SFN will have a lot of analysis regarding the 2007-2008 NC State Basketball season and the future of the Wolfpack Basketball Program when this season mercifully comes to a conclusion.
Today, the News & Observer’s Chip Alexander chimed in with a very good look back at 15 reasons why the Wolfpack stunk it up this year. The article is a quick read despite its thoroughness.
The 15 individual points can be grouped under three primary categories that we discuss below:
(1) Point Guard
Alexander specifically mentions the key injury to starter, Farnold Degand, in the 10th game of the season as point #4 but more than half of Alexanders points have some relevancy to the point guard position.
There is NO DOUBT that Degand’s injury took the Wolfpack off course for the season; there is also no doubt that Degand’s injury did not take the Wolfpack as far off course as the ship ended the season.
If Degand can stay healthy, the Wolfpack’s prospects at the point guard position improve next year as both Degand and Javi Gonzalez have shown flashes of skills and all indications are that in-coming recruit Julius Mays can provide stability and leadership as a combo-guard. If everyone remains healthy, I don’t expect Marques Johnson to see any time in a Wolfpack uniform for the foreseeable future. See the third category - Personnel - for more on this topic.
(2) Coaching
Alexander’s comments politely address the significant coaching problems that came to the surface in obvious ways this season. He addresses some of the ‘macro’ (organizational) issues in point #15, and discusses some of the ‘micro’ (execution) issues with points #9 - Scheduling and #13 - Smarts.
Alexander hints, but doesn’t go as far as to be as blunt as we will - the coaching job for this season was nothing short of atrocious. It was an unmitigated disaster. As we stated in the previous paragraph - State’s problems are both macro and micro in nature. Not a good combination. There are fundamental problems that stem from a horrendous organizational framework as well unprofessional execution.
The problems started the moment the Wolfpack lost in the NIT to West Virgina. Most of the staff spent most of the summer lobbying for money and spending inordinate amounts of time alumni. The team ultimately reported for the season in the worst collective shape of any NC State Basketball team in memory. That was just the beginning….
We will have A LOT more on this key piece of the problem in the future. In short, Coach Lowe CAN improve the leadership and coaching within this program; but, it will require tough decisions and a lot of organizational changes.
(3) Personnel
Personnel is a key component to our woes that a lot people don’t like to discuss because they feel like they are being tough on the kids. Alexander chooses to discuss this topic in the following points:
* (7) N.C. State doesn’t have good overall team quickness. The Pack’s reaction time in rebounding, recognizing screens and providing help defense has been too slow.
* (10) - Player regression. Looking at the returning players from last season, a good argument can be made that Costner, Ben McCauley and Dennis Horner took steps backward this season in terms of player development and improvement.
* (11) - Limited offensive options. The Pack doesn’t have enough guys who can slash to the basket or break down the defense off the dribble, nor is it a good running team. That means State must execute its set halfcourt offense extremely well to win.
* (12) - Leadership. Does the Pack have a leader? If so, it was hard to discern.
It is perfectly fair and accurate to use this issue as a reason for optimism in the future for State fans.
Coach Lowe inherited a program that ONE player who had ever seen significant playing time (Engin Atsur) and only six or seven total scholarship players. This general dearth of scholarship players was accentuated by the 2006 recruiting class basically did not exist (Dennis Horner); no true point guards behind Atsur inside of the program; and players with skills that were more suited for Sendek’s deplorable offense.
This is the primary issue that warrants the need for fans to have patience and give Coach Lowe a full cycle of three to five years to see what kind of program he can build. By all accounts, Julius Mays and CJ Williams are both athletic players who can fill three positions on the floor and who have solid basketball IQs. Add a recovering Johnny Thomas to this mix and the general composition of the Wolfpack’s roster is undergoing a transformation that needs another year to complete.
