NC State frontcourt getting national press

While media attention is going to initially shine on the need for Trevor Lacy and Cat Barber to lead the young installment of 2014-2015 NC State Basketball, I think that the talent and depth of the young frontcourt may be overlooked by the average college basketball follower. I think we are all in for quite a treat this season as we will watch tremendous development and improvement amongst the Wolfpack’s four talented interchangeable post players.

I am particularly excited about watching Kyle Washington, and I think the talent and depth of Bee Jay Anya, Lennard Freeman & Abdul-Malik Abu is going to give NC State a much more potent punch than many are expecting in the preseason; as these guys develop during the year, this is going to be come a very dangerous team.

NBC Sports College Basketball Talk deserves some credit for taking notice of the Pack and recognizing how good this unit can become. CBT just listed NC State’s frontcourt as the 20th best unit in the country.

Like UNC, this ranking could turn out to be too low by the end of the season. BeeJay Anya’s in far better shape than he was last season, and players such as Jordan Washington, Lennard Freeman and Abdul-Malik Abu will be factors as well.

I know that you need more Wolfpack in your life today…so, click here and get to it!

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Home Forums NC State frontcourt getting national press

Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 66 total)
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  • #60690
    StateFans
    Keymaster

    While media attention is going to initially shine on the need for Trevor Lacy and Cat Barber to lead the young installment of 2014-2015 NC State Baske
    [See the full post at: NC State frontcourt getting national press]

    #60702
    pakfanistan
    Participant

    I also think that Jordan Washington might be something special……

    #60707
    PapaJohn
    Participant

    Ironically, Jordan Washington is one of Herb’s recruits.

    I’ve been complaining about all the pre-season “blah blah blah”, a bunch of noise with no substance. (“The big question is, who will replace TJ at State?” – genius)

    Finally, these guys do a little real analysis – but then they blow it by confusing Kyle’s name. However, I think they are right. By February, I think our bigs will be really good.

    #60708
    Texpack
    Participant

    I’ve been saying this since early last season. These guys can be dominant. The depth we have inside will allow them to play a tad more aggressively and that will make them even more effective. Frenchie will get serious votes for All ACC this season. What that kid showed at barely 18 years of age last year was amazing. I think he may be the next Richard Howell, only he doesn’t need to shed 89 cheeseburgers at this point in his career like Howell did.

    #60709
    Rick
    Keymaster

    It must be November as the sweet smell of over expectations are in the air.

    #60710
    VaWolf82
    Keymaster

    It must be November as the sweet smell of over expectations are in the air.

    ROTF LMAO

    Ain’t that the truth.

    #60716
    ncsu1987
    Participant

    ^ Literal spit-loller. It’s a good thing Macs are durable.

    The only thing more sure is that after working into a frenzy of expectations, as soon as the squad drops the first game, there will be a dive of despair, up to and including armchair personnel suggestions and wailings about the staff being over their heads.

    Fortunately, hysteresis will eventually bring us back.

    Rick, I’m still chuckling. Thanks for the laugh, I needed that.

    #60717
    PapaJohn
    Participant

    Who’s ‘Frenchie’? Missed that memo apparently.
    Anya? LenNARD? Malik?

    #60719
    ryebread
    Participant

    Rick: That is good.

    I don’t think we’re going to be great, but I think we’ll be dancing, and finish about 6th in the ACC. If that’s over-expectations, then so be it, but I think they’re attainable.

    I like our front court. We have more talent and depth there than we’ve had in a long time.

    #60721
    Rick
    Keymaster

    Who’s ‘Frenchie’? Missed that memo apparently.
    Anya? LenNARD? Malik?

    Le’Nard

    Translated into “the nard”

    #60722
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    ALMKH is gonna be a revelation. He was insanely athletic and skilled when he was regular KH (ie, like 75 pounds overweight).

    #60725
    Rick
    Keymaster

    ALMKH is gonna be a revelation. He was insanely athletic and skilled when he was regular KH (ie, like 75 pounds overweight).

    I would not call shuffling up and down the court “insanely athletic” but he was a dominant force when he was not tired (which equates to about 47.2 seconds a game). 😉

    #60730
    newt
    Participant

    We are young with only decent talent. Good chance to be an NCAA team, but no guarantee. Nothing to indicate we will do anything special. The team does not operate in a vacuum.

    #60738
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    Translated into “the nard”

    … unless you’re from the South of France, as Mrs. Moseley – my gray-headed-jr-high-French-teacher would say (meaning the Mason-Dixon Line )- … in which case… that comes out as … “DA-nard” …

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
    #60739
    redcanine
    Participant

    Frenchie Part 6 complete with ostrich escape.

    #60740
    Classof89
    Participant

    Like the way the schedule ramps up gradually. We have six patsies at PNC to start, and then two games vs. middling Power 5 opponents (Purdue, picked 11th of 14 in Big 10, and Wake). We sweep those two games, and avoid early stumble a la NC Central last year, and I might start to get a little excited. BTW, I don’t see an NC Central caliber in those first six, but honestly, haven’t done any research, and I guess last year no one knew they had an experienced senior laden team until they beat us and everyone started noticing them.

