Lowe: ‘We’re going to get there’

Sidney Lowe met with the media Friday morning to discuss Sunday’s regular season finale against Boston College and the ACC Tournament. He even chimed in on the ACC Player of the Year discussion.

By Sunday you will know what seed you are in the ACC Tournament and what you have to do. Do you care where you are or who you play in that first round next week?

Not really. No. It doesn’t matter who we play, it’s going to be a tough game and it’s going to come down to how well we play, limiting our mistakes so it really doesn’t matter. We’re going to have to play well to beat any team in this conference.

Do you feel positive about the teams you could play because those teams from 4 or 5 through 9 have all had ups and downs? Is it a little different because of the parity in the ACC?

I don’t think any of them are going to be easy. These teams in this conference have knocked each other off, in games you didn’t think they would win. We beat a very good Duke team so you feel good about that. I’d like to say we’re going to have a chance against whoever we play, that is just the way it’s been this year. It’s a matter of who is coming out to play that day and the team that is going to limit turnovers and make shots. That’s going to be key.

What will it be like for the younger guys going to the ACC Tournament for the first time?

It will be an eye opening experience. It’s a special time, it’s a special tournament. The crowd is incredible, the atmosphere is incredible and the media attention is incredible. It will be something that they haven’t seen before and I’m sure some of them will be like a deer in headlights looking at everything but it’s also great. It’s a great experience and it’s something they should embrace early in their careers and understand. We tell them all the time what NC State is all about and what this conference is all about and I think they are going to see it now in one setting from all of the schools.

Does the team understand that what they do in the next week or two could really propel them into the offseason?

They do. We’ve talked about that. We’ve talked about trying to control what we can, and that’s us. Certainly there is a lot of basketball still to be played for this team. It’s just a matter of what we do in this next few weeks. How bad do we want to continue playing? That’s the most important thing.

What can Dennis Horner show the younger guys? He’s certainly seen both sides of the spectrum with regards to the ACC Tournament.

He can certainly understand what to expect but it’s nothing like going through it. I’m hoping that he can express to them his feeling of playing in the ACC Tournament and being eliminated and the season being over and how it felt. That is something he can certainly explain to them. How it feels to have a last game. Anytime you have a last game and it’s not the National Championship winning it, it’s just not a good feeling. He can certainly talk to them about that. He’s been through it.

Dennis’ effort was noticeable Wednesday night against Virginia Tech. I know you wanted to get Richard some more minutes and do some of that but it seems like Dennis has asserted himself and made that impossible.

He has. Part of that is that he realized that this is it. At some point in the next month or so my college career is coming to an end and what am I going to do with it. He’s just been playing hard. Even if he’s not making shots he’s going to the offensive glass, defensive glass, playing defense and it’s shown a little leadership without talking. We need that.

What does it mean that both Dennis and Farnold Degand will end up with their degrees in May?

It means everything. It means everything in the world. That’s something that we really are proud of that every senior we’ve had since I’ve been here has graduated – every last one of them. That’s more important to me than anything. Not more important because it helps me, it’s more important because it helps them. That’s not talked about a lot. It would mean everything to them. I know Dennis’ grandmother and mother are proud of him along with Farnold’s mom.

We’ve talked about scoring droughts a lot this year, but a couple of recent ones have been different because you have been getting stops on the defensive end.

That ball game the drought came became of turnovers instead of missed shots. We turned it over so we never gave ourselves a chance to score. We were solid with our defense for the most part with the exception of Delaney hitting those couple of shots. I know that we’ve made progress; there is no question about it. Just watching us and seeing us be a little more patient with it and not taking as many bad shots. We’re moving the ball and moving bodies and that’s a process. We’re going to get there. I can see it coming. If we get that down to understanding good shots and taking care of the ball we’re tough.

What do you expect to see from Boston College Sunday? They’ve played well here lately.

They are very physical. When you look at their players they are all big. The wings are big, the guards are big and thick. They are going to run their offense, their going to bang you. Trapani is going to do his thing shooting the ball. I see a very confident team and a very physical team. We have to be ready to play against that type of physicality and stay within what we’re trying to do.

