Tudor: “If Leslie Returns…”

12-13 Basketball46

Does anyone remember the last time we were talking (positively) about State basketball in April?

Caulton Tudor takes a brief look at a few items of interest next season (N&O):

Here’s what we can look forward to seeing beginning in early November, assuming Leslie returns for his junior season:

All-ACC: Terrell Stoglin (Maryland), C.J. Leslie (N.C. State), Lorenzo Brown (N.C. State), Michael Snaer (Florida State), Erick Green (Virginia Tech).

ACC Player of Year: C.J. Leslie (N.C. State).

ACC Top 5: 1. N.C. State, 2. Duke, 3. Florida State, 4. North Carolina, 5. Maryland.

Pressurized ACC coaches: Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg and Wake Forest’s Jeff Bzdelik .

Pressurized Pac-12 coaches: UCLA’s Ben Howland and Arizona State’s Herb Sendek.

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12-13 Basketball

46 Responses to Tudor: “If Leslie Returns…”

  1. tuckerdorm1983 04/09/2012 at 3:50 PM #

    am I right? does Calvin have until midnight tomorrow?

  2. Bowlpack 04/09/2012 at 3:59 PM #

    If he wants to declare for the NBA he has until the 29th. The NCAA timeframe is sooner so, he would have to declare, check his evaluations and withdraw by the 10th. It’s a flawed system.

  3. JEOH2 04/09/2012 at 4:04 PM #

    It baffles me that anyone would think a program like the University of Kentucky would hire a coach who has been to one Elite 8 and one Sweet 16 and was forced to resign from his last job at an SEC program like Alabama.

    Media pants us as lunatics?UK fans would riot if Gottfried was a serious candidate at this point in his career…it’s not UK to worry about, or even UCLA right now…it’s State and making sure this success is sustainable…

  4. JEOH2 04/09/2012 at 4:06 PM #

    It baffles me that anyone would think a program like the University of Kentucky would hire a coach who has been to one Elite 8 and one Sweet 16 and was forced to resign from his last job at an SEC program like Alabama.

    Media paints us as lunatics?UK fans would riot if Gottfried was a serious candidate at this point in his career…it’s not UK to worry about, or even UCLA right now…it’s State and making sure this success is sustainable…

  5. Packfan28 04/09/2012 at 4:28 PM #

    Just a clarification regarding CJ. He requested an NBA evaluation, but this does not constitute declaring for the draft. CJ has not declared for the draft, therefore the April 10th date means nothing in his particular case. He has until the 29th to declare, but hopefully will decide sooner to allow Gott to do what he needs to do recruiting wise.

  6. bill-1956 04/09/2012 at 4:40 PM #

    slushy1975 and BJD95 are spot on correct.

  7. Wolfy__79 04/09/2012 at 7:44 PM #

    Die hard NC State fan here, i love all the press and the awesome finish we had to a pretty good season. after the losing streak we had, i was sure we’d be hard pressed to make the tourney… but me made it, and made a great run. as someone mentioned i think last week, i’m not favoring us over the blues until we have beaten them. i can certainly see this team finishing 1st in the conference and being one of the toughest outs the acc has… but i’m not going to get too far ahead of myself just yet.

    with the players we have returning + a 2nd year under our excellent new staff, i can agree with some of the national hype we’re getting… but i don’t think we’ll necessarily start out top ten. …level of play that is. it will be interesting for me to see what kind of progress we’ll see out of our current roster, adding the much needed depth to the bench.

    one of the problems i think teams will have with us is calvin in the post. at the end of this season, his quickness was very difficult to guard. in addition to that, lorenzo’s progress as a point guard was great.. he’s got such a competitive drive in him, he is a great player in the making. hopefully scott wood can grow a little bit as well, add to his game. b/t howell and painter, we’ve very steady production coming from these two.. i can’t wait to see howell beast in the paint next year.

    all that said, for NC State, the team to beat is UNC! everybody is sleeping on them for some reason? tudor is picking them 4th? that’s a push for me. they may not have the better recruiting class but they did last year… the guys on their bench are very talented and waiting for their turn. mcadoo is very good, he stays and they are one of the favorites. i don’t really see duke being as good as unc. fsu has arroved, i don’t see them slipping much next year. it will be interesting to see what suprise teams the ACC will have next year, i know we’re not sneaking up on anyone!

  8. blpack 04/09/2012 at 9:13 PM #

    It will be interesting to see how we handle prosperity. We will be hunted instead of the other way around. With the league still struggling to get better and not a lot of marquee players it will be wide open. I say bring it on. Go Pack!

  9. Wulfpack 04/10/2012 at 5:48 AM #

    FSU loses a ton. UNC will struggle just to dance. We are the top dog.

  10. Packfan28 04/10/2012 at 8:20 AM #

    UNC will not struggle to make the dance next year. In fact, they will be pretty good. They still have 5 Mac AAs on their roster, JMM will be a force, and they are in the running for Alex Oriakhi. I’m predicting it will between us and them for the regular season ACC title.

