N&O: Hickson To Test NBA Waters

07-08 Basketball131

As we indicated just a couple of days ago…

RALEIGH — N.C. State freshman J.J. Hickson will enter his name in the NBA Draft but he will go through the process without hiring an agent, Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe said Monday, leaving the door open for a possible return.”He’ll test the waters,” Lowe said. “He’ll get all the information he can and decide what’s the best thing. It may depend on where he’s going in the draft.”

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07-08 Basketball

131 Responses to N&O: Hickson To Test NBA Waters

  1. westwolf 03/17/2008 at 9:18 PM #

    Who will we lob it into so our remaining four guys can stand around and watch?

  2. Astral Rain 03/17/2008 at 9:39 PM #

    Hopefully he has a horrible camp so he’ll be back, but he makes it as a lottery pick in a future year. Maybe he also learns how to coach so he can do that too while he’s down in Raleigh. (Someone has to coach)

  3. turfpack 03/17/2008 at 9:51 PM #

    Good player-If he goes can’t blame him-he has to do what’s the best for his family-I will always support JJ for coming here-the guy didn’t have a easy childhood- if you don’t know about look in to it-He does work really hard every day before and during practice.If he stays we will be better for it.The kid chose us that good enough for me.

  4. PackerInRussia 03/17/2008 at 10:25 PM #

    Hopefully if he comes back he can up his PPG to about 50 so that when the rest of the team scores only 20 we can at least still be in some games.

  5. JeremyH 03/17/2008 at 11:38 PM #

    I want him back but McCauley and Costner need to get their collective shit together, either way.

  6. JeremyH 03/18/2008 at 12:12 AM #

    I love this stuff:

    not saying Lowe should do something like that…
    but you know the saying, drastic times means drastic measures, b*tch.

    SFN: Unfortunately, we have learned that one of Coach Lowe’s primary deficiencies is toughness and discipline. He and the staff would have to get to practive early enough and prepared enough to do something like this. That has happened in his first two years, so we can’t expect it to happen in the future until the ‘leadership’ at NC State steps in and helps him understand the expectations and helps him execute some changes.

  7. aPACKadeez 03/18/2008 at 1:16 AM #

    Westwolf- I’ve said that all season long. Glad someone agrees. Not like we would run some type of motion offense, with screens and backdoor cuts or anything…cuz we are an NBA team. Oh wait, we’re NOT in the NBA SID!

  8. Howler 03/18/2008 at 6:23 AM #

    Thanks for the memory, JJ.

  9. graywolf 03/18/2008 at 6:53 AM #

    Many said at the beginning of Hickson’s freshman year that he might be one and done. Well, anyone that said this was correct in their observations.
    Will we be better without his or with him?…….

    Our greatest need right now is not inside play but guards. With Degand, Javi and the incoming freshman we might be just a tad better with or without JJ.

    I can only hope…..we cannot get any worse unless we just go winless during the ACC season.

    SFN: We are better with him. Period. The lack of continuity and the problems that you saw this year had little to do with integrating JJ and much more to do with a major problem on the team between two groups of players AND the loss of our starting point guard in the 10th game of the season.

  10. WolftownVA81 03/18/2008 at 6:55 AM #

    JeremyH, Donovan is dead on. If Sid had done this after the Michigan St. fiasco who knows… Maybe the season could have been different.

  11. Afterglow 03/18/2008 at 7:24 AM #

    graywolf-better with JJ. The attitude of BC and perhaps other team members need to change-not Hickson. If Hickson comes back, he will have a very good idea of what to work on and I think with his baptism by fire this year in the ACC he will only be a better player.

    I guess one could argue that the team attitude and coaching situation will still be the same so it doesn’t much matter who we have, be it Wall, Favors, Brown or anyone else after flash forwarding to 09. If that’s the case then I guess next year, or the year after or any year doesn’t matter. Me personally, I’ll Hickson back in a heart beat-he’ll have a warm seat on the bench when Costner comes in to spell him.

  12. PackGirl 03/18/2008 at 7:39 AM #

    I hope he goes. We are better off without another year of showcasing his talents. It didn’t work for a variety of reasons and you can’t blame it on the so-called selfish players either.

    SFN: I respectfully disagree

  13. Afterglow 03/18/2008 at 7:47 AM #

    PackGirl-then I guess we should all hope and pray that we don’t land a stellar 09 class for fear of showcasing their talents. Hell, let’s just ask everyone on the team to leave and have open try outs so we can have a team completely lacking in talent. And some cynics may say that’s a good idea.

  14. tvp1 03/18/2008 at 8:09 AM #

    “SFN: Unfortunately, we have learned that one of Coach Lowe’s primary deficiencies is toughness and discipline. He and the staff would have to get to practive early enough and prepared enough to do something like this.”

    Yikes.

    IF Lowe fails, and IF it’s because of issues like this…then I pin it all squarely on Fowler. When you put yourself in a position that you are basically begging someone to take a position and you have no time for due dilligence, this kind of thing happens.

    SFN: ^Your immediate reaction and conclusion is EXACTLY in line with what 90% of WolfpackNation would feel…especially when/iff they are educated on the issues surrounding the program. Coach Lowe CAN succeed in this role. Coach Lowe simply needs some leadership and guidance from his boss on HOW to succeed. Unforunately, it is hard to get that leadership when your boss is on the golf course or at his lake house more than he is around the basketball program.

