Lowe’s NC State: The Best Squad with the Worst Team

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I have been making this observation for a while, but just recently decided it was appropriate to publically hash out. For some time I have been convinced that NC State is actually a much better ball club than what it appears to be. As a baseline, I am going to compare NC State to rivals UNC and DUKE.

Sidenote: the definition of synergy is getting a collection of individuals and putting them together so that what they can accomplish, as a unit, is greater than the sum of their parts.  In other words, by gathering 1 and 1 and 1 and 1 together, rather than it being 4, it becomes 6 because there is synergy increasing the work between the individuals.  Just hang onto that definition until the end of this article.

Generally, what I see when NC State attacks the rim is a drive towards the basket, then a stall.  Luckily, NC State has been able to utilize big men like Leslie and Howell on the inside to avoid embarrassments against powder-puff opponents like Wake Forest (God bless ‘em, they’re trying… I think).  Unfortunately, it takes more than a couple big players to dominate the inside of the rim and fight for baskets.  The only time we shoot from the field is if there is an open shot due to the opponents lining up poorly, or if the ball hasn’t gone under the basket yet.  So what is the apparent problem with NC State?  Simple: we don’t look for opportunities, we force them.

Case-in-point, look at our team statistics on assists.  Our guards, Brown, Harrow, and Gonzalez, are averaging 3.2, 3.5, and 2.0 assists per game (APG), respectively.  Note that Brown and Harrow both have over 3.0 APG while Javi is coming in right at 2.0 APG. Carolina’s guards, Drew, Marshall, and Strickland, are averaging 4.6, 3.6, and 1.7 APG respectively. Marshall and Strickland both average much better on assists than Brown and Harrow, but their points per game (PPG) are significantly lower than NC State’s top two guards.  In total, Harrow and Brown are scoring around 20 PPG while Carolina’s equivalent two guards are scoring barely above 8.5 PPG.  Conclusion?  Our guards are very talented, but we aren’t getting the ball around enough.  Guards have to be able to feed shots and teammates have to run routes that create opportunities.  What we see in Carolina is that they have been able to use their guards to not just knock off shots, but move the ball to where it is needed and create the opportunity when necessary. This kind of team mentality can only be accomplished by a competant off-court coach that instills a concept of synergy amongst his players so that they can accomplish more than what their individual parts add up to.

What I am trying to statistically show is that NC State runs a type of ball game that relies on the sheer talent of the players on our squad rather than sound fundamental team-play.  So, is this even necessarily a problem?  In theory, this system would work if your squad had overwhelming talent, and I would suggest that NC State is starting to get to that point with respect to talent, alone.  Well, that is where I wanted to bring DUKE into this equation (mainly because we can all agree DUKE is an incredibly scary team).  DUKE’s top two guards, Smith and Irving, are averaging 5.6 and 5.1 APG respectively.  That’s just scary-good.  So, if it’s just the “style” we play, I would assume to see a similar effect with Duke’s guard statistics: high assists, but low PPG.  Smith and Irving average 37.4 PPG, combined.  Wow.  So excluding the fact that DUKE’s talent alone raises the expectations for PPG on guards, what would explain their guard’s high level of assists and high scoring games?  Simple: DUKE creates synergies between their guards and the rest of the team. Coach K has created a team atmosphere where players understand that they are to make opportunities happen, but also acknowledge when the opportunity is no longer there.  This allows their team to take smarter shots, which leads to less missed shots, which leads to more PPG.  That’s how synergy between players works.  That’s how teams are built.

So here is what I’m suggesting: our players are not bad players.  Their numbers are impressive and comparable to others in the top of the conference (not just rivals UNC and DUKE).  Execution on a player level is not necessarily the biggest problem. The problem is that there is a noticeable lack in fundamental team play at NC State and a glaring lack of synergies between guard-play and the rest of the team.  NC State resembles a group of And 1 players that refuse to give up on a drive even if its hopeless.  If you have any doubts of this, then just watch this weekend’s game against UNC.  I would be willing to promise that what we will see is an NC State team that either moves the ball around the perimeter and takes a jumper or rushes to the rim without ever considering kicking the ball back out for an open shot.  No communication.  No synergy.  No team.

This is Lowe’s NC State.  We have the talent.  We have the tradition.  We have the fan support.  We have the unversity support.  We have the money and we have the facilities.  We have the hype and the motivated players we need, eager for blood.  We we do not have is a team.  NC State: the best squad of players with the worst team.

About NCStatePride

***ABOUT THE AUTHOR: NCStatePride has been writing for StateFansNation.com since 2010 and is a 2009 graduate of the College of Engineering.

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55 Responses to Lowe’s NC State: The Best Squad with the Worst Team

  1. JSRy2k 01/26/2011 at 2:20 PM #

    Good job NCStatePride!
    You expressed much more eloquently a similar message to what I warned earlier this season: “Brace yourselves for what may be the greatest waste of a freshman class.” (not the young men themselves, but their talent squandered for lack of coaching) Ugh!

