Is Pack Basketball Ready for its Closeup?

12-13 Basketball45

This is a question that I, and I’m sure many of you, have been wondering about.  The foundation of the NC State basketball program is no doubt in better shape than it’s been in quite a while, and it seems the Pack is poised to take that next step.

But are some of the preseason prognostications for the ’12-’13 campaign, not to mention the levels of recent national hype, too high too soon?  What about the expectations of the fans?

Si.com’s Seth Davis asks this question in his recent column 10 burning questions as Midnight Madness rings in hoops season….

1. Is N.C. State ready for its closeup?

Since this marks the 30-year anniversary of Jim Valvano’s miraculous dash to the 1983 NCAA championship, I figured this would be an appropriate place to start. The three decades that have passed since then have not been kind to Wolfpack fans. Not only has N.C. State not been back to the Final Four, it has only reached the Sweet Sixteen three times in the last 25 years. Meanwhile, those evil twins down Interstate 40, Duke and North Carolina, have reigned supreme not just over Tobacco Road but all of college basketball.

So you can understand why so many Wolfpack fans are salivating at the prospect of unseating Duke and North Carolina atop the ACC standings — for a season, anyway. N.C. State is the hot pick to win the league this season, and for good reason. Though it was the very last team revealed on the CBS Selection Show last March, N.C. State beat San Diego State and Georgetown to reach the Sweet Sixteen, where it nearly knocked off Kansas before losing by three. When the team’s best player, 6-foot-9 forward C.J. Leslie, announced he would forego the NBA draft to return for his junior season, it set off a wave of excitement. Leslie is one of four returning starters, and the team is also adding one of the most dynamic freshmen in the country in 6-4 Raleigh native Rodney Purvis.

However, a word of warning: Much of this anticipation is predicated on the assumption that Duke and Carolina will have down seasons. The problem is that even though both teams lost significant players (especially North Carolina), they won’t be that far down. That makes you wonder whether expectations have already gotten ahead of reality. So it will be up to Mark Gottfried, N.C. State’s second-year coach, to make sure his guys tune out the noise. “Last year, we were picked ninth [in the ACC] and we really didn’t pay attention to it,” he said. “This year, we’re gonna be picked higher, and we shouldn’t pay attention to that, either. Our guys should enjoy the excitement but not get caught up and drink the Kool Aid.”

Ah, but that Kool Aid is refreshing. And Wolfpack fans are mighty thirsty after their long, hot walk through the desert.

My own feeling is that this team has the pieces to be very successful relative to recent results, including last season.  Whether they’re ready as a program to be included among the nation’s elite is a different question entirely, however.  And I honestly don’t know the answer to that.

I think it would be very interesting to gauge the “barometer” of how fans feel about this, so please do comment below with your impressions and opinions on the matter.

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The SFN Forums have really been hopping lately with interesting and diverse conversations.

About Wufpacker

A 2nd generation alumnus and raised since birth to be irrationally dedicated to all things NC State. Class of '88 and '92.

12-13 Basketball

45 Responses to Is Pack Basketball Ready for its Closeup?

  1. packalum44 10/14/2012 at 9:34 PM #

    Chillywater I love that lineup. A killer offensive lineup there with the shortest player being Purvis at 6’3″ish.

  2. hellfishtat 10/14/2012 at 9:43 PM #

    I am probably in the minority, but I have been more hungry for a ACC championship than a Sweet 16/Elite 8 appearance.

  3. tuckerdorm1983 10/14/2012 at 10:27 PM #

    Time will tell. One thing I know for sure and that is this coaching staff will get the most out of each and every player and the best players will be on the court playing at the right time. With respect to Xs and Os our coaching staff can coach the pants off anybody in the conference and can go head to head with anyone in the NCAA. I will give my respect to K but they could hire a yellow dog over there at Chapel Hill and that dog could do as good as Ole Roy.

  4. JEOH2 10/14/2012 at 10:42 PM #

    I hesitate to put out any serious expectations of what we should do in the NCAA tourny…that thing is so random with the seeding and is often predicated on match-ups…who knows who we’d meet during the first round (second round?) and how their roster lines up with ours…

    Lets not forget a few factors to be considered, despite our history of failing to meet expectations:

    1) This team has already played 4 games together…they should avoid starting off slow because they’ve already played within the offense as a team in real games (sans Purvis of course)

    2) 2 years ago these guys already faced heightened expectations. A highly ranked recruiting class combined with solid/talented veteran returners (sound familiar?)…granted we weren’t picked to win the ACC, but we were supposed to be in the top 6 at least. Of course that team fell apart, so it isn’t like they’ve not faced at least a little of this attention before. Difference is now our star recruits don’t have to be saviors and our vets are high character guys with good chemistry who now know what it takes to win…

    3) Our depth is arguably better than last year. We lost a lot of experience off the bench, but increased our talent and will definitely increase our rotation to at least 8 (MG historically prefers shorter rotations, so if we move to 9 that just means Vandy and TDT have improved by leaps and bounds which is a plus)

    4) Motivation? Sure the target may be on our back…but we lost 3 games to UNC, the last one in very controversial fashion, we embarrassingly fell apart at Cameron against Duke, we played horribly against FSU at home in the infamous Hess/Corch/Gugs game, lost a winnable game to an average Stanford team,..anyone don’t believe these guys want revenge this year?

