.
    In fact my opinion at the time was that we should have hired a successful up-n-coming mid-major coach (say like guy at Davidson)…but we didn’t and we have what we have.
    They aren’t idiots, they know the game. The difference between the players in the Big South is basically size and speed. The X’s & O’s don’t change.

  25. packgrad93 12/10/2007 at 2:47 PM #

    *State hasn’t scored more than 72 points in a game yet. Meanwhile, rebuilding Arizona State, in case you were wondering, has passed the mark four times, scoring 87, 75, 91, and 77 points in beginning the season 6-2.

    *New Orleans lost to Nicholls State by 18 points. ECU has lost to Richmond, Liberty, at South Florida, Winthrop, and at home to Clemson.

    dang

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