Let’s Hope That This Isn’t A Sign Of Things To Come (Again)

08-09 Basketball13

We will have a little more on basketball in the coming days, but one thing from the Red-White hoops game in Reynolds from the weekend jumps out at me:

Charlotte Observer/Raleigh N&O: Red and White Game

[Fans at the Red and White game] didn’t get a chance to examine the game of slimmed-down Brandon Costner, who also is trying to bounce back after slipping last season. He was sidelined with a sprained ankle but is expected to return soon.

Point guard Farnold Degand, returning after knee surgery last year, was back wearing a brace, directing the Red team and also logging time on the wing. He didn’t seem tentative, driving hard to the basket several times. But he hit the floor with 5:15 left in the game. After a trip to the locker room, he returned to the bench and didn’t play again.

While the beginning of the season is still ten days away and the first game expected to be really tough isn’t until December 6th against Davidson, it’s unsettling to hear word of injuries already coming out of the Wolfpack camp.  It seems that both Wolfpack major sports teams suffer more than their fair share of major injuries every year and that this year in basketball might be no different.   The signs don’t seem encouraging, especially for those of us who hope for the team to surpass the expert prognostications.  Bottom line: for NC State to have much chance at success this year, the team that will need to be healthy and running on all cylinders.

Let’s just hope that this doesn’t continue a recent trend of losing star players before the year even gets going.

08-09 Basketball

13 Responses to Let’s Hope That This Isn’t A Sign Of Things To Come (Again)

  1. RBCRowdy 10/27/2008 at 10:32 PM #

    Are any of the players who bailed on Arizona interested in whatever Sidney Lowe is offering to Wall/Favors etc?

  2. mdb08 10/28/2008 at 12:29 AM #

    I was at the open practice and the Red/White Game. This is what I took out of the Basketball situation to date:

    Individually

    Javi looks awesome. Watching at the practice, you can tell he has really improved his shooting. In the Game, he made a few AMAZING passes, and had no problems getting the ball up the court.

    Degand is obviously not healthy yet, he was not his usual quick self, and he got caught in a pile-up in the second half. VERY SCARY MOMENT, as he lay there on the court in pain; however, he appeared ok as he walked to the locker room, so it should just be a minor setback.

    Mays looked just like the shell-shocked Javi of last year, he looked lost with the ball in his hands, and he passed up a WIDE OPEN 3 with 20some secs left in the half, as an incredulous Monte Towe looked on. Physically, he’s got more pontential then Javi, so hopefully he’ll make the same improvements as Javi.

    Courtney looks like a smaller version of Grant with a better jumpshot, but still VERY streaky.

    Trevor can shoot it as we know, but still useless inside the arc, WITH ZERO CONFIDENCE TO DRIVE FOR A LAYUP once close to the hoop. (passed it off in the scrimmage at the practice with a clear shot to the hoop, resulting in a turnover)

    Johnny Thomas- TALENT. Potential. Didn’t make many mistakes. Looks like he could’ve played football, and before the game…he made a 360 dunk! Once he becomes completely healthy, he’ll be a contributor this year.

    CJ was unsure of himself, but you expect that from a frosh. Potential is there, but the jurys still out.

    Horner looked great in the open practice, and pretty good in the Game. May be as good of a shooter as Fergie.

    Harris took two good-look 3pters and made one clean. This would be huge if he could get ppl to respect his shot. Opening up the ocurt even more AND as always HUSTLE HUSTLE HUSTLE HARD WORK and HUSTLE.

    Brandon looked okay in the practice and didn’t play in the game due to an ankle. But he looked good, and FIT in the practice. Definately not the Rookie-version a couple of year’s ago, but lightyears ahead of last year’s debacle.

    Smith was VERY Impressive, great around the basket and he’s improved his range out to 16-17 ft. Now if he could only apply that to his horrendous FT shooting. I wouldn’t be suprised if he averaged 10-12 pts a game.

    McCauley looked ok too, more like two years ago [nothing exceptional, but better].

    Watch out for Greenway. he can shoot it too, with a few years of experience, i wouldn’t be suprised to see a few Nieman*-like games as an upper classman.

    As a Team

    I loved the new up-tempo approach and the transition defense I saw in the several half-court traps and full-court ball pressures.

    If we can get a 100% Degand back by January, and barring [God Forbid] any other serious injuries, we will definately live up to THIS year’s predictions for sure, and hopefully surpass. However, come conference schedule, if we have to rely on our two true freshman for any major PT, then we’re in the same situation as last year.