Of course, with increased athleticism and talent Coach Lowe will need to improve his staff’s intensity and commitment along with their teaching of fundamentals, rebounding and defense. If all of these things can come together in the future, then the points that BJD made in this entry from last month will mean that 2007-2008 actually was a “learning year” as opposed to a harbinger of things to come for NC State Basketball.
I hate to say it, and it makes me mad as hell to do so. But 2007-08 must be written off as a “learning year” for Sidney Lowe. Despite being an ACC school with all the institutional infrastructure needed to win, NC State is employing yet another head coach who has to learn on the job…
Guys take plays, or even whole games off. Sid shakes his head in frustration (Note to Sid - that won’t accomplish squat) - he doesn’t seem to know what to do. I don’t know if it’s a question of preparation, motivation, or both. But it is Sid’s job to fix it. And it sucks to waste an entire (once promising) season because our coach isn’t ready and is learning on the job.
But our situation is what it is. There’s no way anyone should remotely consider tossing Sid (or any coach) overboard in their first two years of a rebuilding situation. It would be unfair, expensive, and definitely make our program look bad. We hired a guy who has to learn - so let’s see if he can do it. That does not mean SFN is handing out free passes. Writing off one year for “learning” is all that I’m willing to do. We need to see evidence of maturation in three categories next year. The mileposts are difficult, but necessary.
Coach Lowe is going to have a Javi Gonzalez kind of improvement next year to make me want to keep him around after next year. If we still have the same issues next year as we did this year (not injuries and things he has little control over) then I see no reason to give him a 4th year. I hope he gets this ship turn around over the off-season though.
I don’t follow West Virginia too much, but it looks like Huggins is doing a hell of a job with Beilein’s players. He and Herb recruited similar players, which makes me question Sidney’s credibility. Now, I don’t know if WV was left with an experienced point guard, but I am tired of hearing the argument of waiting for Sid to get his players here. I think that applies more to new football coaches. Huggins won at K-State right away and now is winning at WV in his first year. But, I guess comparing Huggins and Lowe is like comparing Williams to Doherty.
^Good, fair analysis above … I also agree that Chip probably “walked on eggshells” as much as possible in his article … The article came across to me as ‘polite’ yet informative
He could have been a LOT more blunt on some topics … I thought it was a good article and fair
Thanks for the link …
“SFN will have a lot of analysis regarding the 2007-2008 NC State Basketball season and the future of the Wolfpack Basketball Program when this season mercifully comes to a conclusion.”
Looking forward to Friday’s article.
packgrad2000,
We’d like to avoid going down the premature path of discussing terminations if we can.
I will say that if Coach Lowe signs a recruiting class of Brown, Wood, Wall and another stud in November then I think that you will see reason to keep him around.
I am a FIRM believer that you do NOT keep a coach around because of recruiting classes. I think that it is stupid and the kiss of ignorance.
But this November will only be Sid’s third recruiting class…meaning that it is unfair and far too premature to pull the cord on a coach before you give him a chance to build his program. (I caveat this statement by saying that we MUST see improvement in his coaching staff and the organzational structure and management of the program off the court.)
Sid’s recruits: Hickson, Smith, Degand, Gonzalez, Thomas (athletic but injured), Johnson (a bust…but, a bogey in light of the precarious PG position that he inherited), Mays and Williams.
^ That is pretty good, IMHO. If this nucleus is enhanced with a stud ‘09 class then I think we have the recruiting prowess to be successful and must improve on the other aspects of the coaching staff.
I wish I could say I was optimistic.
