No post season of any kind for Wolfpack

08-09 Basketball General102

Despite all the frustration that many State fans are currently expressing — it is weird to think that had the Wolfpack just hit a couple of missed free throws in the last minute of games against Marquette, Florida and Virginia Tech that we would have been guaranteed an NIT bid and would have entered the ACC Tournament on the NCAA Bubble. Think about that.

It’s the ‘little things’ that make all the difference – and items like free throws, defense, general fundamentals and organizational professionalism are the ‘little things’ that this basketball program needs to improve upon with no time to spare.

Lee Fowler may still believe that he ‘knows basketball’, but he evidently doesn’t know anyone that can get his basketball program into any of the three secondary basketball tournaments being played this year.

NIT
Link to ACCNow

It wasn’t a surprise that the Wolfpack wasn’t invited to the NIT. There are actually some pretty good matchups in the NIT.

CBI
The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) – which saw Tulsa defeat Bradley to win year’s inaugural tournament – felt as though it would be natural fit for State’s season to extend. (Link) But, the Wolfpack failed to make the CBI field that included, Stanford, Richmond, Charleston, Troy, St. John’s, Oregon State, Houston, Green Bay, Vermont, Wyoming, UTEP, Northeastern, Nevada, Wichita State, Boise State & Buffalo.

If only those Athletics Directors ‘knew basketball’!

CIT
The new CollegeInsider.com Tournament will not include the Wolfpack. The website for this tournament discusses the event and includes the following that would explain how nothing but mid-majors comprise the field.

Eligible Teams:
Participating teams must finish the regular season with a winning record against division I opponents. Teams whose conferences have less than fifty-percent (50%) of their teams participating in the NCAA and NIT tournaments will be given higher priority for selection into the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

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08-09 Basketball General

102 Responses to No post season of any kind for Wolfpack

  1. UpstateSCWolfpack 03/16/2009 at 10:06 AM #

    This should be a sign to the admin. that Fowler must go. And, if we can’t make any one of the three lesser tournaments then the head coach must go. This is maybe the lowest of the lows for basketball. Four post season tournaments and we go 0-4 then as long as it is not the coaches first year then he should be fired. We need to frakking higher Sean Miller. And Bobby Knight needs to be our AD.

  2. Noah 03/16/2009 at 10:06 AM #

    Tubby – Tubby is Tubby and never could win the big ones.

    That’s an odd thing to say about someone who has won a national championship and five conference titles.

    He has something like a 75 percent career winning percentage, one of five coaches to take four teams to the tournament, and has won 20 games for 16 years in a row.

    That’s an odd man at which to throw stones…

  3. Texpack 03/16/2009 at 10:07 AM #

    In year one Sidney Lowe took a rag tag bunch and had them playing at their maximum level by the end of the season. I thought that was a very good coaching job.

    In year two he grossly mismanaged the addition of a “superstar” to the mix and failed to find a PG who could play, although the Degand injury hurt in that area. The team was playing at it’s minimum level by the end of the year. This coaching job was beyond poor.

    In year three we saw the first meaningful minutes out of his recruits. Javi and Tracy Smith emerged as guys who can help this team next year. Julius Mays showed flashes. Dennis Horner (not his recruit) also improved. My major problem with the way he coached the season, was that he didn’t sell out this year for next. I guess he thought he could get the 2006-2007 version of Costner to show up again and that would be enough for us to win 8-9 conference games and work our way onto the bubble. I would have been much happier had JT and CJ gotten 80% of the minutes that went to Fells this season. At some point you have to know when to cut your losses and play for the future.

    I have always believed that recruiting was the most important task of every college coach. That is why the CJ Leslie situation concerns me so much. We have to turn around the talent base and build some level of quality depth if we are going to be in the top third of the league consistently, which is where I believe we should be. The previous administration had a recruiting CEILING that put us in the middle of the conference in most GOOD years. If Sidney is going to build on the recruiting success of the incoming class next year, he’s going to have to win some big games early next season. That’s where his decision to try to win this year may bite him in the rear. I haven’t given up yet, but next year needs to be .500 in the ACC with a TOP 50 RPI.

  4. GAWolf 03/16/2009 at 10:07 AM #

    NCSUFAN23:

    FOWLER DIDN’T FIND TOB. TOB FOUND FOWLER. TOB GAVE FOWLER AN OPTION EVEN FOWLER COULDN’T F-UP.

