Speaking of expectations: NCSU in top ten preseason polls

12-13 Basketball College Basketball Debbie Yow59

Mark Gottfried’s NC State basketball program continues to attract some major national media attention!!

Just today, two different preseason polls from national outlets – ESPN and NBC – have projected next year’s Wolfpack to start in the top ten in the country. I think they are assuming Leslie comes back. The excitement of college basketball has come back to Raleigh.

Just a note for all of the fans (and Lee Fowler and Jim Oblinger) with whom the bulk of SFN authors argued for years — if NC State starts the first week of the 2012-2013 basketball season at these rankings, it would be single-week ranking higher than ANY ranking that the great Herb Sendek achieved in TEN YEARS of opportunity as the head coach at NC State (and another six years at Arizona State, for that matter).

Can you smell what the Gott is cooking?!

Number six in this preseason poll

Number four in this preseason poll

Number five in this preseason poll

And we ended up twenty in the final ESPN poll.
Final ESPN poll

About Rick

1992 and 2002 graduate from NCSU. Born and raised an NCSU fan. I remember the good ol' days and they weren't in the last 20 years.

12-13 Basketball College Basketball Debbie Yow

59 Responses to Speaking of expectations: NCSU in top ten preseason polls

  1. bleedingred08 04/03/2012 at 4:26 PM #

    “*ncsu.edu* (lowercase) is the university’s domain address in electronic mail and Web addressing. Although this is the URL for the university, “NCSU” should not be used to refer to the university in any form of communication. NCSU Libraries is the only exception.”

    Well don’t sell NCSU merchandise in the bookstore. If we are expected to see NCST on espn instead of NCSU then follow through.

  2. rtpack24 04/03/2012 at 4:51 PM #

    NCSU Nobody Can Stop US!

  3. 87stategrad 04/03/2012 at 5:13 PM #

    Hey, Bartender! Another round of that Red Kool-Aid! And make it a double!

  4. tuckerdorm1983 04/03/2012 at 5:29 PM #

    the Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years. This next year 2013 will be 30 years from 1983. Are we reaching the promised land?

  5. TLeo 04/03/2012 at 5:34 PM #

    That is great to be getting the national attention and to see us ranked so high is even greater but let’s not get too carried away. They will have to go out next season and justify the lofty ranking. I fully believe this team capable of doing just that but it has to be earned. Really is so great to have good leadership for a change

  6. wolfmanmat 04/03/2012 at 5:37 PM #

    Love it! Not sure the rank “assumes” CJ Leslie will be back..I would venture to say that even if CJ leaves, we are somewhere close to 5-6. Look at the teams right behind us…Ohio State and Michigan. I just don’t buy that OSU minus Sullinger and a Michigan team coached by the Herb Sendek of the Big Ten(Bee-line) will be better than us minus CJ. Let’s just look at our starting 5 without CJ…you still have Zo, the best guard in the ACC, Wood the best shooter in the ACC, Purvis, the best frosh in the ACC, Howell and Warren down low and potentially Amile/Tyler/Painter/Vandy coming off the bench. We are deeper, more talented and more experienced next year without CJ. If he comes back, we could be insane. It will be a fun season. Go Pack.

  7. mak4dpak 04/03/2012 at 7:00 PM #

    And in case no one heard the final NCAA basketball polls, we came in @ 20. What a difference a coach makes. Congrats! If Leslie really wants to add to his value in the NBA, he will wait til next year, before leaving.

  8. oceanman 04/03/2012 at 8:03 PM #

    You can call us State, you can call us NC State, you can call us State College, you can call us NCSU, but the Big Red Wolf is struttin, get used to it!!

  9. 61Packer 04/03/2012 at 8:35 PM #

    A Wolfpack fan calling us NC State or North Carolina State sounds like the Jones kid calling his dad Mr. Jones.

    Coach Gott it right by calling us just plain “State” again. No need to identify ourselves with the “NC” or North Carolina in front of the State. If we keep playing like we have this season, the nation will soon identify us as being the Wolfpack. MSU doesn’t have to put “Michigan” in front of State on their uniforms, and nobody mistakes who the Spartans are in spite of having only State on their uniforms.

    Now, if somebody could get Gary Hahn to quit calling us NC State every time he mentions us on the radio, I’d be happy. Give me the old days when Ray Reeve and Bill Jackson always called us simply “State”.

    And I can still hear two of Wally Ausley’s best calls ever, when we beat UVA to win the 1983 West Regional (State’s won it!!!!) and of course the “Stuffed back! Lorenzo Charles! State!!!!!!!!!!!

  10. highstick 04/03/2012 at 9:20 PM #

    Us old farts fought and died to keep State from being named the University of North Carolina at Raleigh back in the early 60’s!

    Well, maybe we didn’t die, but we would have “died” if we’d lost that battle!

    You can call me State, you can call me NCSU, you can call me the Wolfpack, but you doesn’t have to call me Johnson!”

  11. wolfonthehill 04/03/2012 at 10:21 PM #

    This is all pretty surreal… a few months ago we were OK with being 4th-6th in the ACC… now folks are talking about us being a potential Final Four team. Seems impossible, but shows how quickly you CAN turn a bball program around… not like football, which does truly take a few years of recruiting.

    Unbelievable job by Gott… unbelievable hire by Debbie.

  12. gcpack 04/03/2012 at 10:50 PM #

    Speaking of Gary Hahn its about time to retire him as well. I will never forget his call when we beat App and he said the most absurd thing when he announced that this was the first time State had beaten the number one team at carter finley. Of all the cornball things
    To say. So unprofessional. Be sure to keep tony Haynes though.