I’m willing to give Sid the benefit of the doubt about needing his own players, but I hope we don’t see some of the fundamental breakdowns we saw this year. Things I expect no matter who the players are:
We play hard
1) The players are in good playing condition
2) We play hard
3) Players don’t come out of timeouts with no idea what to do
4) We play hard
5) We have an offense that isn’t just based on one-on-one iso’s
6) We learn how to defend a ball screen
7) We learn how to set screens
^Packer17 -
In fairness, Huggins kept a lot of Belien’s offensive principles in place for this season’s WVU team rather than installing an entirely new system … There was/is some decent talent on that team coming into this season, and Huggins maybe thought keeping similar offensive schemes for the guys Belien recruited might help WVU get to the NCAA’s this year
It would have been real interesting to see how WVU looked had Huggins completely changed everything … They even still play some of Belien’s 1-3-1 defense
SFN-
I think we are basically saying the same thing. I just want to see some improvement (maybe Javi kind of improvement is too optimistic). And not necessarily wins, though I’d welcome that. I’m with you: we need to see organizational and fundamental improvement and obviously better effort. I’m not expecting us to win much more next year, but I am sure hoping that Sid learns really fast what needs to change. There’s certain things he has little to no control over - like our quickness, GG’s turnover propensity, and talent or lack thereof that was here when he arrived. Other things he has some control over, and that’s what needs to change for next year, even if it doesn’t show up immediately as wins. I think most of us here can see through to what is coaching and what’s out of his control.
wufpup76, that’s a good point, but it gets to the concept of coaching to the strengths of the players you have. If our team would have been stronger by incorporating a few principles of the former regime, it would have been worth doing. We all groan when we hear the words “Princeton offense,” but I sure don’t mind a nicely executed back-door cut when it works.
Ddog, don’t forget learning how to BLOCK OUT and get a rebound.
Oh, and play hard.
First thing Sid needs to to is implement a strength and conditioning program. If that means a staff deletion and or addtion so be it.
There is no doubt about some changes needing to be made.
Most of it is off court stuff - S&C, fundamentals, etc
This is stuff that is handled differently from the NBA. I hope Lowe makes the changes needed to improve our club
some ideas for the offseason training and development:
hickson and fells stand 15 feet apart and just pass the ball to one another. this would expand their game (and maybe get to like one another); good thing gavin will be gone - he’d teach them to pass to one another’s feet.
horner just needs to get into some pick-up games…and get TASERED every time he tries a pump fake.
Costner. since he airballed at least two free throws, he should learn to shoot with his right hand.
javi justs needs to work on his jab and hook, in preperation for 2 more rounds with paulus next year.
^^agreed cwcanady… Strength and conditioning are a major factor for improvement next year and I think Lowe needs some help with new assistant coaches. If he is learning the college game, then the onus is on the assistants to help bridge the learning gap. SFN–do you hear of any talk of replacing any assistants? Thx.
I think the first point of emphasis should be “score more points than your opponent.”
^^^That’s the secret Doc!! Any if you turn it over before you ever get a shot, you have a 100% chance of NOT scoring on THAT possession!!
someone needs to tell MJ that he misses 100% of the shots he doesn’t take. and, statistically speaking, 99% of the shots he does.
Read the article. Didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. At least the issues are confirmed in traditional media by a respected commentator and not just by the fringe on the interweb. I can imagine LF reading the morning sports saying, “Really? I had no idea it was this bad.”
Chip in and send Sid and his staff to a coaches clinic! They don’t run an out of bounds play ever………In grade school throwing the ball over half court while under our basket is always the 5th option not the first……………….agree with conditioning also we need a Defensive system,fundementals,keeping your eye on the ball when geting back on “D”. Basically most things I learned while at St. Anthony’s Grammar School in Greenwich Village when I was 8 years old………And I wanted to get out of the city to go to school down south……………Geez get to watch my school experiment once again next year. Sids no kid nor is he an intern so lets give him one more chance……
i just can’t get that wave-off that Fergie did and then got the ball stolen, its like etched in my mind.
Fair you say wulfpup? He made some good points but still a homer article …….jj huffed and puffed all year and took his time getting back a great deal.Sid is and was pretty clueless and that could never be hidden.Any and all teams we played exploited our weaknesses we never adjusted and most games we lost we were destroyed at the end…….(conditioning? no system?) who knows if you all want him back well you got him back lf ain’t gonna help nor are the bot. Sids got 3 point guards here now and not a one will be able to lead us upward next year.Again losing most can deal with if you work and try hard and give an honest effort thats on the coach and staff as well.