    Pair these with a down ACC, a tough but manageable schedule, good proven staff, no clear national favorite…and man its hard to let that familiar mistress Pessimism creep in…

  5. fullmoon1 10/15/2012 at 12:34 AM #

    I suspect the success of the season will depend on 2 things. The first is how will this team handle adversity in the way of foul trouble. The second is the ability of the subs to come in- give starters a breather and keep the momentum going and score.

  6. nav 10/15/2012 at 7:40 AM #

    We will have a BIG X on our back in the ACC. You know the other teams, especially the Big 4, would love to knock us down several notches and scream over-rated…which me may be at this point.

    SI’s number 3 in the country is awful high. Nice to see but awful high.

  7. WolfBreed 10/15/2012 at 7:58 AM #

    “we embarrassingly fell apart at Cameron against Duke”

    No. Swoff’s Refs ‘jobbed’ us. That was the most blatantly biased officiating “Rig job” I have ever seen in the ~15 years I’ve watched ACC basketball. I don’t see how any ‘Pack fan can EVER forget that’s what it was, and let that one go.

    And while I’m, of course, more interested to see how the Wolfpack plays this year…one of the most interesting things I want to see is how the ACC officiating goes this year. Will it be the same pro-blew bias we’ve had to endure the past 15-20+ years? Or will last year’s blatant episodes have Swoffy “pull it back” and officiate it more fairly.

  8. HPWolf 10/15/2012 at 8:15 AM #

    I agree Wolfbreed. The game at Duke was stolen from us. Coach K rode the refs all the way to the locker room and in the second half they were wearing Dark Blue.
    There is a big difference in this years team and last years at the beginning of the season. This years team expects to win and win a lot. I expect we will be damn good this year. The players know the system. They know it works and our bench is much deeper. If Howell can stay out of foul trouble and TJ Warren is the automatic 10 or 12 points a game he has always been we will be a tough team to beat.

  9. packbackr04 10/15/2012 at 8:38 AM #

    this will be an up and down year. we will lose a few head scratchers, but i also expect to win at least 1 game against a blue team. i am hoping for a top 3 ACC finish.

    One other thing no one else has mentioned… and i am a bit surprised is that this team can only go as far as Swofford and Karl Hess will allow. Dont forget the absolute flogging we got from the refs in Durham last yr. Not to mention Corch and Goog’s treatment by Hess. If(when) it happens again this yr Debbie might have to make a public statement about it.

  10. packbackr04 10/15/2012 at 8:39 AM #

    i fully expect to lose 1 ACC game because of absolutely negligent/biased officiating.

  11. Prowling Woofie 10/15/2012 at 8:44 AM #

    I know this team can score. Returning talent alone has plenty of options for getting the ball in the basket. Should definitely free the freshmen up to grow into the system/rotation without feeling as though they have to ‘carry’ the team offensively.

    I want to see some lock-down defense out of this crew. Can we shut down the opposition ? UNX is going to be a dynamic perimeter team, with some athletic bigs, so we need to be able to deny the ball and close out fast on the wings without giving up cheap/frequent fouls. Howell will abuse MacAdoofus inside, unless the refs decide he shouldn’t.

    FSU and Miami will be the wildcards. I really expect Miami to be the tougher of the two. Duke will not be a threat at the top of the conference this year. I really think it’s between us and UNX for the ACC titles.

    I’m with hellfishtat – we need an ACC banner (or two) in the rafters after this season. Anything from the NCAAs will be gravy, but we need to re-establish relevance in the conference THIS YEAR.

  12. choppack1 10/15/2012 at 9:34 AM #

    A lot can happen between now and March.

    The pieces are definitely in place for us to have a special year. However, in athletics, there’s always a fine line between meeting expectations and missing them.

    Last year, UNC was the ovewhelming favorite to win it all. They started somewhat slow, then injuries kept them from having a special season.

    So I guess my point is that all you can do is look at the talent and coaching. Talent-wise, we’re in as good shape as we’ve been since V was on the sidelines. The same can probably be said for coaching as well.