Who is your player of the year in the ACC?

I tell you it’s hard to go against Greivis Vasquez. Certainly Maryland has other players who have stepped up but that young man is just special. He has got a mindset of just about winning. But he does it in the right way. I would have to say Vasquez.

09-10 Basketball ACC & Other Sidney Lowe

54 Responses to Lowe: ‘We’re going to get there’

  1. Cosmo96 03/05/2010 at 3:38 PM #

    Coming out of high school, Marques Johnson and Vasquez were ranked right next to each other as four star recruits. In fact, Johnson was ranked just a couple of spots higher, IIRC.

    I wish Vasquez had been the bust, and Johnson the star, instead of the other way around.

  2. Wolfy__79 03/05/2010 at 3:48 PM #

    sidney does give a good interview. but i agree, he doesn’t ever mention the process of getting back to where we should be. but honestly, outside of recruiting violations, i don’t care about all the ins & outs of the process. i really just want to see the wins. its been so long since we were anything but a longshot sidney gets all the blame.. granted, his results are not even halfway satisfactory. i’ve compared it to the situation in “gladiator” where maximus has to realize his name and everything tied to it is holding him back… I’ve felt this way concerning our last NC and sidney lowe’s return. its a farfetched comparison to most i’m sure, but it seems appropriate to me.

    in respect to sid nba jobs, did he not take on problematic situations with those as well?

    seniors-
    this team has been lacking leadership in general since julius hodge departed! i don’t think there’s any argument there. atsur did a nice job filling in, maybe the only exception. since then we’ve relied on javi on the floor and sidney directing him endlessly from the sidelines. its very disappointing for me to see seniors/upperclassmen not be leaders for the younger guys. some of the components we sent packing or graduated last year were nice kids, but it must have been difficult for them to have a coaching change. i think any good manager should be able to motivate people, but some people just don’t get it.

  3. Wulfpack 03/05/2010 at 3:50 PM #

    Scheyer is a perfectly fine PG. If Duke loses early, he won’t be the reason.

    Regarding Horner’s play – I hear a lot of folks blaming the player for not doing x, y or z. Generally, if player isn’t doing these things, it’s because the coaching has not focused on that issue. I’m glad to have seen him pick it up now that his career has come to a close. But it is also a shame we didn’t have more of this because we sure could have used it.

  4. Wolfy__79 03/05/2010 at 3:51 PM #

    i’ve been very impressed with sheyer this year and i also differ with the ncaa’s, i see both duke and md getn through the sweet sixteen. also, i think duke has the most talent they’ve had in years…

  5. rtpack24 03/05/2010 at 3:59 PM #

    Vaquez and Johnson were both 4 stars coming out of high school then that should show everyone how far off these scouting services can be. If you watch Johnson play for about 5 minutes you could tell his shot mechanics would keep him from ever being a decent shooter and he had foward speed in a guard’s body. Pearl realized he made a mistake early on and then we made the same mistake. Johnson still did not produce at Ga State. Good kid just not a very good basketball player. No need to get caught up in Senoirs, jrs, transfers, etc. They keep score every game and a record of your w’s and l’s. End of the year your record speaks for itself.

  6. choppack1 03/05/2010 at 4:07 PM #

    “over dennis horner’s career i’ve held a grudge against the mentatility of someone his size playing so much perimeter bball. he has never been good in the post and that absolutely kills everything but a princeton offense. ”

    Dennis doesn’t have the body to play down low all the time. He didn’t have the body to do this when arrived in Raleigh and really doesn’t have it now.

    If you notice – anytime he gets the ball down low and the opponents know he’s getting the ball down low – the results usually aren’t good.

    He’s tall – but a kid like him w/ his skillset is most effective playing him as Lowe does now – let him cut to the basket and let him shoot mid range jumpers and 3s.

    He’s had a solid college career. I think if he’d been in another program or played for another coach, he’d either be a lot bulkier and stronger or at least have better muscle definition. He does seem to be in good cardio shape. From what I can tell – he’s done everything this staff has asked.