Looking at our rebound stats they read as bad as I thought they would. Watching not our players not follow a shot is hard to watch, and the coach must see it to. How is that not correctable?
The quickness point is a problem - however, Lowe doesn’t seem to do much to alleviate this. I’ll never understand why Grant didn’t get time at the PF, w/ Fells at the 3, Johnson and/or Fergs at 2 and Javi at the PG spot.
I’m just concerned based on what I’ve seen from 2 years of his coaching that “playing hard” and “being tough” won’t be trademarks of Sidney Lowe teams.
^Good point chppack, that line up would be interesting. I used to think we had to find minuets for all of our good big men but that argument went out the widow in light of what good big men it seems.
^^^”In fairness, Huggins kept a lot of Belien’s offensive principles in place for this season’s WVU team rather than installing an entirely new system … There was/is some decent talent on that team coming into this season, and Huggins maybe thought keeping similar offensive schemes for the guys Belien recruited might help WVU get to the NCAA’s this year”
we kinda had some succes with the same thing last yr, and this yr sid started using his 1 on 1 iso crap and it stunk up the season. not to dwell on the past but maybe sid should have stayed with herbs system one more season until he really got some more quickness on the team.
also, the #9 point in Tudors article about scheduling lies on QT’s shoulders. and he is sids boy, the schedule was horrid this yr. fix it or get out QT!
The thing that puzzles me about our coaching is that our assistants have very good credentials, above average when compared to the rest of the conference. When Coach Lowe was hired, I think that the general feeling was that our assistants could help pull him along. I am hoping that this season was some sort of aberration, an (im)perfect storm of youth, lack of chemistry, lack of a PG, offseason problems, etc. The one thing I hope has been learned is that if Coach Lowe can’t get the job done in the next couple of years, we better have a new coach all but signed up before we make a change. And that coach should be an obvious no-brainer step up (like Rick Barnes). Otherwise we will be just rolling the dice.
And that coach should be an obvious no-brainer step up (like Rick Barnes). Otherwise we will be just rolling the dice.
Easier said than done, which is why we are having this discussion instead of speculating on what seed we’ll get in the NCAA’s.
Any improvement has to be rooted in this off season. Players at any level develop fundamentals in the summer. There needs to be a plan for each player that is specified to improve weaknesses and enhance strengths. The off season program needs to start a week after tournament elimination and it should require that all players remain on campus through most of the summer.
The workout plans also need to be supplemented with intense conditioning both in the weight room and on the track. There should be no excuse for being out of shape.
This is not the NBA with guys getting paid millions of dollars. These kids need a structure and a schedule. A summer of pick-up games is fine, but they need to systematically improve specific skills and conditioning.
Sid and staff really needs to have already developed these plans in reality for implementation as soon as possible.
Why cant they be coached to crash the boards often like they have a few times at end of game situations? Its like magic we get an offensive rebound. Wow how bout that. We’ve seem GG, and Big Ben do it, just not in the first 39 mins. And its not like we’re to busy getting back on defense. How can coach live with that???
There needs to be some kind of fallout after finishing the season (presumably) on a nine-game skid. An assistant coach or two needs to be let go. A few underperforming players need to be heartily thanked for their service to NC State and then kindly shown the door.
I am not ready (yet) to throw Sid under the bus. He’s still green, no doubt, but in his defense he’s had a helluva a lot on his plate this year with his family — his father dying, his mother having a heart attack, a son likely facing serious jail time… He said all the right things about putting those things aside to focus on his job, but let’s be honest, any ONE of those crises (not to mention all three) would seriously hamper MY job performance.
Given all that, I think he gets some grace this year, but I am expecting better things next season.
Howler - our coaches only had above average credentials if you think that mediocre HC = above average Assistant Coach. Often times, this is true, but not one of these guys came from a background as an assistant w/ a great program.
