Get It Back

General NCS Basketball Tradition114

SFN Note: We wanted to thank ‘Spin Wolf’ for submitting this fantastic entry to our email at [email protected]. This entry perfectly crystallizes what Wolfpackers over the age of 35 who grew up in the area have been trying to convey to younger generations for years and the feeling that we all share about the future of NC State Basketball now that Sidney Lowe has come home.

“This is what N.C. State does. Throughout history, we’re a basketball school that pulls off big upsets.”

– Brandon Costner, Saturday, February 3, 2007

To many, Saturday, February 3rd 2007 will signify the Wolfpack’s first win over the hated Tarholes in many, many tries. It will be the date that Coach Sidney Lowe bested Coach Roy Williams in their first match-up. It will simply be the date we beat Carolina.

To me, this day is much more. It is the day when I got my beloved Wolfpack basketball team back. Fans whose memories may not go back as far as mine may be puzzled by this comment. Let me explain.

I grew up in the 1970’s and 80’s. In those days, State-Carolina was THE rivalry and Duke was merely an afterthought. We’d watch the ACC Tournament in school on Friday and then almost get into fistfights over whose team was better. Dean Smith was well on his way to earning his status as a legend of college basketball, but there was certainly no great divide between the two programs.

And most true Carolina fans knew that. It was accepted that when State and Carolina faced off, you’d better bring your best game, no matter who was favored, because it was going to be a war. While Dean Smith kept Carolina in perennial Top 10 status and went to numerous Final Fours, NC State was able to keep the pace with both ACC and NCAA championships.

Younger State fans and current students should chew on this: As of 1990, State and Carolina were TIED in the number of national championships won at two each. In ACC championships, Carolina had a whopping one title more than State for virtual parity.

How did State coaches Sloan and Valvano manage to keep Dean Smith feeling the wolves’ breath on his back? Save for the legendary teams of 1972-1975, State never had as many blue chip players. But both coaches had the ability to coach Wolfpack hoopsters into playing beyond themselves. This ability to accomplish more with less (as opposed to less with more..cough..cough..) is the legacy of NC State basketball. At the time of Coach Valvano’s resignation, NC State HAD TO be included in any discussion of great college basketball programs.

And yet for most of the last 17 years, NC State had let that legacy crumble. We had a program that played to the level of talent we had, sometimes less than that, but rarely more. And as a lifelong Wolfpacker, I felt like the program I grew up cheering, loving, and yes – fighting for, had died. We didn’t have the ability to get hot and pull off a run in the tournament. If we beat Carolina, it was because CC Harrison turned into Kobe Bryant for two hours or because Matt Doherty couldn’t coach.

Saturday, Coach Sidney Lowe changed all that.

Lowe coached our extremely thin team to give 110 percent for 40 minutes and match a bench full of McDonald’s All-Americans shot for shot. Coach Lowe knows the legacy of NC State basketball and is instilling it into our players daily. The red jacket, bringing back prominent players of the past, switching up non-conventional defenses are all signs that Coach Lowe knows how to emulate his predecessors and accomplish more with less.

Carolina is still an odds-on favorite to go to another Final Four this year. I’ve still got State penciled into the NIT. But on February 3, 2007, I saw a program that played with tenacity and emotion to overcome tremendous odds and beat our arch-rival. I saw a program ready to embrace our storied history. This day will always be the day that I got my Wolfpack basketball team back.

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General NCS Basketball Tradition

114 Responses to Get It Back

  1. BoKnowsNCS71 02/05/2007 at 3:18 PM #

    I used to have a Wolfpack Red Blazer. In fact, when I went to the Peach Bowl back in Coach Sheridan’s first year — almost all the Wolfpack Alumni dressed in their red blazers for the pre- and post-game events.

    Someone on the buzz blog made a cut that Lowe was being “Amato” — which is so far off. The tradition of red blazers has been around a long time at NC State — maybe not as fashionable now — but they are a mainstay for many alumni.

    I outgrew mine and passed it on a few year’s back but I’m in the market looking for a new one. Anybody got any leads?

  2. BJD95 02/05/2007 at 3:19 PM #

    Rick and Rick are right – Degand is VERY fast. He also supposedly plays good defense. Right now, his weak point is his shot. We will need Fells to be much more consistent next year, to keep defenses honest.

    Degand and Johnson will be a nice combination, and each brings a different pace/skill set.

    Without question, I expect McCauley to be the team leader. Open question – is GG morphing into the Osh Benjamin role?

  3. Gene 02/05/2007 at 3:35 PM #

    is GG morphing into the Osh Benjamin role?

    Grant would have to focus exclusively on being a defensive stopper to morph into Benjamin’s role. I can’t see him doing that. We need him to keep attacking the basket and trying to score. He just needs to find a way to cut down on the turn overs.