  3. Astral Rain 10/28/2008 at 1:33 AM #

    This year’s prediction is 9th, so hopefully can get into the 6-7 spot and maybe sneak onto the bubble or get an NIT home game. That’s a realistic goal for this year.

  4. BJD95 10/28/2008 at 6:22 AM #

    If Javi looked awesome (remember, he looked that way against Paulus too), then I would take that as a very, very bad sign re Degand.

    Without a healthy, fast Farnold Degand, NC State is absolutely, positively fucked.

  5. BoKnowsNCS71 10/28/2008 at 7:57 AM #

    Damn you Lee Fowler! Why did you let the team go play early in Canada when this team needed to go to France and play at Lourdes and drink the miracle healing water.

  6. michelletack 10/28/2008 at 8:32 AM #

    Let’s not get our panties bunched – Farnold took a fall because he was pushing so hard, and while it was a scary moment for the fans, from watching him closely as he sat on the floor it was clear that he was more pissed at himself than in pain. He was going hard, and we should give him and all the guys credit for getting after it at the Red/White game instead of screwing around. It seemed obvious to me that everyone is taking Lowe’s new harder edge to heart – long may it last.

    I think Costner was benched as a precaution – he was wearing street clothes and did not have a noticeable limp, you had to look for it.

    I know it’s hard for us to find positives, but I think forecasting doom at this point isn’t fair to the guys.

  7. Noah 10/28/2008 at 9:08 AM #

    Damn you Lee Fowler! Why did you let the team go play early in Canada when this team needed to go to France and play at Lourdes and drink the miracle healing water.

    Ha!

  8. Trip 10/28/2008 at 11:53 AM #

    Johnny Thomas- TALENT. Potential. Didn’t make many mistakes. Looks like he could’ve played football, and before the game…he made a 360 dunk! Once he becomes completely healthy, he’ll be a contributor this year.

    This is what I’ve been trying to say about this guy the whole year, he’s going to be a monster in a year or 2 if not immediately. The only problem I see from the stat sheet…

    2-10 FG 1-5 3P. I don’t know if they were dumb shots or if he was just having an off day as I wasn’t there… but apparently he has the green-light from Sid to bomb away from 3-point land so I would hope he just had a bad day.

  9. howlie 10/28/2008 at 12:39 PM #

    mdb08 — great overview. Many thx

  10. redfred2 10/28/2008 at 3:56 PM #

    Um, don’t take this wrong, but I think most kids tend to look pretty good when playing against their own teammates. Also, and if I’m not mistaken Gavin Grant for one, and possibly Sidney Lowe himself, have been pretty much berated for making talent evaluations when it’s actually way, WAAAAY, too early to know anything yet.

    As far as Javi goes I hope the reports are correct, then maybe some of the folks around here who pounch on and bad mouth inexperienced kids before they’re given a fair chance, will learn that player development can happen and will become a reality at NC State too. It just takes some time, along with coaches who want to develop kids into BB players, instead of wasting their’s, and everybody else’s time, by constantly tweaking and promoting a hoax.

  11. Trip 10/28/2008 at 4:40 PM #

    “Also, and if I’m not mistaken Gavin Grant for one, and possibly Sidney Lowe himself, have been pretty much berated for making talent evaluations when it’s actually way, WAAAAY, too early to know anything yet.”

    I don’t think Sidney has… I remember when Marques Johnson was about to get thrown into the point guard situation, Sidney said something along the lines of “He’s solid… you know, doesn’t do anything fancy, but he’s strong with the ball…” He never says anything negative, but he sure as hell wasn’t making MJ seem like a superstar.

    Looking back, this could easily be interchanged for “OH GOD WE’RE SCREWED”

  12. choppack1 10/29/2008 at 9:37 AM #

    Good stuff md.

    Regarding Javi – I wouldn’t be surprised if he became a solid and consistent contributor this year.

    Last year, he certainly struggled w/ his defense and sometimes wasn’t strong enough w/ the ball…He’s had an offseason to naturally and through weight-training and conditioning become physically stronger. He also should be more mentally mature.

    I think it’s possible he could have a Justin Gainey type year this year. We’ll see. He seems to have more north to south quickness than Justin did, but doesn’t seem to have the lateral movement that Justin did.

  13. haze 10/29/2008 at 11:56 AM #

    ^ Agree. Javi has some tools, some hustle and some toughness. He should able to put together a nice career before he’s done and it would make sense that he’d lift his play this year.

Leave a Reply