OTOH, if you look at Herb’s initial staff of Miller, Groce and Harris - I think you’ll find some quality assistant coaches. After Miller left, Hunter came on board. IMHO, Hunter was a very big hire at the time. We could definitely use someone like him. I think he really knew his stuff. Don’t ask me to comment on Phelps.
Choppack:
I guess I do a lot of comparing w/ Duke’s assistants, who appear to come directly from active playing status. How the h*** does K manage to create assistants out of nothing?
“but not one of these guys came from a background as an assistant w/ a great program.”
You are correct, Monte Towe was never an assistant with Norm Sloan for eight seasons at NCSU and Florida
Id like to know just what it takes to be a good assistant coach. I mean playing collage hoops and being in the business of coaching for 20-30 years and still your players have limited or no fundamentals? I think we as fans have a little insight as to whats wrong on the court. Just what the hell goes on that we obviously know nothing about? It must be allot. Because there are so many glaring issues we think we could help fix or have the answers to.
I think that Sid’s biggest failing this year was that he never got the individuals to buy into the team concept and put the team above themselves. And to me this is the most important #1 job of any coach of a team sport at any level. Great coaches are great at this, good coaches are good at it and lousy coaches just can’t figure it out. Think of a great coach in any major team sport and I’d wager that the first thing you think of is that their players always function as a team.
TOB talked openly about this very early on here. K is a master at it and last year, when he didn’t do as well as normal, they suffered by their standards. It’s the primary difference between Doherty and Roy Williams. Guys like Lombardi, Parcells, Belichek, Phil Jackson, Joe Torre, Dean Smith, Bobby Knight all made this a top priority. And Sid was simply horrible at this aspect of his job this year. If he doesn’t figure this skill out really quick then he’ll never make it here. He has to figure this process out and get guys to put the team first NOW, during offseason workouts, fall practice, etc. He can’t wait for next November, it starts this March. If not, we’re screwed no matter what sets we run or who he signs.
The one guy who may be able to mentor Sid in this area is TOB since it is a skill he seems to firmly grasp from his military background and other experience (Welsh, etc.). LF should force Sid to go to TOB with hat in hand and ask him to help develop this skill. Probably take all of his staff (whoever that turns out to be) with him as well.
packfinistan - How many national and conference titles did Towe win as a coach?
And I know it may seem sacreligious to say, but aside from 2 great seasons, did Norm Sloan produce consistent greatness?
Howler - regarding Coach K - those guys played under him and they know what he demands. If you’ve seen the mixed results of his protegees - you’d see that maybe, just maybe, it’s more about K than it is about a process or set offense he’s teaching.
Coach K demands gut-wrenching effort and intensity. From an X and O standpoint, there are better coaches out there. From a motivational standpoint, he has no peers.
^robo -
That sort of opens the door to a similiar question I had. What did the staff do during last year that they are not doing this year? I mean, our record sucked, but that was primarily because of losing Atsur. We still beat UNC-CH at home and made a great run through the ACC, with our post players playing exceptionally well.
From a coaching standpoint, what changed? That’s the head-scratcher.
Towe was a (junior) assistant briefly at State, AFTER Sloan’s glory years and Florida was something of a backwater team when they were there — maybe one or two NCAA tournament wins, one regular season title (the year KY was on probation). Towe’s history over the last 15 or so years (post-Sloan) prior to coming back to State is as a journeyman, with gigs in semi-pro, juco and low major teams. I don’t say that to be rude, just to say I don’t think there is much argument that he is an above average ACC assistant.
In any event, I thought we saw something against Dook and in a couple of other situations that confirms that Lowe has the potential to be a very strong one-off X-O coach. What he very clearly seems to lack, however, is an understanding of how to run a college program and how to coach in practice situations.
I think most elite college coaches do 90% of their coaching in practice. The kids are thoroughly and efficiently drilled, so that fundamentals are second nature and offensive and defensive sets are fluid, not mechanical.
