ACCNow: ‘You tell me which had more passion?’

Link

Our NC State vs Marist post-game entry is a fantastic one that is full of great current and historical comments. Click here to check it out.

At the bottom of the entry we took the time to update some links to major media outlets that recapped the evening’s events. One of the links was to an entry at ACCNow that deserved to be bronzed, let alone elevated to its own entry here at SFN.

It is a thing of beauty, and I’d like to personally thank the team at the N&O for putting it together.

The NIT’s not supposed to matter, the Not Important Tournament. Try telling that to N.C. State — its fans or its coach.

The Wolfpack returned one more time to Reynolds Coliseum on Friday night for a second-round game with Marist. The Old Barn was jammed. It was loud and State won. Just like when Sidney Lowe played at State.

When you listen to Lowe, who was coaching in the NBA when N.C. State moved from the on-campus facility to the State Fairgrounds in 1999, you can hear the preference in his voice for where his team should call home.

“There’s a difference when you have your place,” Lowe said without mentioning where N.C. State played all but one of its home games this season.

“It’s Reynolds,” Lowe said. “It’s all where it happened for me. Anyone that’s played in the ACC and played in this building against N.C. State, they’ll tell you it’s one of the toughest places to play in the country. It’s crazy in here.”

Crazy, and this for an NIT game. A tournament, on Friday and in this corner of the world, that mattered almost as much as the other one. It did for an N.C. State fan base that somehow had been accused of running the previous coach out of town. Eight thousand fans show up for an NIT game at 9:30. You tell me which had more passion — the previous coach or these fans?

There’s no doubt those fans are in the first full-fledged stages of love with Lowe, who has rallied a team that went 5-11 in the ACC to the championship game of the ACC Tournament and a 20-win season, thanks to two more in the NIT.

And to whom did Lowe, who, you know, did the actual coaching, give the credit to?

“The atmosphere showed tonight, without our crowd, this would have been a tough one,” Lowe said. “It was a tough game as it was but I think our crowd kept us in it.”

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06-07 Basketball General Quotes of Note Tradition

66 Responses to ACCNow: ‘You tell me which had more passion?’

  1. PapaJohn 03/17/2007 at 5:14 PM #

    Wow, goose bumps

  2. GoldenChain 03/17/2007 at 5:17 PM #

    You know, we were told (as alumni and boosters) that we needed a new state-of-the-art facility to draw the modern day recruit.
    And no doubt the RBC was a dream of Jimmy V’s from wayyyyyy back.
    I couldn’t tell that our recruiting improved dramatically when we moved, neither can I tell that Duke’s has suffered because remain in the Reynolds vintage building.
    Hopefully Sid can fill up the RBC more than 3 times a season going forward(BTW did you know that the Wachovia Dome was only sold out 6 times out of 16 games and they were ranked 1 or 2 in everyone’s preseason poll and have been in the top 10 all season). We need t get the excitement for the program to make the RBC the kind of place with the kind of atmosphere that V envisioned.

  3. choppack1 03/17/2007 at 5:18 PM #

    I guess I’ll start off saying this…When I read Lowe’s comments BEFORE this game and I saw the game later that evening, it’s somewhat apparent that the atmosphere in the RBC pales to the atmosphere in Reynolds. Now, to be fair, the atmosphere for some RBC games has been electric, but as a rule, Reynolds was usually reliable for a special game experience.

  4. noah 03/17/2007 at 5:30 PM #

    Okay, lemme save everyone some time.

    In this hand, I have a puppet. In the other…another puppet. Enjoy!

    Puppet 1: I sure do wish Herb was still here!
    Puppet 2: Yer nuts! Lowe is the best!
    Puppet 1: Is not!
    Puppet 2: Is too!
    Puppet 1: Is not!
    Puppet 2: Is too!
    Puppet 1: Is not!
    Puppet 2: Is too!
    Puppet 1: Is not!
    Puppet 2: Is too!
    Puppet 1: Is not!
    Puppet 2: Is too!

    And so on and so on and so on.

    Okay…now…back to the topic at hand.

  5. noah 03/17/2007 at 5:31 PM #

    Has anyone heard anything about one of the top players in the sophomore class (high school) being very interested in NC State??

  6. choppack1 03/17/2007 at 5:38 PM #

    Noah – I’d be shocked if kids weren’t. Lowe has gotten lots of face time – w/ his NBA experience, charisma, and playing style – he’s got to be an option. If we have a good year next year – watch out…He could be a MONSTER recruiter.