  7. choppack1 03/05/2010 at 4:09 PM #

    I thought Johnson was a 3 star. If he was a 4 star, that would mean our 2008 team (that went 4-12 in conference) had 5 four star recruits, and 2 five star recruits.

  8. NJpack 03/05/2010 at 5:37 PM #

    After Lo Brown did not qualify, we all knew we were going to struggle this year because we just did not have the talent. Having said that, the most frustrating fact to me this year is that we did not even optimize the marginal talent we had.

    Examples:
    Moving Degand to SG. We took a guy who cannot shoot on a regular basis and moved him to SG.

    Moving CJ Williams to SG. The SG position is by default the secondary ball handler, CJ never looked comfortable in this role.

    Subbing in 3-4 guys who cannot score at the same time – enough said.

    What would I have done if I were on the coaching staff (I can sit there and look hungover just like Towe does):

    Degand plays PG and PG only – he is the quickest guy on the team by far, he is not a threat to score much but you can live with that as a coach if he can beat the press, drive & dish

    Float Javi between PG and SG – Simply put, if Degand is in the game, Javi floats to SG. If Degand is out, Javi rotates back to PG. Manage the substitutions so Degand and Javi are out there for the better part of the 2nd half. Mays subs in at SG but never, ever, plays PG again.

    Rotate Wood / CJ Williams at SF – Scott Wood has demonstrated why he was a 3 star prospect. I still think he will be good in a year or two but with the exception of the FSU game, he has not torn it up. CJ rotates in as a sub and never, ever plays SG again.

    We managed the PF and C positions the best we could with what we had. Horner was the better option over a freshman Howell for most of the year.

    Finally, when we do sub in players, don’t sub in 3-4 guys at the same time! See lineup of Vandenburg, Davis, and Mays at the same time.

  9. PoppaJohn 03/05/2010 at 5:57 PM #

    I had not noticed that all the seniors had graduated. That’s something to be proud of. Clearly too much time spent in the classroom and not enough on the court. ;o)

    Sign of the Times – Tickets for the BC game are buy one / get one free.

  10. Rochester 03/05/2010 at 6:23 PM #

    NJPack, I like your coaching suggestions. I would add one more. I would like to have seen us go big from time to time. You’d think that might be fresh in Sid’s memory after it worked last year when he moved Tracy into the lineup to play with McCauley and Costner. I would have liked to see a lineup with Painter or Vandenberg in there along with Tracy and Horner/Howell.

    Vandenberg is third on the team with 18 blocks (Tracy and Horner have 33 to lead) in just 156 minutes. That’s about a block every 9 minutes. He may be raw, but he could have given us an added dimension on defense.

    Going big would also have allowed us to push Scott Wood to 2 and get some of our guards off the floor for a while.

  11. Derek Medlin 03/05/2010 at 6:45 PM #

    Rochester…

    Then you run into another problem, Dennis Horner trying to guard 3s.

    That wouldn’t go well.

  12. tuckerdorm1983 03/05/2010 at 7:09 PM #

    I believe in Coach Lowe. He can get the job done. I believe next year will be a good year. Will we be 1 or 2 in the acc? Probably not. Will we make the NCAA tournament? Probably. Will we finish 10th, llth or 12th? No way Jose!!! Now my fellow pack fans who write on this blog, please don’t tar and feather me for my heresy.

    Look at Dean Smith’s record when he first started?

    Quoted from Wikipedia
    “Smith’s first season in 1961 as coach of North Carolina did not open smoothly. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) had canceled the Dixie Classic, an annual basketball tournament in North Carolina, due to a national point shaving scandal that included four N.C. State players (Don Gallagher, Stan Niewierowski, Anton Muehlbauer, and Terry Litchfield) and one North Carolina player (Lou Brown).[13] As a result of the scandal, both N.C. State and North Carolina de-emphasized basketball by cutting their regular-season schedules. In Smith’s first season from 1961–62, North Carolina played only 17 games and went 8-9.[10][14] As it turned out, this would be the only losing season he would ever suffer. In 1965, he was famously hanged in effigy on the university campus following a disappointing loss to Wake Forest.[10] After that game, his team ended up winning nine of the last eleven games.[15] After a slow beginning, Smith turned the program into a consistent success. After the 1966 season, Smith would never finish lower than third in the ACC.”

