Lorenzo Brown – Another One Bites the Dust

09-10 Basketball Basketball Recruiting159

I apologize for not being more timely – I’ve been on vacation and out of the loop. But yes, what you may have heard is indeed true – Lorenzo Brown is headed to prep school and will not suit up for the 2009-10 Wolfpack squad. No matter how down the ACC may be, this is almost certainly a fatal blow for NC State’s already remote chance to contend for first division status.

Long-time readers will note that SFN commenter Noah has been hinting about possible issues with Brown ever since he committed to the Pack. Although we (and you) may fervently hope Noah is wrong, perhaps it’s time to stop expecting him to be so.

The obvious question now is “what happens next?” We can break that down into two parts – what should happen, and what to expect from the Lowe camp and his enablers.

On the should side of the ledger, nothing changes in the bar set, just the math regarding the likelihood of clearing it. Again, the fundamental key is distinguishing between fault and responsibility. While it is not Lowe’s fault that Lorenzo Brown’s grades fell short of what Georgia requires, in Season #4 the state of the program is Lowe’s absolute and unequivocal responsibility. The product on the floor must be something that NC State can be proud of. No excuses. Giving Lowe “credit” for recruiting rankings while giving him a pass when said recruits fail to qualify is the height of idiocy. But if you focus on bottom-line responsibility, it doesn’t matter. You can produce by bringing in great talent (ala Guy Lewis), or you can overachieve with lesser talent (ala Seth Greenberg). Either way, you have to produce. Lowe is not likely to produce with the current roster, but that’s on him. He is the coach and the general manager.

So, back to prong two. What should you expect? Well, for Team Lowe and its dwindling band of true believers, this is actually perfect. It gives you the perfect opportunity to intensify the pre-emptive excuse making. WTNY!!!!! Since almost every pundit will now expect State to finish 11th or 12th, they can (and will) shift the focus to beat “expectations” – despite the fact that expectations are so low because of the personnel Lowe has brought in and Lowe’s demonstrated coaching “acumen.” A career-best 9th place finish after four years gets you a pink slip from 95% of major D-1 programs, but the dead-enders would demand a contract extension instead. And since it isn’t possible to perform below expectations (i.e., you can’t fall off the floor), they will deem anyone not satisfied with 2009-10 results as delusional. Expect Fowler (if he’s still here) to break out the “lunatic fringe” term again.

More importantly, the status quo folks get to double down on blackmail. Lorenzo Brown and Ryan Harrow are both from the same recruiting pipeline, and will thus have access to the same set of talking points (that Harrow has already been testing out over the summer). Expect this to get a lot less subtle, and a lot more public – certainly no later than January 2010 (fun idea – run a pool for the date of the next public article with a qualifying Brown or Harrow quote). With Lowe’s tacit or explicit approval, these young men will declare that they are committed to Sidney Lowe, not NC State. This is certainly true of a certain individual deeply intertwined with their recruitment. And since recruits have not taken the court in a college game (and thus only have untapped potential for greatness, and no weaknesses in the eyes of many), some people will take this as a legitimate consideration. This is true despite what happened the last time NC State faced such a situation, which led to five years of basketball limbo – and that was with the best player in school history since the legendary David Thompson, not two Top 50 kids.

Feel free to shoot the messenger in the comments – but that’s simply how I see things shaking out. Things are ugly in West Raleigh, and about to get much, much uglier. Brace yourselves for the coming storm.

Projected 2009-2010 NC State Basketball Roster

Senior Class
(1) Dennis Horner (F)
(2) Farnold Degand (PG)

Junior Class
(3) Javi Gonzalez (PG)
(4) Tracy Smith (4F)

Sophomore Class
(5) Johnny Thomas (Wing)
(6) Julius Mays (PG/SG)
(7) CJ Williams (Wing)

Freshman Class
(8) Scott Wood (Wing)
(9) DeShawn Painter (PF/C)
(10) Richard Howell (PF)
(11) Josh Davis (WF)
(12) Jordan Vandenberg (C)

2010 Commits
(13) Lorenzo Brown (PG/SG)
(1) Departure of Dennis Horner – Ryan Harrow (PG)
(2) Departure of Farnold Degand – Previously CJ Leslie (PF/C)

2011 Commits
(3) Departure of Javi Gonzalez
(4) Departure of Tracy Smith

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.