  15. PackWolf82 03/18/2008 at 8:11 AM #

    Westwolf, imagine lobbing it in to Hickson for another year with him putting up 20+ppg, and the other four guys around not watching but actually contributing to at least the level they should be. Yeah, that’s probably wishful thinking. If only someone could harness that all at once.

  16. one00_proof 03/18/2008 at 8:20 AM #

    Smart move by Hickson and the fact he did not hire an agent indicates that there seem to be no “personal” chemistry issues with Hickson and the team. Unless Hickson has stellar workouts, I believe he’ll be back next season and the players (ie. Big Ben and Brandon) will have to deal with it and get over themselves. The kind of sad scenario that could take place is that if Hickson bolts and both Big Ben and Brandon “suddenly” return to form, you have to wonder if the mindset of those two players is a “me first” kinda thing. Not saying it’s true, but it’s a scenario that many people are expecting to happen.

  17. Noah 03/18/2008 at 8:27 AM #

    I’ll be pleasantly surprised if I ever see Hickson in a State uniform again.

  18. packgrad93 03/18/2008 at 8:31 AM #

    “Coach Lowe simply needs some leadership and guidance from his boss on HOW to succeed.”

    You think Roy & K needed leadership & guidence from their ADs on HOW to secceed?

    SFN: NOPE. But, that is about as stupid and irrelevant as any of your comments that we have chosen not to delete. (And there are a ton of them).

    You sound like Lee Fowler. We cannot live in the world that you WISHED existed. We live in REALITY and the world that DOES exist.

    In Lee Fowler’s world that he WISHED existed, great facilities would immediately equal success. That is not reality.

    In the world Lee Fowler WISHED existed, Herb Sendek’s inarguable ‘greatness’ would have led to tons of titles and a happy fanbase. That was not reality…but Fowler chose to manage our program under his dream scenario instead of reality.

    In the world that Lee Fowler WISHED existed, the contract extension that he promised Chuck Amato just a month before Amato was fired by the BOT would have gone through and Chuck could still be our football coach and Fowler wouldn’t have been embarassed by the fact that the University didn’t allow him to participate in the hiring of Tom O’Brien. In REALITY, NC State FINALLY made a good move and went out and hired a great coach for one of our programs and all seems well with the football program.

    Our basketball coach probably SHOULDN’T need guidance and help…especially in a perfect world. But, in REALITY – HE DOES need help. Fowler’s complete bumbling of the hiring process CREATED a situation where he hired a coach with NO collegiate experience and few contacts within college basketball. That is REALITY.

    So…you’ve got a choice. You can be a lazy, jack-ass prick and make comments like your comment here while we watch our coach fail and our program continue to struggle simply because you WISHED things were different because….or, you can be supportive of finding solutions to help make things better because a situation that different than your dream world actually exists in reality.

  19. Mr O 03/18/2008 at 8:35 AM #

    Scary comments from Statefansnation. Typically college head coaches are workaholics. I would also assume that most athletic directors are as well.

    Seriously, how the hell does the Chancellor and BOT allow our AD to set such a lackadaisical attitude in our athletic department? One would think that those guys would actually care.

    So in terms of the “two groups of players”, is it essentially Herb’s guys vs. Sidney’s guys?

    SFN: Not necessarily. The two groups of players were one set of friends vs another set of friends. A major catalyst in the rift will not be with the program next year.

    Also, was there any type of chemistry problem because of a problem we experienced way back early in Herb’s tenure that caused a player to essentially be forced to leave the program?

    SFN: Ding. Ding. Ding. You obviously already know what you are talking about you sly devil!

  20. PackGirl 03/18/2008 at 8:36 AM #

    ^^^^Having a star player like Hickson is not the problem – it’s the showcasing of his talent at the expense of everything else, including winning games. If we got a whole team full of stars that would be great – if they all did well the team would have to win. Even having just 1 star is better than none – if it is handled correctly. But it wasn’t.

  21. Rick 03/18/2008 at 8:39 AM #

    “You think Roy & K needed leadership & guidence from their ADs on HOW to secceed?”

    But THEY had/have experience coaching college students. LF hired a coach that did not. LF claims to “know basketball”. If he “knows basketball” the very least he can do is help the coach he put in such a precarious position. Maybe he can invite Lowe to the lakehouse for a chat since it might be asking too much for him to be here to address the situation.

  22. Rick 03/18/2008 at 8:41 AM #

    “Typically college head coaches are workaholics. I would also assume that most athletic directors are as well.”

    You would think that people that “succeed” at the level of LF would be, but it seems to be well known that he is not (note I term his success as making a large salary not actually accomplishing something).

    I have seen Lowe at many high school basketball games, I do not know what his work ethic is but he seems to put in alot of time.

    SFN: Perhaps recruiting, selling the program and being public is Lowe’s forte and is what he is particularly good at. Perhaps he needs a different set of lieutenants on staff with skills that COMPLEMENT his strengths as opposed to MIRRORING his strengths.

  23. CEK NCSU 03/18/2008 at 8:44 AM #

    CEK – we have a policy against bad quality. Your posts are bad. And your conclusions are simply incorrect.

  24. Girlfriend in a Coma 03/18/2008 at 8:45 AM #

    ^^^ “Seriously, how the hell does the Chancellor and BOT allow our AD to set such a lackadaisical attitude in our athletic department?”

    You can’t be serious with that.

  25. StateFans 03/18/2008 at 8:51 AM #

    ^ Must be a younger NC State fan who hasn’t figured out how incompetent our management is.

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