  13. Rochester 03/05/2010 at 7:15 PM #

    DMedlin, true Horner might not be adept at guarding the 3, but when you’re near the bottom of the league in defense and dead last in rebounding margin, it can’t hurt to experiment a little.

  14. 61Packer 03/05/2010 at 7:43 PM #

    Like Coach K, Dean started slow too, but he taught his players how to play as a team, stressing defense, passing and fundamentals. I’ve not see hide nor hair of this in the past 4 years at State. Nobody in our league has shown the mental toughness of Duke under Coach K.

    Bottom line to me is that if the coaching staff can’t teach their players how to play together, to play defense, how to hold on to the ball, and how to maintain intensity, how can anyone honestly believe that next year will be significantly better?

  15. Wolfy__79 03/05/2010 at 9:22 PM #

    yeah, i suppose i’m a little tough on horner. i just have high expectations for our seniors. i was disappointed with fells as well. i think a senior should first and foremost be a leader.. pick the team up in those droughts. sure he’s better outside of the paint, i’m okay with that. but why not, since ur gonna be there anyway, get involved and help the ball movement? it’s just tough for me to watch seniors not being able to contribute and relied upon.

  16. Wolfy__79 03/05/2010 at 9:37 PM #

    i love the big lineup, especially when its pretty obvious that our forwards turn the ball over less than our guards. but going big to me has a greater upside than staying small all game. especially if we’re talking about getting either howell/painter, howell/vandenburg, or painter/vandenburg on the floor with tracy or horner at the same time. those kids will play together alot next year, why not now.

    i believe degand was moved to 2 to help ball handling more than shooting, some sort of an extra dimension b/c he sure as hell can’t shoot that well as u mentioned. i still think javi is the best option of the three. the best play i’ve seen this year incorporated javi being the 1. then having mays/degand sharing the responsibilities at 1/2 while javi was on the bench. that was around the fsu and duke wins. since then teams have been able to account for our lack of scorers. i’ve seen wood do well and also poorly with help on ball control.

    i truly feel that sidney will have his first good season coming up! with new players and growth from our current roster. but i see the lack of fundamentals for sure, or it really appears that way. it would be good to have that kind of assistant added to the staff.. i think it would take a great deal of pressure off of sidney and give hime the best chance for success. would archie miller be a good one? … … one thing i have noticed is that since early ACC play, when we were shooting very poorly at the line. THEY GOT BETTER. until recently, they kept it up. that says to me the coaches are trying to imrove the situation. at this point, i applaude them for being as competitive as they are. alot of the young athletes wouldn’t keep it up.

    but back to horner, i just think he could be doing more. i would much rather see him get those closer looks than to rely on the three so much. that’s where tracy has to build up to, hitting a jump shot. horner’s got that shot, but somehow.. b/t those two, they can work off of one anothers +’s…

  17. coach13 03/05/2010 at 10:35 PM #

    Has anyone checked out the 2011 rankings? I know its rediculous how early they go after kids nowadays but I see we are not on the radar of but maybe 2 top 100 recruits. The confidence in the 2 coming in next year is fascinating.

  18. Wolfy__79 03/05/2010 at 10:51 PM #

    i imagine our 2011 class won’t look good until november/december when things should be heating up. i hope sidney has some more nice suprise talent in the shadows…

  19. Rick 03/06/2010 at 7:55 AM #

    Choppack said what I was thinking. It may be coach speak but he sounds like he has no clue. It certainly should matter who we play as there are some teams that we have about .000001% chance of beating.

    The new argument I have heard might be the craziest. People are saying he can “only coach great talent”. What does that even mean? The truth is you can either coach or you cannot and the record speaks for itself.

  20. whitefang 03/06/2010 at 8:30 AM #

    I was a confirmed Dean Smith hater but comparing Sidney Lowe to Dean Smith as coaches? At Lowe’s current winning rate if he coaches until he is 108 he could get close to Dean’s number of wins. That’s like comparing Rosie O’Donnell to Brooklyn Decker as swimsuit models.