  2. Mike 01/26/2011 at 2:23 PM #

    Pride, nicely done.

    I will take this one step further. You mentioned the dreaded Dook word. WHY has Dook been successful? This may sound like blasphemy, but I truly do not beleive Coach K is a good X and O coach. Where K is a hall of famer is getting his players to have the synergy you speak of.

    How many Dook players have long, successful NBA careers? Very few – why? Because K makes them look better playing with the synergy as a team, but once they get to the league, talent wins out, and those guys just dont have the individual talent the NBA prefers. Yes, they are talented, but they are more team players than individuals. This is where K excels. Now the next point is K also gets them to play D, and he will not hesitate to sit anyone who does not play D. That’s another story that we could parallel but I will leave it alone.

  3. WV Wolf 01/26/2011 at 2:24 PM #

    Nice entry. Good points on the guard play. And if you look back, since Chris Corchiani left after the 91-92 season, guard play as far as assists is concerned has been lacking. Post Corch, no player has averaged more than 5 assists per game and there have only been 2 players to average more than 4.5 assists per game in a season, Osh Benjamin as a freshman and Julius Hodge as a senior.

  4. Wolfy__79 01/26/2011 at 2:26 PM #

    thanks for the synergy spin! as i see it, sidney lowe is always an assistant coach in the nba and has stepped in an interim role as a head coach. that says alot about his record in the nba. i don’t think this situation should be treated very differently.. i can’t really blame him, i think he fell in love with the job after backing in to it. it’s not solely on him, he really shouldn’t have been hired in the first place. the nba has sunk very deep into his philosophy and is irreversible.

    i would add that if it were possible to combine our current and last coach, they would be on the same path as coach k, or his system of play. k’s duke runs a hybrid offense of these two with fundamentally sound players.

    in all, sidney’s inability to be an authority figure undermines everything that he’s trying to do. it has not produced a leader on the floor with offense or defense. instead we see our seniors shrink to supportive roles when it’s there time to lead. if there were any way to insert that lockdown defender and leader on offense then this would be a phenomenal product on the floor. but that isn’t possible, rather, insert a new coach with a system and this team will be phenomenal 🙂

  5. Wolfy__79 01/26/2011 at 2:35 PM #

    ^^^coach k’s nba players with sustainable careers is growing. i used to make the same argument, however k has assessed and adapted. he’s used to not recruit they type, maybe having one at most. now he’s getting two or three and it’s working. he is the best active coach in the nation, approaching the best of all time. i say this because it takes a special coach to keep track, motivate…train college players today than yesteryear.

  6. Wolfy__79 01/26/2011 at 2:39 PM #

    ^*rather than

  7. patientwuf 01/26/2011 at 3:06 PM #

    Great Job Pride

    NYCFan has it spot on as well. We fail to create opportunities. Last night in the 2nd half when the game was close Sid ran a set play for Tracy. He received the pass and the other 4 individual wolfpackers stood there and watched while 4 tigers defended the play. NO Creativity, NO Customization. That is why we go on 6-8 minute scoring droughts plus the fact we seem to forget that defense is important too.

    Food for thought:

    Someone suggested that we not mention Sids record in the NBA. But I say that is entirely the problem. Lee Fowler hired someone to coach/manage a D1 basketball program that did not have the qualifications to do so. He was set up for failure from day 1. He did not have a winning record in the NBA nor has he coached or worked in any capacity in the college ranks. How can he possible orchestrate a winning program when he doesn’t know how. Who’s to blame?

  8. heavy 01/26/2011 at 3:22 PM #

    Pride, I know we are probably not on eachothers Christmas card list, but you definetly nailed this. Great work.

  9. tjfoose1 01/26/2011 at 5:16 PM #

    “The problem is that there is a noticeable lack in fundamental team play at NC State and a glaring lack of synergies between guard-play and the rest of the team… No communication. No synergy. No team.”

    And that is a reflection of what? of whom?…

    Exactly.

  10. Go Army 89 01/26/2011 at 5:22 PM #

    Oh come on guys. He just needs more time to get “his type of players” into “his system” so he can return the program “to the way it used to be”.

  11. NCStatePride 01/26/2011 at 5:32 PM #

    This isn’t a bash piece on Lowe and I want to be careful about senselessly mocking him as a person. At this point in time, no one is making excuses for Lowe… Lowe included.

  12. PoppaJohn 01/26/2011 at 5:45 PM #

    Thanks Sid, let’s make this divorce as “graceful” and “grateful” as possible. Hope you go out with a couple of great wins before you’re done.

