More on Brown and Howell

Basketball Recruiting NCS Basketball69

WRAL.com/99.9 FM has posted an audio interview with Rivals.com chief recruiting analyst, Jerry Meyer. Some more background and insight on the Pack’s latest two recruits as well as other recruits like John Wall and Derrick Favors.

This guy does not seem optimistic re Favors.

If Howell is truly a “warrior” down low, then we’re going to like him very much.

Meyer repeats these rumors that we discussed last week.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

Basketball Recruiting NCS Basketball

69 Responses to More on Brown and Howell

  1. wolf2003 07/29/2008 at 9:46 AM #

    They way he talked, it doesn’t sound good for either one of them. I think we have more of a chance at Favors than Wall. It the staff can sell that even if he wants to be in his home state, being in NC isn’t that far from home. I’m still impressed either way with the job that has been done by the staff to resurrect the program and atleast take some steps to move in a different direction.

  2. Noah 07/29/2008 at 10:17 AM #

    Howell, like Kelly, is not a one-and-done. He is, most likely, a four year player. I’ll take guys like that all day long simply because I don’t believe we can consistently get players like Favors. And unless you can consistently bring in guys like Favors, you’re never going to be making up lost ground.

    Lowe has his players. I’m not expecting anything from next year’s lot. An NIT bid would be a miracle.

    However, he’s going to have start producing in the seasons after that. The argument beginning that season can no longer be, “Well, he simply doesn’t have the players.”

    I would rather have my leg sawn off than watch that idiot Fowler go through another coaching search/nervous breakdown. So I’m willing to forgive Lowe for the inevitiability of next year. We can go 0-28 and get shutout for the entire season and I won’t be calling for his head based on games and results.

    Recruiting improvements? Check.
    QJ gone? Check.
    One-year pass on results? Check.

    The next item on the punch list will be a 20-win season and a sweet-16 spot. Nothing less will suffice. Losing on the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament should be a fireable offense.

  3. old13 07/29/2008 at 10:38 AM #

    With an anti-athletics administration/BOT and an inept (to say the least) DA . . . er . . . AD, where’s the incentive for any NCSU coach to perform! It ain’t gonna happen as we all saw with the infinite chances given you-know-who (no, not Voltemort!) and other non-performing coaches.

  4. Dr. BadgerPack 07/29/2008 at 10:42 AM #

    Noah- I agree with most of that. I’m slightly confused about the “losing in the first weekend of the NCAAs comment,” since you seem to be allowing for building. Does this apply the first time Lowe gets there? Even if it’s as a 7-10 seed?

    I’d be more inclined to say- losing to a lower seed playing poorly executed basketball and looking like 2007-08 would be firable.

    Although I’m not sure I’d even give him a pass on results– next year should be a 20 win season. There really isn’t any reason not to get there. Well, perhaps one reason- the ramped up non conference schedule (and 20 is still winnable if we don’t lay eggs against bottom feeders). But this is still the core of a team that won 20 games, – Atsur and Grant, + 2 PGs, a better Ferguson, Smith, Thomas (perhaps) and Mays/Williams. (Note, out of decency I didn’t include Johnson in the ‘plusses’– till we find something he can do… towels? waterboy?).

    Not giving a pass this year doesn’t mean I’d want him fired… necessarily. (For the record, I’m strongly in Lowe’s corner- from day 1).

  5. happypackdad 07/29/2008 at 11:02 AM #

    We’re right in it for Favors, Wall & Kelly are longshots. We’re putting the full-court press on Kelly & Favors as well as looking at other bigs(Dewitt)

  6. StateFans 07/29/2008 at 11:07 AM #

    Great conversations and perspectives here.

  7. choppack1 07/29/2008 at 11:10 AM #

    Noah – I think w/ Lowe, if we land Favors, he can make the argument that he CAN get a player like this every other year or so. My main concern is that I don’t want to be GaTech. Aside from their unexpected run to the Final 4 a few years ago, they seem to be constantly swimming upstream. They haven’t won an ACC championship or regular season title – and when they do go to the NCAA – they are always on the bubble. They are in this position precisely because they are always losing good guys to the league a year too early to make a difference.

    IMHO, in order to be a consistent winner in the ACC – you need 2 or 3 year guys at the very least comprising the core of your team. It’s hard to build if you lose your most talented player every year – especially when that kid is a freshman. If you can get those talented guys to stay another year or two – and you have good, experienced talent around them – everything changes.

    As far as it pertains to Lowe – IMHO – everything is relative. If I see evidence of good preparation, and I see good effort, he’ll get a pass from me for this year, no matter what the result. If I don’t see those things, then my opinion will be that his recruiting is not enough – no matter how good it is.

  8. BJD95 07/29/2008 at 11:11 AM #

    This is the year for pulling heads out of asses, and laying the foundation for a solid future.

    2009-10 and 2010-11 will be about showing the ability to win.

  9. Noah 07/29/2008 at 11:39 AM #

    The standard has been set. Getting to an NCAA tournament is not enough. Whoever the coach is, he must consistently make it to the second week of the tournament. Nothing less is acceptable.

    Regarding one-and-done players, the only programs I can think of that consistently land those guys are UNC (where they seem to stay forever), Dook, Kansas, UCLA, and maybe Florida. Not even recent tournament-winners like Maryland and Mich. State and Syracuse seem to be able to consistently bring them in.

  10. wolf2003 07/29/2008 at 11:52 AM #

    I believe we should be able to do more than just make it as Noah says. Get to the tournament and make some noise such as Davidson did or George Mason. Lets not get there to say “hey, we made it to the dance” Play for nothing else but the thought of cutting down the nets.