  21. Wulfpack 03/06/2010 at 9:07 AM #

    I’d like to know where “there” is. It seems once he was hired, Sid and LF promised us the moon. Now that we have sucked for four consecutive years, its like they are afraid to put any objective benchmark on the program. It’s painfully obvious. Is “there” first place? Is it fourth place? Is it a tourney bid? I don’t see how anybody in their right mind can believe him when all he has delivered in 4 years is a nice ACC Tourney run in his first year, and then a bunch of garbage.

  22. Packaddict 03/06/2010 at 10:06 AM #

    I have lived in North Carolina for twenty years and have been a Pack fan the entire time. The WTNY has always been the topic of conversation. I cannot think of another University that would tolerate the lack of success that our school is willing to accept. If you keep doing what you are doing you keep getting what your getting. why do we have to let Harrow and Brown out of their committments? Why can’t we go after a coach that can build a relationship with them or bring in his own guards. These are Lowe’s recruits and we all should fed up with WTNY.

  23. 61Packer 03/06/2010 at 11:03 AM #

    To add to Packaddict’s post about tolerating lack of success, this was in today’s sports section concerning the Chicago Bears’ recent acquisitions.

    “General Manager Jerry Angelo and coach Lovie Smith are operating on a win-or-else mandate from above after a 7-9 season that left many in Chicago calling for sweeping changes.”

    Win-or-else- what a concept! Here’s a team that isn’t interested just in moving in the right direction but rather is determined to actually get there. Not next year, not in 2 years, but RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW. Guess that one went out the window at NC State after a few years of Mike O’Cain, when the slogan was used.

    Many Wolfpack fans and probably most of the administrators would be slobbering all over Sidney Lowe’s contract extension if he finished 7-9 in the ACC. If 7-9 doesn’t sound good to some of you, remember that in March’s The Wolfpacker, a Pack basketball team that went 7-9 in the ACC in 2004-05 was voted THE SECOND BEST TEAM IN ALL WOLFPACK SPORTS FOR THE ENTIRE DECADE.

    Being an NC State fan means that you truly never expect to win anymore. Gone are the days of high expectations under Everett Case, Press Maravich, Norm Sloan and Jim Valvano. We’re firmly mired in the days of LOWe EXPECTATIONS, and it apparently doesn’t matter squat to Wolfpack Administrators that our coaching staff that hasn’t been able to average even 5 wins a season in their 4 years here, counting the ACC Tourney games (what few of them there have been).

    Barring a major fan revolt at the ticket counter, until a Big Wolf with enough money has the guts to declare that enough is enough, I expect we’ll continue down the road to athletic armageddon. If the Wolfpack Women steal another one today, I can all but guarantee you that Jed will crawl out from underneath his rock and tell anyone who’ll listen that Wolfpack sports are definitely moving in the right direction.

  24. TOB4PREZ 03/06/2010 at 12:40 PM #

    “Choppack said what I was thinking. It may be coach speak but he sounds like he has no clue. It certainly should matter who we play as there are some teams that we have about .000001% chance of beating.”
    =================================================
    If we can beat Duke, we can beat anyone in the league…. and the entire league is clearly capable of beating us. Md and VT are probably the two teams we have the hardest time with because they both have guards that are strong with the ball, but we’ve shown that we can play with those two too… so I tend to agree with COACH LOWE, it really doesn’t matter who we play…. we have to force OUR will upon them (for 40mins) in order to win.
    I’m dying to hear though, WHO we have 0% chance of beating….

  25. TOB4PREZ 03/06/2010 at 12:42 PM #

    “I was a confirmed Dean Smith hater but comparing Sidney Lowe to Dean Smith as coaches?” ” That’s like comparing Rosie O’Donnell to Brooklyn Decker as swimsuit models.”

    —————————————————————–
    Except the REALITY that, through their first few years with their programs their records are NOT dissimilar… a comparison from that perspective is INDEED accurate… FACTS-R-FACTS.

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