WRAL Sports Fan

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N.C. State Expects Turnaround This Year

By J. Mike Blake

Oct 22, 2007

Greensboro, N.C. — For the greater part of last season, N.C. State played like a team predicted to finish dead last in the ACC. But down the stretch, it notched upset wins over the likes of North Carolina and Virginia Tech and made impressive runs in the ACC and NIT tournaments.

Sidney Lowe’s team managed to win 20 games, even though just five of those came in the regular season against ACC teams.

“If we can execute the way we did last year with that team and win some big games with that team last year and execute as good or better with the team we have this year, then we should be better,” said Lowe.

That kind of thinking and the glimpses that his team showed during that run are what led to the Wolfpack being picked third in the ACC this year.

“It’s good to see we have that respect,” forward Ben McCauley said. “It’s one thing to be picked high – it’s another to actually be a top team.”

With added depth and four returning starters – including standout Brandon Costner – the expectations for this State squad are worlds apart from last year.

“We’re going into this season with the mindset that anything other than a NCAA Tournament is going to be a disappointment,” McCauley said. “Whereas last year, if we got the NCAA with 6-7 guys, that would have been a bonus. We have high expectations but we know we have to meet those.”

The talent was supplemented by the additions of transfers Marques Johnson and Farnold Degand and freshmen J.J. Hickson and Tracy Smith. Those players should provide State a much deeper bench than last year – another reason to expect better results in Raleigh.

“We won five conference games last year, but I think a lot of games that we could’ve won we ran out of gas,” senior Gavin Grant said. “We were young and immature at times last year … we only had six real players that were playing the bulk of the minutes. … Our fatigue took a toll on us.”

The only senior with starting experience, Grant said the talent level on this year’s edition of the Pack was the best he had seen. Grant was a freshman the last time State went to the Round of Sixteen back in 2005.

“This is the best team I’ve ever played on since I’ve been at N.C. State,” Grant said. “I feel we’re a big-time team and a big-time program.”

Other teams might feel the same way as Grant, and the Pack must now adjust to being the favored.

“I kind of liked being the underdog last year. If we won a big game it’s, ‘Wow,’” McCauley said. “Whereas this year if we lose a big game it’s, ‘What’s going on?”

Several players talked about “finding their identity” during the season last year, and having things click. There won’t have to be the same sort of learning curve for this season.

Courtney Fells, Costner and McCauley went from combining for 6.9 points per game in 2005-06, to 42.1 last year. The team is more familiar with who can bring what to the table.

“We didn’t know who would be filling it up for us, who our defensive stopper was,” Grant said. “We didn’t know how good Ben and Brandon would be, or Courtney as well.”

Unlike going into last year, Lowe knows what he has on his roster – and it’s more than a season ago. And he has more competition on that roster for playing time that wasn’t often divvied up last year.

“I do feel comfortable that we have good players coming off the bench. I’ve told our guys already that I’m not going to dictate your playing time – you’re going to playing time,” Lowe said.

“When you have enough talent that you can go to your bench, I think that’s the best thing for those guys because they know if they come out of the game they might not go in for awhile.”

Last year, the questions surrounded the team’s talent. Now the main questions concern who the point guard will be and whether he will be good enough to lead the team to a Sweet Sixteen.

It’s been quite a turnaround in hype surrounding a program that moved up nine spots in the preseason poll from a year ago. And given what’s returning and what’s coming in, the players feel they have earned it.

“We deserve [high expectations] because of what we went through last year and what we bring back,” McCauley said.