  4. choppack1 02/05/2007 at 3:41 PM #

    Thanks for the info on Degand. If he can combine quickness and good ball control, well, that’s a skillset we haven’t had since Corchiani and Kelsey Weems (although Gainey was fast enough and controlled enough.)

    Noah – I enjoyed your post on V and our actions. A lot of us weren’t pleased w/ what V was doing, but my impression was that even before the “book” was released, he and the university had started heading in the right direction. I do know he was much more focused on basketball in the late 80s than he was the years immediately following the championship. (If you weren’t around V even had a short-lived national talk show!)

    Folks who often worry too much about reaction and too little about the true scope of the problem usually overreact. Our administration did so when they forced out V.

    V was not “beyond hope.” There was no reason to believe that he couldn’t win in an environment that focused more on academics. His crime also was not one that demanded removing him from his head coaching duties. Yes, he should have definitely been removed as AD.

    My impression was that at the end of his tenure, he was totally focused on his baketball job – that wasn’t always the case in Raleigh. But when you have a guy w/ V’s potential, it’s the stupidest thing imaginable to force him out. (Where was the media criticism of these actions then?)

  5. beowolf 02/05/2007 at 3:47 PM #

    “Someone on the buzz blog made a cut that Lowe was being ‘Amato’ — which is so far off.”

    That’s so funny. You watch, it won’t take long before the media starts up saying we prefer our coaches loud and flashy, like Amato. Even though it’s just months since we cut Amato loose and they said we were tired of Amato’s style. Of course, that was just a couple years after they were saying we prefer our coaches loud and flashy.

    They never seem to make the connection between wins and a fanbase’s like for a coach, at least as it pertains to us.

  6. beowolf 02/05/2007 at 3:51 PM #

    Chop, the “media” were doing everything possible to get V fired. And the university was doing everything possible to shut them up about V.

    I think V’s goose was cooked when they brought him in for a “show trial” about academics before the UNC General Administration and asked him about his team’s graduation rate. He showed that it was the same as the university’s at large. He was supposed to fall on the sword at that point. Instead, he embarrassed the UNC system and NC State, and he was blamed for “scaring off” Phi Beta Kappa, whom NC State was recruiting to come to campus.

  7. RedTerror29 02/05/2007 at 3:56 PM #

    Re: Red Blazers

    I wouldn’t call anything “clown attire” that my preacher has worn to church on Sunday. Heck, I was hoping Sidney would sport the full red suit, but that might have been a bit much. Was it velvet though?

    It’s hard to find red blazers period, particularly ones that aren’t velvet or expensive. I plan on combing thrift stores for mine.

  8. redfred2 02/05/2007 at 4:09 PM #

    Can’t really blame the media. Afterall how much splash can a grown adult male really exhibit while wearing a powder blue anything.

    Uh Noah, I sorely misread an earlier post of yours while talking on the phone. No offense meant. Great follow up post about what happened, and should have happened, back then!

  9. Gene 02/05/2007 at 4:11 PM #

    http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/univ_relations/Adsearch/robinson_article.htm

    Nice article on Les Robinson.

  10. GoldenChain 02/05/2007 at 4:24 PM #

    You know, I don’t give darn if Lowe wears red longjohns as long as he beats Carolina.

  11. choppack1 02/05/2007 at 4:24 PM #

    Beo – You’re exactly right. It’s amazing the lengths the N&O and even the national media went to fire Valvano. OTOH, we sure got raked over the coals for being unhappy w/ Sendek. He wasn’t even fired. But when has the media really focused on facts anyhoo…

  12. highonlowe 02/05/2007 at 4:30 PM #

    Tomorrow’s game in Atlanta will be telling. A win would go a long way since GT also only has 3 conf wins so far.
    GT has losses to: UCLA, Miami, Vandy, Clemson, UNC, Maryland, VT, and Wake.
    But they also have ‘good’ wins against: Memphis, Duke, FSU, and Clemson.

  13. Rick 02/05/2007 at 4:38 PM #

    “Also, on the Sidney Lowe show last night, Courtney Fells was talking about how much the players truly enjoyed playing for Sidney. ”

    Players talk. If this is true (and I have no reason to think it is not) then it will lead to even better recruiting.

  14. Woof Wolf 02/05/2007 at 4:39 PM #

    Media apologies? These are probably as close as we are going to get.

    Dick Vitale, Saturday night on ESPN said, “Herb Sendek is a good coach, but N. C. State has a rising star in Sidney Lowe.”

    And in the article referenced above on ESPN.com:

    “Every game will still be a struggle for the Wolfpack, but be certain about this: NC State won’t be an easy out under Sidney Lowe. This week, the Wolfpack became the headline team in The Triangle — and with UNC and Duke as competitors, that’s something to savor,” Andy Katz.

