Charlotte Observer Hints Hickson Going Pro

07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball Sidney Lowe84

Here’s the full article. Key excerpt:

“Coach is a great man,” Hickson said. “When I came to this program, it was more like he cared about J.J. as the person rather than J.J. the basketball player. I think he does have my best interests at heart. If me and my family feel like it’s comfortable and I should go to a team that needs me, then make the decision.”

Lowe, who coached 15 NBA seasons before coming to N.C. State, said he will wish Hickson well if he decides to leave.

Reading between the lines – Hickson is leaving, and Sid (with JJ’s help) is framing it in the best possible light, hoping to attract other high profile recruits with NBA dreams. FWIW, everything that SFN has heard is consistent with Hickson going pro. You should have no real hope, and certainly no expectation, of Hickson returning for his sophomore season.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball Sidney Lowe

84 Responses to Charlotte Observer Hints Hickson Going Pro

  1. redfred2 03/15/2008 at 12:38 PM #

    chop, you are right. In reality the universities do not even owe these kids a second season, much less four years. But I don’t think anyone would be happy if it ever eroded to a point where it was ALL about performance on the court. Plus, we’re concerned mainly with NC State and for crying out loud it is the university that thinks it has go by a totally different set of standards then everyone else. Even if what you said ever became the norm in college BB, NC State would hold out for twenty or thirty years and fall further behind the curve, before it ever followed suit.

    Sad thing is, the egg heads in charge up there in Raleigh honestly believe that they are doing something that is just sooooo righteous that we, the fans, should be proud of them and the university.

    They have ruined what was once one of the elite college BB programs in the country, they’re turning the university into a giant commuter school with no soul, and the fact of the of the matter is that they just plain S…U…C…K OUT LOUD!!! in general.

  2. Noah 03/15/2008 at 12:59 PM #

    haze, the system you’re talking about is the one I’m a fan of. It’s the best system for the players, for the colleges and for the NBA.

    So naturally, it has no shot. 🙂

  3. howlie 03/15/2008 at 3:11 PM #

    If JJ returns we’ll continue to be a Chevy with wagon wheels.

    If he goes, we’ll struggle to regain last year’s form; and JJ will slink and shrink to the NBadL.

    Can we just forfeit the next season, let the staff play golf all year, and wait to 2009?

  4. turfpack 03/15/2008 at 3:35 PM #

    Redfred2-You made some very vaild points in your statements-I’m in the same boat with you about this Admin.-this is not the same type of athletic programs State produce in the past-not being very competitve on a regular basis(hope this changes in football-it will I think)Lee is not the only one to blame,it go even higher-you know it and I know it.Someone said if the money dries up ,then you will see some change-I think so as well.Let’s hope Sid finds some help with this team in the offseason(OH-said to much).-GO TIGERS!!!!!!

  5. redfred2 03/15/2008 at 6:52 PM #

    turfpack, thanks for the compliment, but Lee Fowler isn’t to blame anymore than the long line of like thinking pin heads that preceeded him. Lee Fowler is a great fit in Raleigh, just like ” “, the proverbial “class act” himself, was a great fit in Raleigh.

    Let’s just hope that TOB is experienced enough, and enough of his own man, that he doesn’t fall prey to the mundane think tank that is NC State University and the NC State Athletics Department. Before TOB had even committed to being the HC of the Wolfpack football program he said that he thought that NC State was the perfect place for him to coach and I can certainly see why he’d think that. NCSU has some of the greatest fans on the planet, nice new facilities, and an administration that doesn’t have a clue about what a good employee really is, or really is not.

    I’m sure TOB is here for all of the right reasons, but I ask you, who wouldn’t want that job?

  6. TTandB74 03/16/2008 at 12:12 AM #

    Just to throw a what if in there. Do you think the UNCObserver is hinting Hicks is going pro because they want him to? Not saying him staying would be great for us or bad for us, but I always see conspiracy when I read media stuff. (2 decades in the media will do that to you.)

  7. Rochester 03/16/2008 at 7:08 AM #

    ^Maybe they also brainwashed Lowe into forgetting how to coach.

    I doubt there’s any conspiracy here. I think J.J. has probably been dreaming of the NBA for a few years and this is his first possible opportunity to go, so he’s going.

  8. kyjelly 03/16/2008 at 11:23 AM #

    Mayo is stayin and his upside is 10xs that of jj

  9. redfred2 03/20/2008 at 5:40 PM #

    ky, but Mayo isn’t at NCSU.

    The people here would be telling Mayo that he is a absolute idiot for not going pro at his very first opportunity. Yep, according to many Wolfpack fans going pro is ALWAYS smarter and better than playing BB for NC State, but maybe for fans and players elsewhere in the country, it isn’t always about the money or so cut and dry.

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