Specialty situations (in-bounds, end-of-game shots, intentionally missed FTs, giving fouls when you are below the bonus, fouling the 3-point shooter up 2 with under 5 seconds, etc.) are taught in practice so that if they are needed in the games, the kids need only a quick refresher, if that. The basics are installed first on offense and defense, and then specialty plays (box-in-one, switch on every screen, whatever) are built on top of those fundamentals.
Then there is the ticky-tack stuff like who do I look at on the bench to get an update on the number of Times-out remaining, how many fouls I have, etc.?
The good news is that a lot of those are the things that can be learned. There are coaches who are way better at teaching offense or defense or rebounding or shooting form, but ultimately to be great they have to be organized, disciplined and efficient in the off-season and in practice time. But you have to have that foundation working for the little adjustments to make a difference between winning and losing.
This season, State’s foundation seemingly was never even finished or, if so, crumbled pretty much instantly.
SERIOUS QUESTION……..
Did Atsur = Phillip Rivers?
Was Atsur the floor coach as Rivers was the field coach?
If so then we will see the same think happen to Lowe as Amato.
Astur was what you want in your point guard someone to run the show,coach on the floor or in our case coach period!
It’s funny what an awful season will do. When Sid hired Towe for his staff, all I remember were posts to the effect that we had assembled a staff that could potentially take us back to the glory of the best NC State years. Upon reflection, it may be true that Towe was merely a journeyman; I just don’t recall that being mentioned two years ago.
Packer17
“I don’t follow West Virginia too much, but it looks like Huggins is doing a hell of a job with Beilein’s players. He and Herb recruited similar players, which makes me question Sidney’s credibility. Now, I don’t know if WV was left with an experienced point guard, . . . . ”
WV starting point guard is an experienced Senoir with a very good Sophmore playing backup. 75%/25% split from a time on the court perspective. Much different scenario at WV in relation to Point Guard.
Until they play like they give a shit, nothing else matters.
I cant wait to see that new play that sid drew up last game…. you know the one where costner stands out of bounds for the entire offensive set… yeah that was awesome
^or the one where we have .04 on the shot clock and no one is aware of it. that was a great play.
i also like how javi continues to go behind screens at the top of the key, often leaving the most dangerous shooters wide open. thats good stuff too
I recall the Clemson game at home. It was right before the half, and Clemson was inbounding the ball from the sideline with about 3 seconds left. Purnell subbed Oglesby in at the dead ball. Here’s what happened — He got a wide open look from about 35 feet off a simple screen. He missed, but that pretty much told me all I needed to know about this staff and about this team. They have been badly prepared all year long, and if they have been prepared, then it ain’t showing and something needs to change. That moment, along with Fergie holding the ball with he and Sid’s hand up their collective arses as time expired on the shot clock, pretty much said it all about this team.
Dumb.
Come now, where did anybody see a difference between this years team and last years? Both were pretty bad, except last year there were a few more games that looked like the Duke game this year. I don’t know who to blame, and it’s not my job to figure it out.
On the subject of Atsur brought up earlier, one thing I do know, is what success we did have last year can largely be attributed to Atsur. That guy was just basketball smart, and probably a coaches dream type player. Not dominant by any stretch, but smart. Less physical talent, and more brains.
I think Sid looked better last year because Atsur was so well versed in the game, Sid asked for something and he could immediately do it. Javi and Degand just are not there yet, and may never get there. But then again, that type of ability is pretty rare.
I can think of a few great play calls, too. The Gavin drive and follow by JJ at the end of the Miami game. The screens for Courtney at the end of the FSU home game. I’d like to say the dunk by Ben at the end of the Wake game, but I think that was all hustle. I still say Javi will be a good PG for us in a year or so.
nycfan - Nice post. Like you, I’m a big believer in the saying “every battle is won before it’s fought.”
I don’t think that there’s any disputing Sid’s ability to see things when they are there on the court. However, by the time you’re on the court, you should already be prepared.
