This sort of thing drives me crazy: unsubstantiated speculation that is 100% paradoxical to reality. From a (supposed) ‘professional journalist’:
Fox/Goodman: 65 Things to Watch For This College Season
Three ACC coaches — Maryland’s Gary Williams, N.C. State’s Sidney Lowe and Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton — are feeling a little heat to win. My guess is at least one of them is history after the season. But which one?
You have to wonder where this is coming from…other than the mouth-breathing fulminations of fringe message board posters, that is. I’ve not heard a single credible source say anything that might even lead me to believe that NC State head coach Sidney Lowe is feeling any heat this season. Not a single one.
This is a preview of ORLY? (Updated @ 1:20pm)
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Speaking of carousels, there’s always the basketball recruiting one, and it never stops spinning.
N&O/CO NC State beat writer Ken Tysiac posted a pair interesting quotes from hoops recuiting super-guru Bob Gibbons:
Gibbons said he has a “gut feeling” that Wall will choose N.C. State rather than Memphis or Baylor. But he said even if Lowe doesn’t get either of those marquee players, he will have a solid class.
Gibbons (espn.com, others) also said that State has a shot at Derrick Favors too, but labeled it as “wishful thinking:”
This is a preview of Bob Gibbons Has a “Gut Feel” That John Wall Picks NC State
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There’s nothing like saying the same thing three or four times in the same paragraph to make a point:
Bilas: Lowe Just Needs Some Time
“But I think Sidney (Lowe) is a good coach, and I think every guy needs some time. And he hasn’t had that yet. I’ll tell you one thing, when they let Herb Sendek walk out the door and didn’t try to stop him, most people in basketball knew they were losing a really good coach and that they were going to have to take a step back to get back to where they wanted to be.”
This is a preview of Bilas on Lowe: “They’ve Just Got To Give Him The Time”
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Derrick Favors To Visit Saturday, Attend Open Practice
Coming up this weekend is a trip to N.C. State, which Favors said he’s looking forward to meeting John Wall, a 6-4, 175-pound guard out of Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God Academy (left) and the top recruit in the nation according to Rivals, said he wants to visit N.C. State this weekend to spend time with Favors and potentially scrimmage with the team. Wall is considering Kansas, Memphis, NC State, Baylor, and Oregon, but has taken only one official visit, to Kansas.
This is a preview of Two Very Good Reasons To Attend Saturday’s Open Hoops Practice
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“There’s only one voice, and that’s my voice,” Lowe said. “… It’s my way. And our guys understand that”……”I can assure you, we will never have that situation again,” Lowe said. “They’re going to accept their roles, and I think our guys know that. And if they don’t, they won’t play.”
- NC State Head Basketball Coach, Sidney Lowe sharing some very important perspectives in Wednesday’s News & Observer
We are not going allow any comments here as these quotes are just an extension of this entry below.
Thanks
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Interview with 850TheBuzz
Interview with the media
The real story of the day may come from what was not said in Coach Lowe’s time with the media:
Q: Any other personnel changes?
A: Not that I can discuss at this point.
Q: Not just the players, but any other staff changes?
A: Not that I can discuss at this point.
The following are comments related to the 850TheBuzz interview:
Let me just say…I LOVE listening to Coach Lowe. Nobody is perfect, but I really appreciate his articulation of his perspective.
This is a preview of Two Coach Lowe Interviews (Updated 10pm ET): ‘Not that I can discuss at this point’
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the “slow season.” As we wait for the NBA and NHL playoffs to die their slow, agonizing death and count the days until NFL training camp opens (i.e., when sports is legitimately “in session” again), there isn’t much to talk about.
This morning, Dan Wiederer outlines some questions facing the Pack this hoops offseason. Not really any news, but it’s at least something to read (and a fair summary).
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There is an awful lot of interesting stuff for a Daily Update for it be a random Friday afternoon in late April. SFN will definitely have a lot more on the topics included in this entry in the coming days, but we wanted to get this out there for your comments as soon as possible.
Today there is a report by H. Williams Kellenberger in today’s Rocky Mount Telegram regarding last night’s WPC Caravan stop at Benvenue Country Club where Lee Fowler chose to make his job performance a public issue of debate.
This is a preview of Fowler Makes His Performance a Public Issue; Sidney Lowe Q&A with Chip Alexander
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Fowler’s talking to Tim Peeler on gopack.com, so you knew that some unintended hilarity would ensue. Although there are actually some good points in the article (SFN heartily welcomes the promised changes in the basketball office), we can’t resist commenting on this nugget:
“Regarding basketball, when I was an assistant coach at the University of Memphis, our team experienced a similar turnaround. In the 1980-81 season, we were 13-14. By the third year, we were in the Sweet Sixteen and by the fourth year, we were in the Final Four.”
