Rivals: Lowe has the talent needed

10-11 Basketball Sidney Lowe16

It’s the middle of the week and all of this anticipation for the Wolfpack’s game at Georgia Tech on Saturday is not easy to handle.  It’s been a LONG time since were 3-0…and it is fun to see people enjoying it and have campus buzzing.

With this said, it is a perfect day to turn a little attention towards the basketball side of the ledger!  We recently posted an entry detailing and discussing the NC State’s 2010-2011 Basketball schedule that can be viewed by clicking here.  Today, Rivals.com takes a very detailed look at the Wolpack’s roster heading into the season and focuses on Coach Lowe’s need to get his squad into the Big Dance this season – everyone agrees that the talent exists to make it happen.

More from the article:

The comparison is too obvious to ignore.

After Georgia Tech finished in the ACC basement in 2008-09, the emergence of the nation’s fourth-ranked recruiting class helped the Yellow Jackets advance to the second round of last season’s NCAA tournament.

So now that the fifth-ranked recruiting class from 2010 has arrived on North Carolina State’s campus, could the Wolfpack end the ACC’s longest NCAA tournament drought?

"They definitely made a big impact on Georgia Tech’s team last year," North Carolina State senior forward Tracy Smithsaid. "They were at the bottom of the ACC and went to the tournament the next year. Freshmen can have a lot to do with it, especially good freshmen.

"We’ve got three good freshmen. I think it’s going to be the same as [it was] with Georgia Tech."

Smith has plenty of cause for optimism.

As a team that went 20-16 and reached the NIT last season, North Carolina State isn’t nearly as far down the ACC pecking order as Georgia Tech was before its revival. The Wolfpack’s 2010 recruiting haul is almost as highly touted as the Georgia Tech 2009 class that featured NBA lottery pick Derrick Favors.

"There’s no question about it," Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe said. "You look at teams that bring in top freshman players who can get it done – you can do it, but you still have to do it. You have to play better and get the job done. You still have to go out and do it.

"Just because you have a good class doesn’t mean you’re going to make a jump. Those guys have to be taught and have to go out and do it."

Lowe’s future at North Carolina State could depend on whether the Wolfpack make a Georgia Tech-style leap this season.

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10-11 Basketball Sidney Lowe

16 Responses to Rivals: Lowe has the talent needed

  1. Plz2BStateFan 09/22/2010 at 1:54 PM #

    Besides the NCAA championships, has there been a better 6 month period in NC State history then what we are seeing from April-Sep?!?

  2. coach13 09/22/2010 at 2:20 PM #

    Yep…it is scarey. New Chancelor, new AD, Awesome BB recruiting class, Football emerging….it has been a looooooooooong time waiting.

    Even if football doesn’t pan out exactly like we hope, although I am very optimistic, optimism is running rampant and for sure, the one thing we wanted to be which is hsappening, is to be part of a/the/any conversation.

  3. GoldenChain 09/22/2010 at 2:33 PM #

    “Even if football doesn’t pan out exactly like we hope….”

    ?!?
    I had hoped we would be .500 for the season. Half way there with 9 to play. Problem is when we have a little success expectations jump.

    Same with basketball. We FINALLY get ONE good recruiting class and somehow we are supposed to be competitive with two coaches, one w/4 NCs and the other w/2.
    Of course we do have increased expectations for hoops.
    My only worry is that SFN members go from one extreme to the other, small expectations to crazy expectations.

  4. baxter 09/22/2010 at 2:59 PM #

    I think the jump in expectations is that several questions have started to be answered about teams that had big question marks before the year started. What is the impact of Jimbo Fisher/Mark Stoops, how does Tenuta affect our defense, what happens to a Clemson team without Ford and Spiller, UNCs Defense, GT post Dwyer/Thomas/Morgan and the 3-4, VT losing 7 Starters on D, Miami and Harris, etc. The ACC preseason looks dramatically different from the current state of each division. So while we need to wait till the next two games pass before getting truly amped, we are poised for far more success than originally predicted.