09-10 Basketball Basketball Recruiting

159 Responses to Lorenzo Brown – Another One Bites the Dust

  1. Thinkpack17 07/15/2009 at 4:15 PM #

    “Farnold went from a plus defender as a sophomore to a horrid one last year. I’m pretty sure he’s done.”

    You and I have agreed on that before…but I’m telling you, you need to check him out. Have you seen him play recently?

  2. JeremyH 07/15/2009 at 4:28 PM #

    Thinkpack17: did he find his shot? is his dribbling more under control?

  3. Thinkpack17 07/15/2009 at 4:43 PM #

    Shooting off the dribble he’s still a bit shaky, and he doesn’t come off screens as well as we’ll need him to. But catch and shoot he is very solid…he has always shot a decent percentage though. He looks better in the basics of the game, he explodes when he gets the outlet, he goes by people and gets to the cup and he gets of the floor too. Singler played with him the other night and sad to say he looks good too.

  4. BJD95 07/15/2009 at 6:37 PM #

    FWIW, I don’t put any stock in Chavis, or whatever is the current version of that. Remember how that had people believing Mike Bell was a superstar? I will hope to be pleasantly surprised when the real games start, but will take everything with a grain of salt until then.

  5. choppack1 07/16/2009 at 8:26 AM #

    Regarding Mike Bell – didn’t he transfer to some Florida school and end up putting up some pretty decent #s?

  6. Par Shooter 07/16/2009 at 9:05 AM #

    Kenny Inge was going to be another version of JJ Redick based on a summer of Chavis as well. Trying to extrapolate anything from a summer pickup league to ACC basketball is the height of absurdity and that has been proven time and again.

  7. choppack1 07/16/2009 at 9:36 AM #

    Did a few seconds of research on Bell. He did end up having a very good career after leaving State @ Florida Atlantic- leading the the leage in scoring and rebounding. While this wasn’t the Big East or the ACC, I think that it shows (as do some of his #s in Europe) that he could have at the very least been an effective reserve for us:

    2002-2003: Palm Beach CC (NJCAA) 20.7ppg 12.3rpg 3.5bpg

    2003-2004: Florida Atlantic (NCAA, starting five): 27 games: 18.0ppg, 9.7rpg, 1.3apg, 1.1spg, 2.1bpg, FGP: 46.1%, 3PT: 31.2%, FT: 53.9%

    2004-2005: Florida Atlantic (NCAA, starting five): 27 games: ScoreASUN-1(19.1ppg), RebASUN-1(9.3rpg), 1.1apg, 1.0spg, BlockASUN-4(1.9bpg), FGP: 48.5%, 3PT: 32.9%, FT: 50.8%: Ranks fifth in scoring (1,001 points), third in rebounding (514) and second in blocked shots (107) on Florida Atlantic’s all-time lists. Was only the second player in school history to score 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds in a career, and was the first to do it in only two years.

    http://www.inthoops.com/MikeBell.htm

  8. bradleyb123 07/16/2009 at 11:18 AM #

    Didn’t Lorenzo fail to qualify due to some credits not transferring when he changed schools, and because of that he was just short on credits? I read somewhere that this isn’t a case of him being too dumb to graduate, or anything like that. I think we appealed it because in many states, he WOULD have qualified. Just not in Georgia. So we might have a case with the NCAA. It’s probably not going to work, but I think that’s why we’re trying.

    I’d like to hear OFFICIAL word on this from someone that knows for sure.

    I’m not stating this as fact or even as opinion. It’s just something I read somewhere.

  9. Par Shooter 07/17/2009 at 10:33 AM #

    I don’t think anyone is asserting that Lorenzo is “too dumb to graduate” or anything of the sort. But the fact remains that if he (or anyone else) does not meet the requirements to graduate from their high school then I cannot imagine that they can be admitted to NC State, much less cleared by the NCAA. That he could have graduated from some other high school somewhere else is completely irrelvant. If that were a mitigating factor then the Tremain Hall business would have worked in our favor since the math exam was a Florida specific test.

    This is taken from the NC State website: “To be considered for freshman admission you must have a high school diploma or its equivalent and satisfy the UNC-system Minimum Course Requirements (MCR).” Unless he has something equivalent to a HS diploma he is not even a candidate for admission and any appeal to the NCAA is laughable.

    I’m afraid that BJD is correct – that the rumored appeal is all part of a spin campaign. If we understand the facts correctly then my guess is that an appeal likely will not be submitted. Lowe, et al, will never directly say that they appealed but they’ll have their “insiders” leak rumors of an appeal.

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