  11. Wulfpack 04/10/2012 at 8:25 AM #

    We can agree to disagree on UNC. They lose their entire frontocurt sans McAdoo, who I agree will be a force next year. They have zero depth there – so any injuries or foul trouble and they are screwed. They lose their starting PG and will be breaking in a freshman to run the offense. White goes on his mission and does not return for two years. Any injury and/or foul trouble there and they are likewise screwed. Strickland has to prove he has recovered from his injury, as does McDonald. Bullock is back but he needs threats on the floor and a good PG to find him — he’s not the type to create his own. I just do not see how UNC does not suffer this year following their huge losses in leadership and production. We will be favored with or without Calvin.

  12. NCSU84 04/10/2012 at 9:00 AM #

    “It baffles me that anyone would think a program like the University of Kentucky would hire a coach who has been to one Elite 8 and one Sweet 16…” And I will add that his Ala. team was also ranked #1.

    JEH02, while these facts may seem trivial to you, I think you would have a hard time finding many coaches in the country with these COMBINED accomplishments (excluding the entrenched coaches that would not even consider a move to UK – i.e. K, Roy, Bayheim, etc). I do not think Gott would be UK’s first choice for the reasons you have stated, but they (UK) would be foolish not to consider him as a candidate. Hopefully, this will be a non issue. I agree that we should focus on our program, but we (Debbie) should also be prepared if/when others make a run at our coach.

  13. Alpha Wolf 04/10/2012 at 9:32 AM #

    I am shocked — SHOCKED, I tell you — that Seth Davis and others like him aren’t pumping up the name of their favorite basketball brainiac as the next coach at KU. After all, the former assistant coming home is a natural.

    In other news, CJ told Mark Armstrong of WTVD that he will make his decision this week. Add to it, Lo said that he’s pretty sure CJ will be back. Both bits came from the banquet and were aired last night at 11pm.

  14. Hawkeye Whitney 04/10/2012 at 10:09 AM #

    It is great to have so many positives in play right now, but I tend towards BJD’s way of thinking. Let’s look for perspective and see what develops. I will be happy right now just feeling like we have a better than even shot of beating our rivals every time we face them. That would be a huge step forward from where we have been. Of course, complete dominance will make me happy beyond words, but let’s see what happens.

  15. rtpack24 04/10/2012 at 10:29 AM #

    BJD has a good point. Yes if Leslie comes back and with our new recruits we will be a lot more talented. Talented players want to play. We will have growing pains next year incorporating the new players. However I do believe barring injuries we could be very good next year and fun to watch!

  16. packalum44 04/10/2012 at 10:35 AM #

    Why do some people cautious others to temper their expectations? The optimists on here don’t tell push their optimism on others. #annoying

    Anyway, sticking to the facts, we should have the best team in the ACC if Leslie returns and even without his return, we still might be the best team. What team would field a better starting 5 than:

    Zo, Purvis, Wood, Painter, Howell.

  17. Pack85EE 04/10/2012 at 12:12 PM #

    A lot of talk about sure things when April is not over. In the words of Mark Twain “the report of my demise is greatly exagerated”. Apply that to Duke and UNC. It has been a very rare year when either places below 3rd in the league.

    If Duke picks up Jefferson and Shabazz M. the will have a monster recruiting class, on paper better than ours.

    So, if all the pack players that stay, improve, and our 3 McD stars pan out, we could be very good. But you still have to play the games.

  18. NCSU84 04/10/2012 at 2:56 PM #

    Could Amile Jefferson be headed our way? Here is what Amile stated,

    “`They are not putting any pressure,’ Jefferson said. `If I do decide to go to NC State, I think it would be a great choice. They are all great guys. Rodney (Purvis) has been my roommate four times this summer and now (in the McDonald’s All-American Game). Building a bond with him has been great. I could definitely see myself playing with T.J. and Tyler are the same; they are all great kids,’ Jefferson continued. `When you could play with people who you like off the court just as much on the court, it always leads to good things.'”

    Yes, good things indeed.

  19. wolfmanmat 04/10/2012 at 6:12 PM #

    Just because State will be good, doesn’t mean UNC and Duke will not. Neither may have teams that dominate the entire country like in the past, but neither is anywhere near a bubble team next year. UNC brings in 4 top 100 recruits and gets Dexter Strickland back. Bullock and McAdoo are both stars in waiting and Hairston will be solid too. Duke could have an extremely nasty recruiting class by picking up 1-2 late guys…almost all of who have Duke on their list. Duke also returns Curry, Dawkins, Kelly and Miles. Duke will be tough again and UNC will too. …. On FSU, they lose alot from a team that won the tournament. Snaer is back, but ain’t much else. Plus, who thinks Leonard Hammy really gets them to compete 2 years in a row. Hasn’t happened yet.

  20. Wolfy__79 04/10/2012 at 8:25 PM #

    fsu: pretty good two years running ++

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_State_Seminoles_men%27s_basketball

    either unc or duke will be in the top three competing for the acc regular season title. i think we will be right there on top of them… i’m cautiously optimistic though.

    so, if duke is in the running for amile then why wasn’t there an official visit??

    http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/67795/amile-jefferson

    i’m just curious is all?

  21. Wolfy__79 04/10/2012 at 8:27 PM #

    conference competition doesn’t equal how our ACC teams will pan out in the tourney, i’ve seen duke hands down have the strongest conference team while unc having the more dominant team come tourney time. the neat thing to me is we appear to be strong in both under MG!

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