  13. Whiteshoes67 01/26/2011 at 5:50 PM #

    I’d call it a lack of energy, effort, hustle, and teamwork. Call it whatever you want, but synergy requires the above components. It boils down to practing hard and playing hard on a consistent basis and having a scheme. Lots of teams look like they have synergy when they play hard. We don’t do that much. Lowe’s offense attempts to exploit mismatches. All good coaches do this, but most attempt to do it within a motion offense scheme if you’re playing against man-to-man. We don’t. Most college level teams don’t have a cast that’s capable of 4 or 5 guys creating their own shots on consistent basis. You need to run sets. An offense at the collegiate level that relies on exploiting mismatches on a consistent basis usually reverts to AAU ball and a whole lot of standing around. Practice hard, play hard, move the basketball, quit standing around. Notwithstanding an occasional off-the-ball foul, I don’t recall a Lowe player ever taking an offensive charge… EVER, EVER, EVER. I wouldn’t have paid Sendek to dog sit for me, but his players would step in front and take a charge. The current Pack not only lacks synergy, it lacks toughness.

  14. kyjelly 01/26/2011 at 6:55 PM #

    pride: I agree with your points I jumped the gun on that. I will say it is important when you are recruiting to bring players that will fit in or else it is counter productive.

  15. mak4dpak 01/26/2011 at 8:15 PM #

    Seems Lowe had a game plan that was working for the team, thus building a 19 point lead, then Clemson made adjustments, and we apparently had no other plans available, and lost. Valvano, like him or not, was so strategic, but Lowe just didn’t seem to get that from his mentor. Here we are in year 5 finally seeing that it is not going to happen. After Fowler’s failures finding a coach to replace Sendek, I kringed at the thought of Sidney becoming the HC. He never coached a winner. But I gave him his chance to prove me wrong. I was finished with him, after 2 years, and here we are in year 5. What took so long? Perhaps a new AD. Do us the honors, Yow. Wish you well Sid, just not as a head coach, unless UNX wants you.

  16. Dogbreath 01/26/2011 at 9:18 PM #

    And one more thing…we haven’t had a guard dole out more than 5 assists per game since 1991.

  17. swamppack 01/26/2011 at 9:58 PM #

    Very well thought-out article NCStatePride. I have liked this sight since I first found it. It’s very fair and balanced. You will never find a better friend than one who is being honest with you. I hope Sidney has these same kind of friends within the athletics dept. at State. If he doesn’t see the writing on the wall to do the right thing on his own when the season is over then those good friends will be very beneficial to him and the basketball program to do it for him.

  18. JeremyH 01/26/2011 at 10:12 PM #

    swamppack, when there are millions of dollars at stake, the sort of thing you suggest “on his own” doesn’t seem to ever really happen. that is not to say that publicly the message wouldn’t be better as “stepping down” than “being fired”, for all parties involved.

  19. swamppack 01/26/2011 at 10:17 PM #

    JeremyH, unfortunately your right.

  20. Wolfy__79 01/27/2011 at 1:30 AM #

    it’s unavoidable isn’t it?? fans, media, friends.. combined, he’s got to realize that things aren’t working?? when you get a daily write up in the n&o about how to better coach your team.. that’s got to hurt right??

  21. wolfpackattack89 01/27/2011 at 1:39 AM #

    anyone happen to see/hear about the ryan harrow facebook status?

  22. tuckerdorm1983 01/27/2011 at 7:52 AM #

    unfortunately this is the medicine we need

  23. Rick 01/27/2011 at 9:25 AM #

    Good article.
    I just cannot muster up enough emotion to write about this team.

  24. bradleyb123 01/27/2011 at 10:33 AM #

    Off topic: I watched the UNC-Miami game last night. (Of course I was pulling for Miami, but at this point, I almost don’t even care any more…) On Miami possessions, I’m wanting a score and getting into it like it’s my Pack playing out there. One thing I noticed was once Carolina started playing defense, EVERY pass was contested. Nothing came easy. They made it VERY difficult for Miami.

    My point is that Carolina really isn’t a very good team. They’ve been playing bad basketball lately, but still winning games anyway. They play as hard as they can on defense, and that helps them.

    That’s something the Pack doesn’t do. But we could take a lesson from them. They’re not a great team. But playing your guts out on defense will help you win games. It almost makes me sick when I see State’s opponents just passing the ball to each other, practically uncontested.

  25. bradleyb123 01/27/2011 at 10:39 AM #

    Seems Lowe had a game plan that was working for the team, thus building a 19 point lead, then Clemson made adjustments, and we apparently had no other plans available, and lost.

    But did Clemson even make any adjustments? I think WE did. We built a big lead, and then Sidney decided to do a mass substitution. And then we stayed with them too long while our big lead evaporated.

    Leave it to Sidney to take something that was WORKING, ball it up like a piece of paper, and throw it in the trash.

    This happens so often. We’ll be playing pretty well, and then our best players are seen on the bench for extended periods. I think Sidney’s strategy (if we can call it that) is to USE a big lead as a chance to rest our best players. Then late in the game, our opponents are tired, and we are fresh. So we can have an easier time winning it in the end. I honestly think this is what Sidney is thinking.

    Personally, I think the easier route would be to rest players a couple of minutes at a time when they get tired, but try to HOLD ON to a big lead. That way you don’t NEED well-rested legs at the end of the game.

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