    GC – Good post. One thing about V’s vision, I don’t know if it included being the second act to a pro hockey team.

  7. noah 03/17/2007 at 5:43 PM #

    The RBC Center will have a great atmosphere when we win. I’ve been there when it’s full and it’s a fun place to watch a game.

    I grew up going to games at Reynolds and yeah, it was loud…but the thing that made it great were the teams that Valvano put out on the floor. I went to plenty of games during the Robinson years and it was awful.

    When we’re not in the bottom third of the ACC standings, those corporate seats will be filled and it will be loud and red.

  8. tmc 03/17/2007 at 6:09 PM #

    I sure do miss Herb. I mean, when I was charged up on four or five Global Village cappuccinos I could tune in to a state game and, bam, right asleep!

    Go Sid! I haven’t been this jazzed up (or proud)… well ever!

  9. joe 03/17/2007 at 6:56 PM #

    You really need to get a life if you are still talking about Sendek after a year.

  10. buttPACKer 03/17/2007 at 7:43 PM #

    joe, joe joe. . . . Sendek is still dangling in the gibbett outside the RBC Center, so you gotta loosen up and whack it with a stick every now and then. . . kinda like a smelly, decomposing pinata!

    try it, it’s really fun.

    GO PACK!!! (and, God bless Sidney!)

  11. wolfonthehill 03/17/2007 at 7:47 PM #

    ^ You don’t get it at all, do you, joe?

    We were vilified… ridiculed… mocked… for having expectations and passion.

    Yes, we want vindication, and we’re getting it.

    And you bet your ass that I’ll wallow in being right for as long as I damn well please.

    Carry on, joe… back to PackPride with you…

  12. PurplePeopleEaters 03/17/2007 at 7:58 PM #

    The game in reynolds was electric, yes, but don’t sell the RBC short. I seem to remember a packed loud arena against Carolina earlier this year. We should expect something like that next year when we are a higher ranked team. I would still love to see 1 or 2 extra games in reynolds just for the fans sake though.

  13. ShootingGuard 03/17/2007 at 8:11 PM #

    Well, as I watch Vandy head off to another Sweet 16 (fortunately, not at our expense this time), I am reminded of the total fallacy of Sendek…

    Guy takes a big state school with all of the advantages of a big state school plus an incredible tradition…and instead of doing the things to achieve even HALF of what Gary Williams does at a similar big state school with less tradition…models the program after Princeton…and then, over what would have been 11 years, doesn’t even achieve HALF of what schools with serious recruiting disadvantages and thus similar players are doing such as Wisconsin, Vandy, etc…Althought Gtown has great recruiting and tradition, you would have thought Sendek could have done HALF of what JT3 is doing right now given DOUBLE the time to do it…

    Good riddance…

  14. joe 03/17/2007 at 8:29 PM #

    I’ve seen this annointing the new coach as the savior after 1 year a few times before – do the names Amato and Sendek ring a bell? 🙂

    And you can ask UNC fans about that kind of thing too – anyone remember Doherty’s disciples?

  15. wolfonthehill 03/17/2007 at 8:35 PM #

    ^ Agree that this season is a LOT like Herb’s first. But there are intangibles that are much, much different, and that give the entire situation a completely different feel… and the future much more promising.

  16. McWufPacker06 03/17/2007 at 8:42 PM #

    I’ll hold my judgement of Lowe’s success until we see his recruits in here, I have been very pleased and suprised with our results this year – but I believe that coaches typically have a good first year as the players are trying to impress him. Lets see what Lowe can do when in three or four years the Sendek chip on our shoulder has finally rubbed off.

    And on a side note GO PACK against WVU!

  17. buttPACKer 03/17/2007 at 8:59 PM #

    Joe,

    no matter the future, State BBall is fun again. . . and, even herb’s first year –not to mention the ensuing decade–was not that!!

    NC State is playing real, ACC caliber ball. . . Not, the watered down, nursery school, generic, no-rivalry version during the dark age of sendek!!111111

  18. buttPACKer 03/17/2007 at 9:01 PM #

    if every year after this sucks, at least one out of the last eleven was FUN!!!!!!

  19. highstick 03/17/2007 at 9:10 PM #

    I’ve been avoiding watching Psycho T this half, but just heard Mich St was up by 3. Hard time pulling for them though, but expect Rick Barnes to put a muzzle on them!