This is a preview of More “Coach Fowler” Wisdom
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Here’s the full article. Key excerpt:
“Coach is a great man,” Hickson said. “When I came to this program, it was more like he cared about J.J. as the person rather than J.J. the basketball player. I think he does have my best interests at heart. If me and my family feel like it’s comfortable and I should go to a team that needs me, then make the decision.”
Lowe, who coached 15 NBA seasons before coming to N.C. State, said he will wish Hickson well if he decides to leave.
This is a preview of Charlotte Observer Hints Hickson Going Pro
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In this entry from yesterday the N&O’s Chip Alexander made reference to a situation that happened in State’s loss to Wake Forest - the Wolfpack’s 8th in a row - over the weekend.
Alexander was piggy-backing some comments that were made in “Observations” Charlotte Observer on Sunday that said the following:
When N.C. State inbounded the ball with four seconds left on the shot clock in front of the Wolfpack bench, no coach warned the team that there was so little time left. N.C. State cluelessly passed the ball around the perimeter a few times, then the buzzer sounded four seconds later
This is a preview of Attention to Detail
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A dreadful Senior Day is a near certainty. Final word: Yeah, it was dreadful. Just not in the way I expected. Duke takes it’s only second half lead at 87-86, and the game ends that way.
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With last night’s loss, it’s pretty clear that NC State will finish 4-12 in ACC play, with no post-season. We will finish last if Virginia wins one of its final four games.
Even so, I managed to watch last night’s game with a relaxed and calm demeanor. I don’t remember so much as a “damn it” coming from my mouth, or a scowl on my face. My 6-year old got pretty exasperated, but I assured her that everything was fine, and I was pretty used to it [losing] by now. This got knowing smiles from the other 2 people on my row.
This is a preview of Stages of Wolfpack Grief - Where Are You?
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Ever since I decided to write off the 2007-08 season as a learning experience for Sid and staff, things have continued in their perilous course. Clemson and UNC each went on huge scoring runs to finish off the Pack at home, leaving us at 4-8 and on the outside of the NIT bubble. I don’t feel any worse about the status of the program because it’s exactly what I expected - otherwise, I never would have published the “writing off” post.
This is a preview of Moving Forward in 2008 Hoops
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We set the stage in this entry last week that unless someone started claiming some scalps that the ACC would only have four participants in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Wake Forest’s big win yesterday over the Duke Blue Devils is exactly the kind of statement and scalp that the Demon Deacons needed to propel themselves into the conversation. If the tournament started today the Demon Deacons would probably still be on the outside looking in…but the Deacs are a lot closer than they were before Sunday’s game.
This is a preview of Wake Enters NCAA Tournament Discussion; State Mired in Point Guard Mess of Our Making
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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. After last night, there’s really no room for debate.
Go back to our post from a few weeks back, where we made clear that the offseason was handled very poorly:
This is a preview of Facing the Facts - BJD Writes Off 2007-08
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There’s an early (7:00) tip tonight, as the Pack takes on the Castrated Turkeys on ESPNU. Before the season started, you wouldn’t have been surprised that one team enters the contest in sole possession of third place. But nobody would have predicted Virginia Tech to be that team. After losing their best big man and 2 all-conference caliber guards, the Hokies entered 2007-08 as arguably the least talented and least experienced squad in the ACC. Yet there they sit at 5-3. Seth Greenberg is bringing a knife to a gun fight, but he’s still standing. Like Jim Grobe in football, he is finding success at a job that would be a wasteland for most coaches - and challenging for league supremacy when the right mix of senior leadership and opportunity collide (see Wake football, 2006 and VT basketball, 2006-07).
This is a preview of Sid Takes on “Basketball Grobe” Tonight (VT Thread)
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Very interesting - here’s the link. They have Duke rated higher than UNC, which makes me wonder how useful the index really is (I’d take UNC’s roster over Duke’s any day, and twice on Sunday). Also, if you look at perfoemance relative to talent, Oliver Purnell should get a huge raise - while Sidney Lowe and Paul Hewitt have some explaining to do (especially Hewitt, who is well into his tenure in Atlanta).
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Pack Pride’s morning webrun this morning contains that reads “Webrun: Pack Players have Quit” The highlighted quote of the entry originates from 99.9’s Dan Mason’s tell-it-like-it-is blog entry:
I never thought I’d be writing this. I figured there was no way Sidney Lowe would allow his team to go to Clemson and put up a goose egg like they did tonight against the Tigers…
…State Fan…..your team has quit on you. They have quit on their coach. They have quit on their university. They have simply quit on that celebrated uniform and you should be furious and saddened all at the same time. If you deny that, you are truly in denial.
This is a preview of Can One Quit If They Never Started? (The ‘Coming to Jesus’ Entry)
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