  5. Noah 03/16/2009 at 10:07 AM #

    I respect to no end the committment he and his staff have made, stepping into the breach and working their butts off for this program.

    Considering the rumors that have floated around the last two years, I seriously wonder how well-placed your respect is.

  6. BJD95 03/16/2009 at 10:12 AM #

    Fowler gets absolutely zero credit for Fowler. O’Brien came to us, and Fowler was told to stay out of the way.

    Expecting a second savior to fall into laps is really pressing our luck. Which is why we can’t just make a move even with Fowler staying in place.

  7. wufpup76 03/16/2009 at 10:22 AM #

    “Fowler gets absolutely zero credit for Fowler.”

    ^Man, I wish that were so 😉

  8. GAWolf 03/16/2009 at 10:23 AM #

    Tubby didn’t really have too much success at UGA. I was hanging around Athens when he was there. I remember literally walking into the Colosseum wihtout a ticket to watch a number 1 Kentucky team play Georgia and sitting at half court because the place was empty. I remember being shocked when he was announced as the Kentucky Head Coach. That was Herb’s legacy, too. They were minions of the great Pitino and thus “can’t miss” coaching prospects. It wasn’t so much on the court success that landed them jobs but the “upside” of having learned under Rick.

    Also, and I could be totally wrong about this, but didn’t Tubby win the National Championship his very first year at Kentucky with Pitino’s players? It was basically downhill from there, IIRC. Again, I might be wrong.

  9. RickJ 03/16/2009 at 10:23 AM #

    I’ll give Dick Baddour most of the credit for O’Brien. O’Brien first went to UNC (remember they fired Bunting mid-season)and Baddour rejected him for Butch Davis.

  10. GAWolf 03/16/2009 at 10:27 AM #

    ^I forgot that until you just mentioned it. No wonder TOB wants to beat UNC every year… you’re crazy if you think that doesn’t somehow trickle down to our team and thus represents part of the reason we are playing so well against UNC as of late.

  11. wufpup76 03/16/2009 at 10:33 AM #

    “Also, and I could be totally wrong about this, but didn’t Tubby win the National Championship his very first year at Kentucky with Pitino’s players?”

    ^Correct.

  12. choppack1 03/16/2009 at 10:33 AM #

    “In year three we saw the first meaningful minutes out of his recruits. Javi and Tracy Smith emerged as guys who can help this team next year. Julius Mays showed flashes. Dennis Horner (not his recruit) also improved. My major problem with the way he coached the season, was that he didn’t sell out this year for next. I guess he thought he could get the 2006-2007 version of Costner to show up again and that would be enough for us to win 8-9 conference games and work our way onto the bubble. I would have been much happier had JT and CJ gotten 80% of the minutes that went to Fells this season. At some point you have to know when to cut your losses and play for the future.”

    A couple of thoughts here:
    1) Mays showed flashes, but was on the bench almost the entire second half of the season. Sid went w/ Degand over him until Degand had yet another disciplinary issue and was benched for the tourney game. Mays responded like a champion and played his best game of the season.

    Perhaps it’s total hindsight, but Mays performance should have us all scratching our head as to why he didn’t play more in the second half, while Degand w/ the exception of the game at Wake, struggled mightily.

    2) “I would have been much happier had JT and CJ gotten 80% of the minutes that went to Fells this season.”

    I just don’t think that JT can get those minutes w/ his knee. CJ, in the second half of the season got plenty of minutes. He played OK. At this point in his career, he’s very easy to guard. He’s a threat to shoot the 3 and he has a good pull up j – but that’s the extent of it.

    It’s hard for me to say, Sid should have sat Ben, Courtney and Brandon – because I have no idea what the other guys did in practice and because we had some hope at getting on the bubble or playing ourselve into the championship. In other words, unlike last year – we made ourselves somewhat relevant in the second half of the season. What did baffle me was Mays’ disappearance and the rotation in the ACC tournament game.

  13. UpstateSCWolfpack 03/16/2009 at 10:34 AM #

    Hey I have a perfect fit for Fowler. University of Phoenix, they have a great football facility in AZ, but oh yeah, no sports teams. Although I am sure he could figure out a way to screw that up too.