Remember that whistle everyone loved last year? To me, this year, that whistle took a different meaning. How many times did we hear that whistle and see a ball stolen or bad pass made or hear it as the other team was getting ready to set up for a fast break.
If Sid’s going to keep his job - next year, you’ll see a team that’s in shape - and plays every game like it’s their last. You won’t see what we’ve seen the last 2 years - lethargic effort and pisspour execution.
mr. wolfpack90, I agree with all points. I believe Lowe is not taking responsibility out of self-preservation. What someone should alert him is it is only making matters worse. He should take a page out of Charlie Weiss’s book, eat responsibility and make staff changes as needed to address the problems (unconditioned players that don’t know how to play defense, for two).
LF is James Dolan and Lowe is Isiah Thomas. Dolan really needs Thomas to work out because otherwise he looks like he made the wrong choice. A subpar 08-09 may not be the end of this tenure. You guys are still talking about these high-profile recruits. Give one good reason that should come here during this rebuilding project?
Great role models Dolan and Isiah! I too was very optomistic waiting for this season to start,but unlike most here I can not for the life of me figure out why next year would not be just as bad or god forbid worse than this year.
Coaching is not at all that complicated and we are a so called big time university as well as an athetic program,why in a world do we have to let him grow into this job? We are becoming a joke but not NJIT……..so why are you all so sure things will change.
Does Sid have pictures of someone? His NBA head coachig winning percentage is .257 His ACC record now sits at 9-23
DAMN
Meh, I’ll wait till next year to give my opinion on keeping/firing Sidney.
You can’t blame conditioning, there are only 2 people on a team of 12 that were maybe out of shape at the beginning of the season. Costner was injured, and well… I dunno what happened to Horner. Costner isn’t the type of physical specimen that can just melt pounds off like Thomas/Fells/Grant probably can, he has to work for them as he’s not athletic. Grant came back in MUCH better shape as well as looking stronger. Fells has always been in great shape.
At the start of the year in august when Hickson came Sidney said something along the lines of “The only thing he needs to improve on is his conditioning, he runs out of gas too quickly” So it’s OBVIOUS that at least Sid was paying attention and Hickson by the start of the actual season was in good running condition.
I think whats hurting us this year is lack of BB IQ. BB IQ can be taught, but in pressure situations sometimes it isn’t retained. Atsur had an incredible amount of BB IQ/Experiance and when he was on the floor he showed it, he did the IQ work for everyone else as he could create opportunitys for them. Javi has good IQ, but not a lot of experience yet to back it up. I think when he comes back next year with 10-15 pounds of muscle he’ll be a excellent contributor to our team.
Grant/Fells have never shown that they have a high amount of BB IQ, probably why they were in Herb’s doghouse. Turn around to this year, and those same players are the 2 getting the MOST minutes on our team. Coincidence or Consequence? We’ll find out next year as Grant will be gone and Fells will be either at the 2/3 spot with heavy competition from Fergy/Thomas/Degand/Mays. 4 players with more BB IQ but less athletic ability (Save Thomas).
Johnny Thomas, a guy who is in the running to play at the 2/3 spot next year, has exceptional BB IQ from what I’ve read to go along with his immense athletic ability. Once again, we’ll find out next year if BB IQ could be the underlying cause of all of our issues.
I’m not saying that next year we’re going to kick ass and take names, but next year we will find out if BB IQ is what hurt us, or if there are other factors. After next year we will without a doubt know if Sid can handle his job or not.
Good post, Trip. I concur. The more I think about it, I really do think Sid needs next year to get his players in the starting line-up. PG play will improve and I think we’ll get some contributions from Williams, Mays and Thomas.
The big difference in this off-season and last off-season that I foresee is that NO ONE (save JJ if he stays) is a lock at their position. This past season we only had the PG competing — Fells, Costner, Grant, and McCauley all felt they safely had their starting spot locked up, and man, did it show.
I do NOT think ANY of those guys will come into next season with that feeling — at least they shouldn’t!