  13. TheOneManWolfpack 04/04/2012 at 1:03 AM #

    WE ARE STATE and WE ARE HERE TO STAY!!!! Awesome season and great job by Coach Gottfried and all the amazing assistants he hired. Great recruiting job + Returning talent and experience= VERY high expectations! Hope we can live up to them but regardless this is great national attention for the University and recruiting. Go PACK!

  14. 8pack 04/04/2012 at 2:00 AM #

    ^61 and gc…Totally agree about Gary Hahn. The root problem with him is that the current ‘Voice of the Wolfpack’ has never been one of us. I have never believed that he cares if we win or lose. You would never have to question that with Woody Durham or Bob Harris. As much as I dislike those guys and their schools, you could never question their allegiances. The in-house ‘Voice’s’ bias is not only acceptable – it should be a given.

    Hahn has one of the coolest jobs in the world (if you are a State fan), and yet most of the time sounds like he can’t wait to get the game over with. He’s just ho hum about State (now he will occasionally get really excited about our opponent).

    All of that, and, he just generally sucks at being a PBP guy – I will stop there…I have mentioned this numerous times on this board.

    Bottom line: State’s headed back to the top. Time to retire the loser ‘Voice’ and hire a PBP man who is top notch and is, or can be, one of us.

    Of course, on a brighter note…Im so pumped about the basketball team and the positive direction of our overall athletics program! Great work DY, MG, RWoodson.

  15. tuckerdorm1983 04/04/2012 at 6:30 AM #

    Dag nabit you young uns and with yall new fangled devices. I don’t watch TV really except for Wolfpack sports. I don’t have a HD TV or even a flat screen TV at my house. My wife won’t let me put it in the living room. (She still uses a VCR). We don’t own anything Apple except the stock in our IRAs. With this new bball ranking and O’Brien I am going to have to get a crowbar and crack open my wallet. Any suggestions on type and brand and where to buy?

    My neighbor moved and game me his so called “HDTV” that is at least 10 or 12 years old. It weighs at least 300 lbs. It is big screen but compared to TVs I see at Wal-mart the other day it is horrible.

  16. tjfoose1 04/04/2012 at 10:28 AM #

    “I love the positive press, but it really doesn’t mean anything.”

    Except for perception, and perception, especially now at this critical point in our program, is HUGE.

    We’ve gone from being a national punch line to a a top 10 preseason ranking, in less than a year. The culture has changed, success is expected. The value that comes from that, to every facet of the program, is priceless.

    These top 10 rankings, and the root perception of our program behind them, are anything but meaningless.

  17. old13 04/04/2012 at 11:34 AM #

    ^ Exactly!

    Way to go Gott & Co.!

  18. whitefang 04/04/2012 at 12:33 PM #

    This is great but the real sign we have returned is when we are in the preseason conversation a couple of years in a row. With the short college careers of top bb talent we need to load up every year like our peers. I expect we will with the solid foundation being laid.
    Our return to the mix may also be a sign of the ACCs return as a top bb conference Swofford be damned. The conference needs us in the conversation in order to become a real bb powerhouse conf again. A 2 team league ain’t gonna make that happen

  19. Nuke 04/04/2012 at 12:45 PM #

    For those wondering, in the 90’s, NCSU was the official 2nd reference. The bumper sticker I got in 93 said “I’m on my way to NCSU.” Always thought that was lame because “I’m on my way to NC State” sounds a lot better. Everything sold in the bookstore said NCSU also.

  20. highstick 04/04/2012 at 12:50 PM #

    You gotta work on her, Tucker. I kept dropping hints about a big HDTV to my wife a few years back and she was not biting. Until she “wanted something” at the electronics store. As we were leaving, I said let’s just take a look…before we left she’d talked ME into buying one!

  21. tuckerdorm1983 04/04/2012 at 2:17 PM #

    I think 50 plus inches is the best. She said I could get one if I put it in the bedroom or upstairs in the guest room. What about Plasma vs LCD? I want to be able to see the TarHeels faces clearly when we beat them again for the 6th straight time and then sweep them and Duke in the ACC in basketball next year. The value to me is “priceless” for everything else is mastercard/visa. I want to be able to see the beads of sweat on Roy Williams face as we beat them Heels in the DEAN E SMITH center. It seems like forever since that has happened.

  22. JVM4PACK 04/04/2012 at 2:28 PM #

    Tuckerdorm..I went with a Panasonic 50 inch HD Plasma…ITS AN AWESOME TV. Just my 2 cents worth.

  23. eas 04/04/2012 at 2:47 PM #

    I also went with the 50″ Panasonic Plasma about a year or so ago. Very pleased.

    As for the top 10 rankings….it feels great!!!! I think we are a top #20 team at this point but I will take top 10. Amazing how 1 coach, 1 AD and 1 Chancelor can change our culture immediately! 20 years of misery replaced with joy.

    Even if we do mediocre next year the CULTURE has changed and we are united as a fan base. The MEDIA is on board and we are now relevant again.

    All in 1 year….All we needed was a miracle run to get us back a positive light. All we needed was 1 and here we are.

    It feels like Christmas everyday.

  24. NCMike 04/04/2012 at 2:56 PM #

    55 inch Samsung LCD 240hz 1920X1080 blows the plasmas (and virtually everything else) away.

  25. Mike 04/04/2012 at 4:43 PM #

    Tuckerdorm, Panasonic plasma all the way.

    Plasma is much better for sports as even the the higher hz LCD’s still have lagging and streaking issues. LCD has done a masterful job of marketing but plasma is superior.

    I sell these for a living (not in a big box store but direct from manufacturers to corporate). I have access to all brands and technologies, and I have a Panasonic plasma.

    What I am really looking forward to is this week – the Masters in HD on DirecTV where they have multiple feeds and I can choose which I want to watch.

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