    Here are some things I’ll looking for though on the coaching side of the equation:
    * Better execution in end-game situations. I only recall one game – St. Bonaventure – where we successfully executed a play in the last 30 seconds to win or tie a game. Our second best “look” was probably the Scott Wood shot from the key vs. Kansas in the NCAA tourney game.
    * Overall conditioning: Last year, the team was in excellent shape. While we didn’t have a lot of depth, our guys never really looked gassed. I can’t say that I was impressed with how our guys looked shooting 3s or in the scrimmage.

  13. JSRy2k 10/15/2012 at 9:37 AM #

    Not worried about coaches’ ability to handle it.

    Player-wise, returning 2 Sr and 2 Jr starters is a big plus. The attitude adjustment of Leslie last year also suggests Gott is effective in getting his message through to the players.

    The difference between being an Elite 8 team vs. a true national championship contender – assuming we do compete for an ACC championship – is the contribution of de Thaey and/or Vandenberg. We need an extra, reliable body in the paint.

  14. choppack1 10/15/2012 at 10:23 AM #

    JsRKy2 – I think de Thaey will surprise folks this year. He has a nose for the ball – and has better skills than any big man on the team. He should do really well in this high post offense. I think he’s going to play a key role for this year and play it well.

    Also, I think TJ will give us some options we haven’t had in the past.

  15. newt 10/15/2012 at 10:27 AM #

    I think we look like 4th or so in the conference and a Sweet 16. I don’t get the top-ten and win the conference projections.

    That is NOT to say we can’t be #1 and shouldn’t have that goal. Just talking about projections/expectations.

    Here are some weaknesses:

    Scoring depth inside
    Rebounding
    Can Howell play without fouling out?
    Will Scott Wood go cold like he did last year?
    Defense – especially against the three

  16. choppack1 10/15/2012 at 10:40 AM #

    Newt – just curious as to why you are worried about rebounding.

    We were a much better rebounding team last year than we were under Lowe. Defensive Rebounding is one of the correctable weaknesses in basketball.

    We lose only Painter up front – and I think de Thaey will rebound just as well as he did. If Vandenberg is healthy, he’ll help as well. Translation: We should be a slightly better rebounding team than we were last year, when it wasn’t really a weakness.

  17. MP 10/15/2012 at 12:26 PM #

    It worries me to hear choppack1 say:

    “I can’t say that I was impressed with how our guys looked shooting 3s or in the scrimmage.”

    Does anyone else have insight on this team’s conditioning to date?

  18. Classof89 10/15/2012 at 1:00 PM #

    Key to season in my eyes is how they cope with the scrutiny of national attention. How well Gottfried prevents the stars on the team from “pulling an Amerson” (i.e. getting so involved in reading their press clippings that you fail to do the things that got you the good press originally). The mistake the Pack fanbase has made so many times over the last 30 years is to assume that everyone that is coming back will play at the same or greater level as last year. And that NEVER happens…people get hurt, they have family or personal issues that interfere with their ability to bring it every night. Our guys, unlike the programs at Duke and UNC, have no experience in the elite level of college basketball. They don’t know what it’s like to have underdog programs up and gunning for you every night. There are going to be those cold Tuesday night games in January and February where we think we’re too good to lose to somebody (BC, Wake, etc.) and we’ll get our ass handed to us. Hardest thing for elite teams is learning to play at that elite level night after night. Gottfried’s success at instilling that will be the difference between merely a good season (top 4 ACC finish, another Sweet 16) and a truly special season.

    And I’m with the commenter who said an ACC Championship would be more special than a deep non-championship NCAA run. I agree 100%. It absolutely eats at me that we haven’t won the ACC since I was a sophomore at State (1987).

  19. backnine 10/15/2012 at 7:46 PM #

    We have the raw materials to be good. Yes, there are questions and things to overcome. But unlike over the last 20 years, we appear to have a coach AND staff that know how to teach and motivate. That might be our best attribute. Look at the development that occurred last season. It took the whole season but by March we were a tough out. The biggest threat is ensuring these kids haven’t become punch drunk on their own press clippings. Gott has to keep them focused and hungry. Do that and I think this can be a special team.

  20. PoppaJohn 10/16/2012 at 1:47 AM #

    Injuries – no one mentioned injuries. We will have some, most teams do each season. How we work around them will be A big key to how far we go. Our depth will be key.
    TDT – not sure why we have such expectations for him, he hasn’t showed anything yet. Hope is good, but let’s see something.
    JV – He’s been away from the game a whole season, it will be a while before he really contributes, if he does.

    This will be the first Wolfpack team in a long time that can win EVERY GAME THEY PLAY. I love it! Can’t wait to see what Gotta & staff can do with them.

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