  14. Classof89 03/16/2009 at 10:35 AM #

    Tubby – Tubby is Tubby and never could win the big ones.

    At this point, I think its safe to say most of us would be overjoyed with even MAKING it to a “big one” in order to lose it…

  15. Wulfpack 03/16/2009 at 10:49 AM #

    If you need any proof as to Tubby’s coaching ability, he just led Minnesota to the NCAAs in his second year. Minnesota was dog pooh prior to his arrival. Believe it or not, some programs actually improve more than a game or two from one year to the next — we aren’t one of them.

  16. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 03/16/2009 at 10:51 AM #

    No use talking about letting Sid go because if it was going to happen we would know it by this morning. There would be absolutely no reason to waste anytime letting Sid hang around campus for another couple of days.

    Since we know Sid won’t be fired can you people that have your mind set on destroying any chance that State will have success by talking down the program. It is time to support Lowe for the 2009-2010 season. There is no use in talking shit about the coach after you already know he will be hear for another year. There will be plenty of time next season to try and destroy the man.

  17. BJD95 03/16/2009 at 10:52 AM #

    One has to think that if the players we had on the bench were capable, they would have been playing. Since they were not logging major minutes – on a team that couldn’t even make the Not Invited Tournament, I have trouble being really enthused about their capacity to lead the team out of the wilderness.

    A huge injection of talent is needed. Without Wall or Cousins, this coming class is not enough. Same wrt Leslie and 2010.

  18. BJD95 03/16/2009 at 10:55 AM #

    The point is not getting Lowe tossed before next season. the point is getting Fowler tossed so that Lowe can be critically evaluated next season.

  19. fullmoon1 03/16/2009 at 11:23 AM #

    The frustration runs deep, and due to the lack of a post season there is way to much time to reflect and look in the rear view mirror. The frustration is justified but firing Sid now would be a mistake at this point. I do not think anyone else sould have done a better job. Sid had to run with what The last guy brought to the track. I think next year we will have a better sense of weather the problem is the coach , the players or what. Firing him prior to the end of next season just doesn’t make sense.

  20. Wolfpack_1995 03/16/2009 at 11:23 AM #

    Fowler seems to be good ole boys with Murphy therefore he ain’t going anywhere.

    Lake Gaston is the place you outta be.

  21. CStanley 03/16/2009 at 11:40 AM #

    I don’t know of any inside details or rumors, but I have to think that the way the basketball team finished up this year and its continued downward trend (and remember that Sid is “Fowler’s guy”), the lack of promise the baseball team is showing after a Super Regional appearance last year, and the overall state and impression of our athletics program has got some of the up and uppers in a state of dissatisfaction. If the football program fails to deliver on a promising season next year, Lee best watch out.

    The current state of the athletic programs right now at NC State is just unacceptable. And that includes all of them.

  22. boonami 03/16/2009 at 11:45 AM #

    It’s embarassing to, once again, be on the outside looking in at NCAA Tourney time. I mean if schools like Clemson and FSU can turn it around in bball (and they have no tradition like State), then there should be no excuses for us. Just like UNX and U of Houston, the alum coaching experiment isn’t working. Time to go out and get a proven D1 coach. Everyone is discussing Tubby, but what about Arch’s bro at Xavier?

  23. Noah 03/16/2009 at 11:47 AM #

    Tubby didn’t really have too much success at UGA.

    First back-to-back 20 win seasons EVER for that program.

    Also, and I could be totally wrong about this, but didn’t Tubby win the National Championship his very first year at Kentucky with Pitino’s players?

    Not exactly the greatest team UK has ever put together. Allen Edwards, Scott Padgett, Nazr Mohammed, Wayne Turner, Jeff Sheppard, and Jamaal Magloire.

    Solid. But it’s not like that team that Pitino had where Ron Mercer was like the 7th man.

  24. boonami 03/16/2009 at 11:51 AM #

    same can be said for Ol Roy(Huckleberry Hound).. he won with Doh’s players so we’ll see if he can win it this year… BTW Noah, love the Fletch reference and you can also add to describe our program: “whadya doing? some stunt flying up there?”

  25. Wulfpack 03/16/2009 at 11:54 AM #

    Boonami, those guys are just the tip of the iceburg. There are countless coaches, mid-major or otherwise, with solid proven head coaching experience and results to speak of, that would be an upgrade and relish the opportunity.

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