    Next “name” game is vs. Tennessee (picked in Wake Forest territory in SEC preseason–13th of 14).

    The real indicator game for me this fall will be the Dec. 20 matchup with West Virginia in New York. They, like us are predicted to be also-ran in their conference (tied for 6th of 10 in preseason Big 12 poll).

    Wake me up if we are 13-0 when Cincinnati comes to town on New Year’s Eve-Eve. A team that wants to contend for top 4 in the ACC and a national ranking should have no problem reaching that mark, given the fact there isn’t an unwinnable game in the entire set of 13. Until then, breathless preseason predictions that we will be better than expected won’t do a thing for me.

    #60747
    PapaJohn
    Participant

    Whoa there, let’s not dismiss the preseason that easily.

    Pomeroy says we are ranked 60 in their preseason ranking.
    Game #5 – Richmond is ranked 51
    #7 – Purdue is 40
    #12 – West Virginia is 55
    #13 – Louisiana Tech is 49
    #14 – Cincy is 46

    Hard to predict this early, but at least somebody who’s done some analysis thinks we may have some challenges before the end of the year.

    And then it really gets to be fun, Pitt, UVA, Duke, and Carolina all before the middle of January.

    I’d say it could get ugly early. But that’s why we play.

    #60753
    Pacobee
    Participant

    Pack secretly scrimmages Georgia…real question is if Jeff knows how secret is it??? Props to Lacey for the shout out in the tweet.

    #60763
    Classof89
    Participant

    ^^
    what is Pomeroy ranking based on in preseason, when noone has played each other? Shocked that Richmond would be ranked above us in any sort of power ranking, when you look at the talent level each program is putting on the court? Does Richmond have a couple of transfers or dropouts from Power 5 Conference programs this year?

    And I didn’t say that I thought Purdue would be a cakewalk; only that it will help us discern whether we will be any sort of threat to finish in top half of ACC.

    You have identified the toughest five games in presason, however. If we stumble to four or five losses in those and the other games prior to ACC play, that will tell me not to expect much more than about 6-12 or 5-13 in the ACC.

    #60769
    ryebread
    Participant

    Rick: Did you see Anya at the red and white scrimmage? He looked like a game changer on the defensive side to me.

    Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think he’s going to be a 35 minute a game guy. We’ll get 20-25 out of him between conditioning and fouls. Those will be a high impact 20-25 though.

    I like the schedule. This staff schedules well. We have opportunities to get resume building wins. I expect we’ll probably come into the ACC season with 1-2 losses and be much tougher at the end of the year than in the beginning. It’d be really nice if we went spotless in the non-conference, but I just don’t see it happening given all the youth and questions.

    #60781
    PapaJohn
    Participant

    Has anyone seen the SI preview of the ACC? They ranked the conference about the same as everyone else (we’re a little low at #10), but the interesting thing is their predicted stats.

    They list their predictions for our best 7 players.

    1. Trevor 13 ppg
    2. Ralston 12 ppg
    3. Cat 11 ppg
    4. Abu 7 ppg
    5. Dez 7 ppg
    6 Caleb 4 ppg
    7. Nard 4 ppg

    No Kyle, no Anya???
    Morons!
    http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2014/10/20/acc-basketball-conference-preview-duke-unc-louisville

    #60783
    pakfanistan
    Participant

    Dez and Washington will both average more than 7 pts a game.

    #60788
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    BJD95 wrote:

    ALMKH is gonna be a revelation. He was insanely athletic and skilled when he was regular KH (ie, like 75 pounds overweight)

    Does this weight loss translate into another scholarship for us? Maybe a really quick 4’8″ point guard?

    #60790
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    From the SI preview of the ACC…
    1. Trevor 13 ppg
    2. Ralston 12 ppg
    3. Cat 11 ppg
    4. Abu 7 ppg
    5. Dez 7 ppg
    6 Caleb 4 ppg
    7. Nard 4 ppg

    This dog don’t hunt.

    That’s 58 points a game… or about two baskets every three minutes… and a W/L record of about 10-25..
    unless all that great Defense ya’ll being taking about is holding the opponent to 50 points a game which will make Tony Bennett look like Jerry Tarkanian…

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
    #60813
    Tau837
    Participant

    Has anyone seen the SI preview of the ACC? They ranked the conference about the same as everyone else (we’re a little low at #10), but the interesting thing is their predicted stats.
    They list their predictions for our best 7 players.

    1. Trevor 13 ppg
    2. Ralston 12 ppg
    3. Cat 11 ppg
    4. Abu 7 ppg
    5. Dez 7 ppg
    6 Caleb 4 ppg
    7. Nard 4 ppg

    No Kyle, no Anya???
    Morons!

    I’ll take a shot:

    14 Lacey
    12 Turner
    11 Barber
    10 Washington
    8 Anya
    7 Lee
    6 Abu
    5 Freeman
    5 Martin twins
    2 everyone else

    80 ppg

    I am probably a little high overall. We averaged 71.1 ppg last year. I expect improvement, with more overall talent and (relevant) experience. Not sure if we will see a jump up by ~9 ppg, though.

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