  11. Dr. BadgerPack 07/29/2008 at 11:52 AM #

    Noah- Seems reasonable enough; it doesn’t seem like you’re saying if he gets there next year and they lose in the round of 32 can him… It seems you’re saying- “you better make a habit out of showing up for games in week 2 (and sprinkling in some week 3 wouldn’t hurt you either).”

    Florida I don’t think has dealt much with the 1-and-done lately. I don’t recall a useful one-and-done since I’ve been here. I suppose Calathes has that kind of talent, but there was no way he was going to leave after one season.

    Until recently Kentucky did a wonderful job bringing that level of talent in, and i think Gillespie will get back to that (already got Patterson last year… really ticked some Gators off…).

  12. packbackr04 07/29/2008 at 11:57 AM #

    memphis gets that type of thug.. i mean talent every year

  13. TheDireWolf 07/29/2008 at 12:46 PM #

    In regard to the second post, what has Quientin Jackson done that people are happy he is gone?

  14. Noah 07/29/2008 at 12:47 PM #

    Yeah, memphis is another one.

    There aren’t many though. I’d rather just bring in good players that will be here for four years than roll the dice with a Chris Bosh-type.

  15. burnbarn 07/29/2008 at 12:51 PM #

    i didn’t know QJ was gone….

  16. choppack1 07/29/2008 at 12:54 PM #

    “Regarding one-and-done players, the only programs I can think of that consistently land those guys are UNC (where they seem to stay forever), Dook, Kansas, UCLA, and maybe Florida. Not even recent tournament-winners like Maryland and Mich. State and Syracuse seem to be able to consistently bring them in.”

    Noah – The key is getting those guys to stay more than one year. UNC and Duke – in spite of getting blue chippers – haven’t had a starter leave in a while. Florida had problems when their guys were leaving every year. Once Donovan found some who stuck around for a bit, they won back to back tourneys.

    I think we’re kind of saying the same thing – you’re better off getting a kid ranked 26-100 who will stay at least 2 years than you are getting a kid ranked 1-25, who will go pro after his first year. I’d argue that even if you can get this kind of kid every year – if you are depending on him to produce, you won’t have sustainable results.

  17. wayofthemaster 07/29/2008 at 1:42 PM #

    On ESPN.com’s Insider Recruiting page, Bob Gibbons says that Howell may be a better prospect that Hickson.

  18. vtpackfan 07/29/2008 at 1:49 PM #

    It looks like both will be able to play at the next level right away.
    The first time I read about Howell it made me wish he was heading here fast. The foundation of a Defense is the Attitude within, and no man whether he is a coach or a superviser at a job can make the final decisions of will power. With Richard Howell this will not be a concern (stories of Mays as a Gym Rat are very promising as well).

    I just hope Tracy Smith wants to get into weight lifting in a big way because he is going to be playing the 5 position exclusively if our gamble on Favors doesn’t pan out.

  19. pakfanistan 07/29/2008 at 2:08 PM #

    Some of you people say the craziest things.

    Tracy Smith is too short to play as a true center. Watching the games last year, it looked like Gavin was at least an inch taller than Tracy. As for weight lifting….I’m not sure how much that would help him since he’s already the biggest (total mass) guy on the team.

  20. Classof89 07/29/2008 at 2:21 PM #

    Those of you in the know aren’t ever going to tell the rest of us what the deal is with Quentin Jackson, are you?

    I must say whatever it is, it has been kept under wraps expertly, because I follow most of the NC State sports pages on the net with the exception of the Idiot Boards, and I’ve never seen anything more than murmurings…I mean come on guys, how bad can it be? Boinking a secretary (or coed?) DUI? Probably not…we’d be talking about that all week long and twice on Sunday. The fact noone wants to spill the beans indicates it is something that would be damaging to our hoops program if publicly discussed…I hope he hasn’t been breaking NCAA rules…

  21. packbackr04 07/29/2008 at 2:36 PM #

    89^^^^i think he is just an idiot

    supposedly Aug 1 will be his last day and Justin Gainey will be taking his role as Dir of Bball Op’s

  22. packalum44 07/29/2008 at 3:28 PM #

    yeah, if we could land a wall/kelly/favors…either one of them would make it a super class, possibly top 10. I won’t be surprised if Scott Wood climbs the rankings to the verge of 4 star…he’s good, albeit “un-athletic” (which seems to be a euphemism in the sports realm)

    In that regard, what are our backup options if the mentioned three don’t sign??? Jordan Hamilton seems to be a big long shot. Matt Wilson out of Ravenscroft? What about Ari Stewart (howell’s teammate) Seems like we would need a big more than a gaurd…any theories?

  23. Dr. BadgerPack 07/29/2008 at 3:42 PM #

    Could it be that Q just isn’t good at the job? Or really interested for that matter (and wasn’t he selling insurance before??). I thought that most schools treated “Director of Basketball Operations” as a spot for a young, aspiring coach. (Didn’t Archie do this at one point?). Put a guy there with something to prove. Someone who’s going to bust his butt to move ahead.

    Sounds like a good fit (maybe) for Gainey… Not so much for someone who won’t have much of a future in coaching if for nothing more than his Chronological Handicap.

  24. Ed89 07/29/2008 at 3:48 PM #

    I personally think it’s also a good fit for a qualified guy who DOES NOT aspire to be a coach. Maybe more of a personnel/operations expert. That type of guy may be more stable, as he’s not going to bolt at the next assistant coach opening (see recent Clemson DBO going to Florida). Either way, get someone qualified that is going to bust his tail.

  25. Girlfriend in a Coma 07/29/2008 at 4:26 PM #

    I think “idiot” is being generous.

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