GarageGabs

I made it out to the RBC tonight to check out NC State’s 1st official basketball game under new coach Sidney Lowe. Turned out to be quite a game as the Pack had to come back to beat Wofford 92-88.

I took some video with my digital camera and compiled a quick game montage from it. Sorry about the quality, camcorders are not allowed. I got a good bit of game action, including back to back buckets by Gavin Grant to give the Pack a late lead and a critical block by Courtney Fells that helped seal the victory. I also tried to get a lot of the “college atmosphere”, as there is no experience like attending a college game. The bands, chants, cheerleaders, fans, all make for a unique experience.

Game Recap from PackPride

Boxscore

If you want my own analysis of the Wolfpack, click read more-

Before one can truly understand the situation with North Carolina State basketball, you need to know a bit of history. I’ll be as brief as possible. Big time southern basketball was born at NC State. Everett Case led the Pack to six straight southern conference titles, four ACC crowns, and seven Dixie Classics. “Tobacco Road” was born in Raleigh, under Case. Not long after Case, Norm Sloan came along. Sloan’s 1974 Wolfpack won a National Title, led by one of the all time college greats, David Thompson (as well as others, but I’m trying to be brief). Not long after, Jim Valvano came to town. Valvano led the ‘83 Wolfpack to a magical National Title as well. Valvano’s teams continued to have pretty good success after 1983, making 2 Elite 8’s, and winning an ACC tournament championship, as well as an ACC regular season championship.

Now, things get tricky. Valvano ended up “stepping down” in the midst of point shaving allegations. I’m not going into details here (most State fans feel Valvano did nothing wrong, and the University was wrongly put on probation). So, with the Pack facing probation, they went to a really nice guy named Les Robinson as coach. Well, like I said, Robinson was a nice enough guy, but the Pack fell into the bottom of the ACC during his tenure.

In 1996 the Pack hired Herb Sendek. When Herb was hired the Pack had 10 ACC Titles, and 2 National Titles. When Herb(in April of 2006) left, the Pack had 10 ACC Titles, and 2 National Titles. That’s about all I know to say about that without picking a side of the fence. Let’s just say half the fanbase wanted to kill Sendek and the other half was “chopping wood” and “building relationships”. (Inside Joke)

Keep in mind, we play down the street from Duke and UNC. We’ve won 2 National Titles. We play in the ACC. There are expectations.

Anyway, enter Sidney Lowe. Remember the ‘83 Championship that Valvano won? Well, Sidney Lowe was the point gaurd of that team. Ahhh, nothing like some old glory to rekindle the flame of a fanbase. Problem was, as soon as Sendek left, recruits and current players started heading for greener pastures. Gone was Sophmore big man Cedrick Simmons (for the NBA). Two recruits for this season said no thanks, as well as a stud PG recruit for 2007. Another of the Pack’s big men decided to focus on baseball rather than basketball. Lowe was left with only a couple of players with game experience, a couple of recruits, and a handful of guys that had seen limited action.

That brings me to tonights game. Honestly, I didnt’ expect much, so it wasn’t hard for me to be impressed. The main thing that impressed me was the feeling in the building. Yeah, there was only about 9,500 people in the building, but folks were excited! You can bet if a Herb Sendek team had fallen behind vs. Wofford the entire building would be grumbling. Not tonight. The crowd was constantly behind the team, even when they got down. Coach Lowe is bringing in a style of basketball that is exciting, win or lose.

Now to the particulars.

The Pack’s starting lineup isn’t too bad. Atsur, Grant, Fells, Costner, and McCauley, all looked pretty good. Atsur played a great game tonight, he is going to be critical to the success of this team. He’ll need to run the point, minimize turnovers, and knock down 3’s in order for the Pack to be competitive. That is what he did tonight.

Grant is the star of the bunch. He does just about everything, but his main role is scoring. He looked good tonight, had some nice finishes, and has a nice mid-range touch. Also, does quite a bit of ball handling. His defense still needs some work, and I didn’t see him take many peremiter shots. I would imagine Grant averages 15+ points per game this year.

Fells has so much potential. I believe he is the X-factor. He played well in spurts tonight. The guy is athletic as hell. He can finish. He’s long, he gets a lot of steals, and a lot of boards for a wing player. He still doesn’t seem to have found his stroke from deep. He hustles, and plays hard on defense. Fells had an absolutely HUGE block late in the game tonight.

I was unimpressed with Costner early, but super impressed with him late. He plays with a lot of emotion, which seems to raise and lower his game, depending on what’s happening. He came up huge down the stretch. Kid can bang, and has a good stroke from 3, he’s just a bit inconsistent right now. Gonna need big minutes from him this year.

McCauley was incredible tonight. I’m not sure if he can play like this vs. ACC bigs, but if he can, the Pack has a chance to do well. He’s got all kinds of up and under moves around the basket. Excellent footwork. I believe he can score in the ACC. He doesn’t seem to be a big rebounder or shotblocker. Also, his free throws were a bit off tonight. Overall, I LOVE the guy, he’s a hard worker, and is being asked to do a LOT. He looked like he was tired towards the end of the game tonight, we gotta find someone who can spell him.

I believe only 2 other players played tonight. Dennis Horner and Brian Nieman. Horner hit 5 free throws, and a basket as well. Loooked pretty good, maybe a step slow. Nieman, I didn’t see enough to evaluate.

Overall, the team played pretty well, given the circumstances. We never got out of man to man on defense. Wofford was killing us with the 3 in the first half, but we seemed to adjust in the 2nd. Rebounding definately needs work, but that is to be expected. The team can get out on the break and has a lot of finishers. I think our starters are pretty good and only going to get better. I also believe a bench will develop, we’ll be getting another guy later this year. I’m gonna be optimistic and say this team can go .500 overall this year, and win 6-8 ACC games. I really believe the starters are good enough to do that. I know it was just Wofford, but 92 points, is 92 points.