  15. BoKnowsNCS71 02/05/2007 at 4:42 PM #

    highonlowe — agree. If the team can stay grounded and not start thinking that they just have to show up — it will show how much maturity and fight there is in this team. They are going to have to get off cloud 9 and scrap with the rest.

  16. ShootingGuard 02/05/2007 at 5:03 PM #

    Geez.

    I hope people realize that I wasn’t calling Lowe’s blazer clown material—only that THE MEDIA would try to turn it against Lowe in some way…

    Frankly, I hope we get another shot at Duke in the ACCT, and I hope Sid breaks out a vintage plaid or checkered Sloan 70’s coat, and the team makes Paulrapeus and McKneel&Bob look like clowns…

  17. noah 02/05/2007 at 5:09 PM #

    Arizona State is currently 6-16 I saw….were they expected to be THAT bad?

  18. Spin Wolf 02/05/2007 at 5:14 PM #

    Thanks for the great comments today everyone. Couple of things –

    1) Noah is spot on (as usual) with what we should have done when the “scandal” broke. On the one hand, all of this happened nearly 20 years ago, but on the other hand, I’d like to to think that the costly lesson was learned and that our University will never let this happen again. In this day and age of Internet and individual journalism, I know that the fanbase sure wouldn’t.

    2) To the best of my knowledge, the “official” WPC red blazers come from Joe Sugar’s in St. Paul’s NC. When I lost my Dad a few of years ago, the men in our church bought him the red blazer to be buried in and got it there.

    I want to say I’ve also seen ads in recent issues of The Wolfpacker for a red blazer with an official Wolfpack lining in them.

    In any event, I don’t think Sid got his at Sugar’s – the three button model is a bit hip for their clientele. 🙂

  19. GAWolf 02/05/2007 at 5:15 PM #

    ^Noah: I think they lost as much, if not more, than we did to various forms of attrition. And chances are pretty good that their talent level was lower than ours before guys started leaving.

  20. GAWolf 02/05/2007 at 5:21 PM #

    I’ve been comparing GG to Benjamin for weeks now. And that’s not a good thing…

  21. redfred2 02/05/2007 at 5:43 PM #

    GA

    The talent level was on par with Arizona State’s talent level. Any comparisons to the level of talent, a level that a conference like the ACC inherently lends itself to, really does not apply. The attrition rate at ASU was definitely not any higher than it was at NC State. They didn’t loose more than we did with Brackman and Simmons not coming back, plus Davis and Werner.

    Say all you want about Arizona State, and Herb, but please don’t compare. The only comparisons that have made a program like ASU’s anywhere comparable to an NC State, is/was the man at helm.

  22. BoKnowsNCS71 02/05/2007 at 6:19 PM #

    Spin Wolf – Thanks I went to Joe Sugars online and they only had colors in black and blue (which is fitting for the previous 10 years). Nice to say they had no other school blazers — just ours.

    http://www.joesugars.com/NCStateBlackBlazer/NCStateBlackBlazer.htm

    I emailed them to see if Red was coming. Told them it would be a hot item.

    Maybe Sid needs to open a clothing line himself. He is a snappy dresser.

  23. rockwolf 02/05/2007 at 6:48 PM #

    great post!

    the only think more disheartening that the W-L record the past 17 years has been the Wolfpack fans who confuse mediocrity with success.

    While this year’s team may not make the big dance, I’m not ready to count them out either. I think this team will be disappointed if they don’t make it. That’s the way it should be.

    Go Pack!

  24. vtpackfan 02/05/2007 at 7:33 PM #

    Pacman put it better then anyone in the media could have today on his show.

    ” Things in the ACC are always better when NC State is good”.

    “We’ve had UNC and Duke as the top tier teams through out, and then GT, WF, Maryland make runs to the top now and then, but the ACC is at it’s best when NC State is good….Duke is basically New Jersey and Wake Switzerland, so nothing gets under the Tar Heels fans more then when people are coming out of the woodwork, getting fired up over Wolfpack basketball.”

  25. Mr O 02/05/2007 at 8:09 PM #

    Shooting Guard: Thanks for saying that a lot better than I did. That was exactly my point.

    It wasn’t that Sidney would have been portrayed as a clown, but instead the comments would have been something like that it takes a lot more than a red jacket to beat ACC and/or be better than Herb Sendek, blah, blah, blah, etc..

    As far as GG, he is leading our team in scoring in ACC play this year. He did save our ass against UNCG with the three pointer. He also hit some very key shots in the UNC game(length of the court drive before halftime, two threes in the 2nd half). He played great in the 2nd half against Va Tech.

    Unfortunately he does make numerous mistakes. However, IMO that is more because we have no PG to handle the ball and no PG who can go get the ball from players when they are in trouble. In these situations he tends to make very bad passes.

    GG will still play a key role for us the next two years.

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