  5. wolfpackfan09 09/22/2010 at 3:19 PM #

    yeah i agree, you would have to be crazy to not be excited by this success but we need to wait a little longer to really get excited. If we beat GT and VT, I think we will be contenders for the Atlantic for sure with our competition coming from FSU and Clemson. This could be a special year but until we start ACC play, i have to contain my excitement.

  6. Prowling Woofie 09/22/2010 at 3:20 PM #

    I’m just keeping the faith that with all the hot prospects enrolling at Word of God, and Quent Jackson taking over as Head Coach there, that Sid & Crew are being very above-board in their recruiting.

    It’s nice to have a ‘pipeline’ established, like we used to have with DeMatha, but we certainly don’t need any speculation that there is anything going on in our program that is remotely similar to the funk in Chapel Hole.

  7. old13 09/22/2010 at 4:00 PM #

    coach13, I think you’ve got things listed in the right order of priority in that the first two were the most needed and everything else will flow from them. Come to think of it, that first one goes back to over a year ago when Dr. Woodward came in!

    I like the idea of playing Wisconsin and Syracuse on the road back-to-back. Seems like a good way to get ready for ACC road games – especially for the freshmen.

  8. 61Packer 09/22/2010 at 4:08 PM #

    The biggest reason NC State basketball was been mired in possibly its worst funk ever for the past 4 seasons was poor coaching. I sat in the Arena and watched the endless parade of repeated mistakes, inconsistent play, a general lack of floor discipline, and a lack of team defense for the past 4 seasons. The two losses last season, BAD losses, to one of the worst UNC teams I’ve EVER seen were inexcusable.

    I’m as excited as any of you about the incoming freshmen class, but let’s don’t set the bar too high for these guys just yet. I really hope our coaches have learned something by now and can get these new players to mesh with the veterans into a TEAM of unselfish, fudamentally sound players. If that happens and most of these freshman eventually become seniors, our future may be bright.

  9. jaybird80 09/22/2010 at 5:23 PM #

    I think this basketball season comes down to this:
    Sidney Lowe the Recruiter: Job well done!
    Sidney Lowe the Coach: Let’s see what you can do with a full arsenal.

  10. Wulfpack 09/22/2010 at 5:44 PM #

    Tech won on talent alone last year — I didn’t see a whole lot of coaching going on. Hell, they could hardly get the ball inbounds against our press. Hewitt and Lowe are showing they can land highly rated players. Problem is, they’ve yet to prove they can coach them when they get on campus. Hewitt obviosuly has a larger body of work on which to base that conclusion. This year will certainly tell a lot about Lowe’s abilities.

  11. tractor57 09/22/2010 at 7:24 PM #

    as Jimmy V would say – win and advance.

    Time to execute.

  12. tuckerdorm1983 09/22/2010 at 7:29 PM #

    I am keeping one foot firmly planted on the ground at all times

  13. PackCoT07 09/22/2010 at 8:01 PM #

    What jabird said. Either way im pretty excited!!

  14. NCcoastalwolf 09/22/2010 at 11:10 PM #

    wulfpack, Lowe hasn’t had talent to coach until now, with the exception of Hickson. Hewitt has proven that even with a loaded roster he can’t get anything done.

    61packer no one can coach the guards we have had the past four years anywhere. They are not that good. Yes even YAVI is not that good!

    We have scorers at all 5 positions for the first time in as far back as I can remember. We should not be subjected to the long scoreless stretches and players with the inability to create their own shot or get someone else a shot. Yavi and cj williams will do fine coming off the bench. As they should.

  15. baxter 09/22/2010 at 11:24 PM #

    I think people need to realize we are in an era now where talent gets you further than coaching ability does. See high tempo, fast break offenses. See Calipari. Crappy X&O’s with enormous talent.

  16. bradleyb123 09/23/2010 at 9:12 AM #

    Bad players can make a good coach look bad. And vice versa. I don’t know where Sidney is, but if he continues pulling players like this, I can live with him not necessarily being the second coming of John Wooden.

    Let’s see what happens before judging. One thing we do know is we haven’t had great talent and depth. And we knew Sid would be getting on-the-job training when we hired him. I believe he’s learning. All I know is I haven’t been this excited about NC State basketball since probably the late 80’s.

    GO PACK!!! GIT ‘R DONE!!!

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