Katz Blogs Lowe/Pack

General Media NCS Basketball Sidney Lowe21

If you have a premium subscription at ESPN then you can access Andy Katz’s blog today that focuses on NC State and Sidney Lowe – NC State makes peace.

There wasn’t too much there. Just a little more behind the scenes of the recent release of Larry Davis from his letter of intent and some detail about NC State’s recent interaction with Seton Hall. It looks like Coach Lowe is looking to just move forward and put the whole Seton Hall situation behind us without ruffling too many feathers in college basketball.

Initially, there were feelings among some at NC State that Davis’ commitment to Seton Hall came too quickly after he was granted a release to explore his options — the first step in granting a full release. Regarding Davis’ quick commitment, the Pirates saw it go down rather simply: Sendek left NC State and then Davis’ good friend Eugene Harvey committed to play for Gonzalez. That’s it, according to Seton Hall.

Lowe and Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez talked and it was determined by both coaches that there was no inappropriate contact.

“Seton Hall never tampered,” Lowe said. “No one here is going to the NCAA with that. I want to dismiss that. By no means is any of that true.”

We highlighted some of what was going on with Gonzalez/Seton Hall in this previous SFN entry.

3. Seton Hall’s ruse: The worst secret in college basketball is that new Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez will complete his staff with former St. John’s assistant Dermon Player. Why hasn’t Gonzalez gone ahead and hired Player? Because he needs Player to stay with his AAU program, the Metro Hawks, as long as possible. Some of the best players in the area are playing for the Hawks, which means unlimited access for a future Seton Hall assistant. Is this legal? Sure it is. Should it be legal? Of course not.

Katz’s entry also re-confirms that NC State and Seton Hall will play next season in the Meadowlands. That means that State’s potential out of conference schedule could include games with Seton Hall, Michigan, Alabama, West Virginia, Gardner Webb, UNC-Wilmington and Delaware State, amongst others. (We blogged last night that it currently doesn’t look like UNO is included on this year’s schedule at this time)

General Media NCS Basketball Sidney Lowe

21 Responses to Katz Blogs Lowe/Pack

  1. bTHEredterror 06/21/2006 at 8:13 PM #

    I apologize and retract earlier comments about Seton Hall not acting above board with this situation.

  2. StateFans 06/22/2006 at 5:47 AM #

    ^Why?

    We don’t.

    Coach Lowe is taking the uber high road and is being very smart about not ruffling any feathers in the coaching fraternity.

    That doesn’t mean that Seton Hall acted above board in the situation or that we, as fans, can’t call a spade a spade.

  3. choppack1 06/22/2006 at 8:51 AM #

    I was about to say – Seton Hall didn’t do anything to merit forgiveness. Hopefully, we’ll show Davis he made a horrible decision.

  4. Pack92 06/22/2006 at 8:53 AM #

    Amen SFN. In the vacuum of leadership that existed at NCSU Gonzalez took his shot. He hit his target and got his overrated player. Now let’s hope we hit them in the mouth on the court. There are NO ethical considerations there.

  5. Wulfpack 06/22/2006 at 9:29 AM #

    “Lowe and Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez talked and it was determined by both coaches that there was no inappropriate contact.

    “Seton Hall never tampered,� Lowe said. “No one here is going to the NCAA with that. I want to dismiss that. By no means is any of that true.�

    Am I missing something here?

  6. primacyone 06/22/2006 at 9:53 AM #

    Be interesting to see if Larry Davis last four years at Seton Hall. I think his baggage will get the best of him. I thankful he did not come here.

  7. choppack1 06/22/2006 at 10:05 AM #

    It could be that the LOI isn’t an NCAA thing, but something like the CCA thing. The Winston Paper had an interesting tidbit on it this morning. If that’s the case, them contacting Davis during a period where it’s legal to contact him, wouldn’t be an NCAA violation.

  8. Jeremy Hyatt 06/22/2006 at 11:36 AM #

    high road… move on.. best of luck Larry…wow Coach Lowe has a lot of flexibility in his 07 class, could play to his benefit, indeed.

  9. redfred2 06/22/2006 at 11:54 AM #

    As I’ve already stated many times before, Lowe’s hands were tied in this Davis/Seton Hall situation. It didn’t matter if Seton Hall had stepped over the line, or when, or how many times, or not, the only way to prove it before the NCAA would be to bring out all of the facts of Fowler’s premature concessions to Davis, which in turn further makes Lowe’s new boss look like even more of moron. I’m sure Sidney wouldn’t want to do that for his own sake and the sake of the school. I’m pretty certain that others have formally advised him against that also.

    It’s just time to sweep that mishandled debacle under the rug and wisely move on without giving the media any further fodder to beat the university over the head with.

  10. StateFans 06/22/2006 at 2:27 PM #

    Related from Winston-Salem-Journal:

    “Sidney could have hard-balled them. He could have decided not to give them their releases, and at that point they would have had to go to prep school or lose a year of eligibility. You hope they will decide to come and then wind up liking it more than they thought they would. But you also run the risk of having unhappy players who create problems. So I think Sidney just decided it was best for everyone to not fight it.”

  11. redfred2 06/22/2006 at 2:41 PM #

    ^StateFans

    That the W-S Journal’s opinion. I seriously doubt that hard-balling was ever an option at this point, and for all the reasons I stated before. Who are going to believe, me, or well-paid sports journalists who do this sort of thing for a living?

  12. primacyone 06/22/2006 at 4:08 PM #

    “I don’t know, I guess we will try to play faster”

    Roy Williams quote when asked by a reporter yesterday what he will do different this year.

    Articles at N&O and WRAL.