I’m sorry - I just have to pick out something from Jeremy’s post:
“He should take a page out of Charlie Weiss’s book, EAT responsibility … ”
Yes, I’m sure Charlie did EAT his responsibility … He does a lot of eating
Very juvenile and mean, I know, but I laughed for about a minute straight when I saw “Charlie Weis + EAT”
Thanks for the post. I look forward to your analysis after the season. I haven’t seen anyone fully figure out all that went wrong with this team.
Along with the part about personel and CJ Williams. I’m still in high school and my school played Jack Britt ( CJ’s school) in the playoffs, and let me tell you, he was NASTY. I wanna say he hit like 4 threes and he had a great game down low. I went into the game expecting him to just post up alot but was surprised to see how good of a shooter he was.
On top of all that, he had the game winning dunk with about 30 seconds left. Sucked for me and my school but nice to know he’ll be at state next year.
I really don’t think Sid really knows what to do. He really needs some help making decisions and redesigning the program. One would think an AD could help a new college coach with some very tough decisions.
The whole program needs redesign. Weight training, conditioning, defensive fundamentals and drills, offensive fundamentals, fast break, shooting, court position, rebounding (get the MSU coaches Cd). I really think he needs to get rid of an assistant or two and bring in some that have worked with very successful coaches for a few years and can help redesign our program. Our practice sessions must be nothing like a top programs practice pace or drills.
Sid, your coaches need to go to some leadership training. You need to figure out how to build a team of leaders. The coaches need to be unfied.
Quit calling plays, it doesn’t work except rarely. We have no tempo, no attack mentality, and it lets the other team get set up and only play 15 secs of defense to stop us.
The differences between wolfpack basketball and every other team in the ACC was so great that minor changes will not work. I believe we will know the outcome of next year well before the season starts in terms of what changes have taken place.
I pledge to buy my expensive season tickets again next year, even if I have to give them to anyone that is willing to go.
We finished bottom last. PERIOD! Many reasons why as we watched the train wreck. I repeat MANY.
Groundhogs Day over and over and over for what?…the last how many years? Turnovers and no shooters.
Turnovers and no shooters, turnovers and no shooters, turno…no rebounds!
I saw C.J. play to gopack17 -he has Stackhouse like game in H.S.-but I think he is a better shooter and he’s got some ups.
This team can not take anyone off the dribble to the basket-NO real big time shoot at the wings- Inexsperience at PG- BIG men can’t rebound on a regular basis(hell not at all)–NO real leader(very important)-Mistakes in coaching-NO LEADERSHIP WITH KNOWLEADGE AT A.D.(LEE)……And on ….and on…..
JUSTA THOUGH
All in all I feel really good after being racked and edited out by SFN a month or so back for having the audacity to say that JJ was a raw talent in the early season. He makes the all freshman squad but nothing else.
So people seem to be agreeing that wholesale changes are needed in every aspect of the program.
I hope everyone understands that any such changes whereby the head coach remains in place have almost no chance of producing meaningful results.
Ditto wolfonthehill ^ See Chuck Amato and his many staff changes.
As far as getting rid of an assistant or two, do you think there is an assistant coach who is worth a darn taht would actually consider taking a job here? We have finished near the bottom of the league 2 years running, won just 9 ACC games over that span, and not a whole lot of hope for next season. Might want to keep that moving van around…
I am looking forward to more SFN’s analysis when this season comes to an end MERCIFULLY. I hope that this analysis and visible changes in the program that HAVE to be made soon give us some hope that we will actually be a better team next year. Another year like this one I’m afraid is going to really make it that much harder for this program to be resurrected. The scary thing is I am not even sure we’ve hit the bottom yet. Looking at how we played down the stretch i don’t knbow how we won ANY ACC games. Of course I’m old and its has been so long since we’ve won one that maybe I can’t remember how we did it.
With TOB, who I believe actually has a plan, we may turn into a Clemson-type football school to whom a winning basketball season is just a bonus!