  20. beowolf 03/17/2007 at 9:35 PM #

    We were vilified… ridiculed… mocked… for having expectations and passion.
    Yes, we want vindication, and we’re getting it.
    And you bet your ass that I’ll wallow in being right for as long as I damn well please.
    — wolfonthehill

  21. STLPACK 03/17/2007 at 9:45 PM #

    I was at state and went to almost everygame in the early part of the herb era. It wasn’t like it is with Sid. With Sid everybody’s talking about our great tradition again. He’s talking about it (when Herb never did). Sid makes half time adjustments and can come from behind when Herb never did. I was never a Herb hater, in fact I wanted him to stay, but I have to admit that Sid is everything that Herb wasn’t. He loves State as much as any of us, so much that he worries himself into the Hospital durring the Carolina game…. Herb was a good coach, but Sid is like us. He went to NC State. He understands what it means to be a wolfpacker. He uses the tradition and school passion to an advantage. I’ve never heard players talk about State and our tradition the way these players talk. It’s almost like they’ve been awakened from a stupor to realize that there is this great new world (the world that many of us have been living in for years.) I never saw that with Herb teams. I think there was always something that we were missing with herb. Passion. Heart. Love for State and appreciation of our tradition. Now, we have that. And I wouldn’t go back for anything. Yes, Sid, like many other first year coaches has had good first year luck. But he’s got many other intangibles that others don’t have. He’s got definite ideas about the way things OUGHT to be. I may be proved wrong in the future, but I believe that State has the potential to be as great or better as we have been in the past, and if Sid can’t do it for us, I don’t think anybody can.

  22. Rochester 03/17/2007 at 10:10 PM #

    I was talking with a friend of mine at work–who is NOT a sports fan–on Friday and I said something about the Pack like I always do, because I talk about them nonstop to people who could care less. And when I mentioned Sid he said “Is that the big black guy in the red jacket?” Again, let me reiterate that my friend is not a sports fan and does not watch basketball. We live in upstate New York, which is not exactly the hotbed of college hoops. But Sid is still breaking through onto the TV screens of random non-sports fans, even up here, and he must have seen Sid and the red jacket on something other than SportsCenter, because I don’t think he watches it often.

    As to the Herb-bashing, etc., I find myself caught up in it too, and I have to admit I kind of liked the guy, though I was thrilled when he left. But the thing is, it’s not really Herb I want to bash, it’s all the naysayers and jackasses who lambasted us last spring. And unfortunately the only way to make the case that they were the wackos, not us, is to point out how much better off we are now that we have Sid and Herb is long gone. Can’t really do that without bashing on the previous coach a little, which is why his name is constantly appearing here.

  23. SaccoV 03/17/2007 at 10:12 PM #

    Agreed with STLPACK. I was in Raleigh for the “WKRP” period with Les and Herb (95-98). Although the excitement was there for Les, the team never was. Herb had that magical first season with a run in the ACC, but he NEVER capitalized on it. He seemed to recruit great players who would transfer or never pan out. Herb’s team CONSISTENTLY LOST LEADS in big games. I cannot remember a coach who got such a free pass for lost leads in my life. Sid has everyone in my family, even folks who AREN’T State fans, passionate about NC State basketball. Improvement in the program is ten-fold over last year, and we lost four huge players. Sid is the truth. The rest of the league knows it, and I hope that a trip to NY will solidify it for the rest of the country. Go Sid, and go pack!

  24. STLPACK 03/17/2007 at 10:17 PM #

    Good point Rochester. So many people (talking heads) ridiculed us for wanting more, for believing that we could be a competitive program again. That’s the vindication (allthough a small taste of what’s to come, hopefully) that we are relishing in now. It’s not about herb. Herb is gone. It’s about the fact that we believed we could have a top program, and that we demanded it. We were called stupid for this. And now we say, “watch the hell out, cause here we come!”

  25. beowolf 03/17/2007 at 10:23 PM #

    the thing is, it’s not really Herb I want to bash, it’s all the naysayers and jackasses who lambasted us last spring. And unfortunately the only way to make the case that they were the wackos, not us, is to point out how much better off we are now that we have Sid and Herb is long gone.
    — Rochester

    ===
    Sorry for the Drudge sirens. I just post them like that when someone “gets it.” It’s not personally driven for me, either; as my first “National Crow Serving” post pointed out, it’s about “every sports reporter, talk show host and hack journalist” responsible for “the national dogpile on the ‘delusional Wolfpack fans.'” Every one of those people peddled the lie to the world that NC State had some kind of nirvana under Sendek, when we had a trophy case and rafters full of testaments to the fact that we have achieved much, much greater.

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