  13. Big Daddy Wolf 06/22/2006 at 10:12 PM #

    Good for Coach Lowe. ADs like Willis Casey and Valvano were such class acts and well liked through out the college community. Why ruffle feathers. State has had such a great reputation throughout the years in scheduling and workabilty. Unlike UNC and the Dean that turned its back on area small colleges and the UNC Graduate Kastabo Board allowed them to do. Glad to see some class come back into what State does, after scum bags like Todd Turner ruined our good will and great name. Good move Coach Lowe!

  14. ncsu96 06/22/2006 at 10:29 PM #

    Gonzalez should have advised Davis to speak to Coach Lowe before making commitment.
    If he did and Davis ignored him then fine but if not he’s an asshole and hope Sid takes it to the Pirates in a big way.

  15. Jeff 06/23/2006 at 8:03 AM #

    Gonzalez is an asshole. Personally, I think that he is a really good coach (and a few years ago had him relatively high on my “Tier B” of candidates for our job)…but he is known to be quite a jerk.

  16. vtpackfan 06/23/2006 at 9:29 AM #

    If Fowler made concessions with Davis while at the same time granting him a conditional limited release then he truly is utterly hopeless at conducting his current job as AD. Even if he hadn’t given Davis/Seton Hall some discrete information that differes from the public announcement, then the blame would fall squarely on Davis and not on Seton Hall. All he needed to do was meet with Lowe in person like Werner and the rest would be history. It’s only taking the “high road” if Foulup had the map and was giving directions in the first place and is too confused to make that clear to everyone. Otherwise, if we did things according to how they have been officially reported then I am a little concerned. I understand it’s a Herb thing leftover, but are we going to take all LOI seriously in the future, or case by case considering if the recruit is an arrogant kid or not.

  17. redfred2 06/23/2006 at 10:29 AM #

    Where’s the soap box, I feel one coming on.

    “ruined our good will and great name.”

    I can see where Wolfpack athletic programs have been ruined from the inside, in the name of guilt-riden and unreciprocated fair play, but I fail to see where the university’s great name has been harmed in anyone’s eyes except for NC State folks themselves.

    “Why ruffle feathers.”

    It’s more than time to ruffle a feather or two when necessary and nothing was ever done in Raleigh to make anyone feel so damn guilty about it to begin with. It’s time to show the world some backbone, move on from this self imposed guilt trip while playing by the same rules that everyone else uses so eagerly to gain advantage, and claim what it is rightfully ours whenever it is warranted.

    Walking around with tails between your legs like a bunch of whipped pups all of the time, over absolutely NOTHING, will get you nothing but treated like a bunch of whipped puppies. Sports media folks have been honed in and making a good living off of NC State’s unnecessary and self-imposed guilt for way too many years already.

    By the way, former AD Todd Turner said in an interview that he was more worried about the “institutional fit” than he was about any proven coaching ability when he made a particular coaching hire in Raleigh about ten years ago. It seems that dreaded word “fit” popped up everywhere on this site just few months back. Not that either of Fowler’s, and seemingly everyone’s on this blog, first two choices even came close, but I’m glad that silly criteria was forced onto the back burner this time around. It may have been a struggle, but it is already apparent that Sidney Lowe is a better “fit” for NC State integrity wise, than R Barnes or J Calipari could ever have claimed to be.

  18. Jeremy Hyatt 06/23/2006 at 12:42 PM #

    redfred – enjoyed your slant on ruffling of feathers. and what was the post-Valvano strategy to getting the media to love us again?and why has all the media jumped on the “ran the coach out of town” bandwagon for having high expectations; is it because they have fiscal incentive to be a pro-UNC, pro-Duke sheep. what needs to be done to flip the script?

  19. redfred2 06/23/2006 at 1:47 PM #

    JemeryH- Well, I would say just to start, a few well timed and not so apologetic sounding words coming out of Raleigh on occasion. Just every once in a while, and maybe BEFORE the dung heap gets piled so high that no one will ever be able to see over it.

    The Valvano thing was a big todo over nothing. It has been proven, but the administration acted as if the school had let the whole world down and has allowed itself to be brow beaten ever since. That’s distant history, nothing we can do about that now. The fact that some people still feel so unworthy to take a stand nowdays, like every other university is entitled to do, because of the nothing that happened so long ago, is ridiculous.

    It seems to me the word “class” is defined by many Wolfpack backers as; dull and lifeless, roll over and die, give in at the very first sign of any struggle, and do not stand up to anyone, no matter how wrong they are or have been, at any cost.

    Several cases in point have happened just recently.

  20. redfred2 06/23/2006 at 1:57 PM #

    vtpackfan

    Thats just it, what the hell is a national LOI worth nowdays?

    NC State is at the forefront of making that traditional and worthwhile document a meaningless waste of time.

    I do not understand the reasoning?

  21. redfred2 06/23/2006 at 2:45 PM #

    Let’s say you’re seventeen, you made a binding national commitment to a certain university, but a man with a big gray moustache representing the university that you made it to, says that you are free, all you have to do is come by one afternoon and meet the new coach. After a month or so of being courted, shown around the campus and gotten familiar athletic facilities, maybe even met a likable future teammate or two, smoozed by whoever and whatever school is interested, what do you think the kid would decide?

    I know what he’d say, “Let me run down and meet this guy like I promised (or not). You’re right Coach, I’ve been reading the papers and seen the stuff Mr Moustache hasn’t been doing. They can’t have any sense or really want me too bad down there if they let me go out this early and talk to you well before they ever had to. I’ll be back shortly.”

    How long is this going to take? “Hello Coach Lowe, it was nice to meet you. Now when is my flight back out of this crazy place. National LOI, what a joke. That was a piece of cake.”

Leave a Reply