Lowe talks NIT, effort

During his weekly press conference Monday Sidney Lowe spoke about the possibility for NC State to receive an invite to the NIT following the regular season and ACC Tournament. WRAL’s Tim Hall looks at NIT possibilities here.

Postseason play has almost been reduced to a distant memory at N.C. State. Argue all day about what kind of job the head coach is doing and what direction the team is headed, but the facts are simple. The Wolfpack haven’t played in an invite-only postseason tournament since 2007.

For two seasons the Pack have gone one and done at the ACC Tournament, and that has been it. There’s been no ticket to the NIT, not even a trip to the CBI, and certainly no invite to the big dance.

Another topic of discussion Monday was the health of junior forward Tracy Smith. Smith hurt his knee in the second half of Saturday’s win over Miami. Although the injury looked fairly serious at first glance, Smith came back into the game late and helped lead NC State over the ‘Canes .

N.C. State’s leading scorer Tracy Smith banged up his right knee late in the second half of Saturday’s win at Miami. He was helped to the bench to receive treatment but he did come back in the ball game before it ended. Smith did have some soreness in the knee on Sunday. He didn’t practice today, but did take part in some light drills.

Lowe praised Smith for his toughness at the end of the Miami game.

“That’s the character of this team, all the way down the line. Every single guy. He was determined to help us win that ball game.”

09-10 Basketball ACC & Other

123 Responses to Lowe talks NIT, effort

  1. Thinkpack17 03/02/2010 at 12:15 PM #

    ^Well the game against Duke basically sent Ced’s stock through the roof. Coach K chose not to double team Ced and stay at home on the shooters. So instead of putting Ced at the top of the key Herb put him in the paint and let him go to work against one of the best defenders in the country. Ced went for damn near 30 on national TV and a star was born. So yeah I think that helped him.

    I will say that you are right about people being pretty obnoxious when talking about Sid and the team’s struggles though.

  2. Ed89 03/02/2010 at 12:24 PM #

    Being athletic and 6′-11″ helped Ced get to the NBA. Actually, Herb may have helped him get to the NBA by hiding the fact that he couldn’t shoot.

  3. Wulfpack 03/02/2010 at 12:31 PM #

    Herb also sent Harden to the draft as a #3 lottery, followed by Pendergraph at #31.

    I’m in no way arguing that Herb is a great coach. But to base your analysis on his inability to get his players to the NBA is way off base – there are a lot of coaches doing a lot worse.

    I’m only dealing with the facts, not conjecture and not opinion. Sid has to prove that he can coach because so far he’s been a failure by any objective measure. Next year is the year. We’ll all know what the deal really is. No more damn excuses.

  4. MP 03/02/2010 at 12:39 PM #

    Is “Spewing BS and posting incessantly” criteria to be banned?

  5. KChill 03/02/2010 at 12:48 PM #

    I wish some of these losers on here would just move to Tempe, so they could all snuggle up with Herb on a nightly basis. Or better yet, lets drop all pretense and rename this blog SunDevilsFansNation.

  6. blackdom 03/02/2010 at 12:48 PM #

    ^ To the power’s that be: You allow this guy to drone on endlessly ,highjack the thread someones adds a thread in the forum about Sid and you shut it down.
    Also Astur was the one and only point guard that Sid has had here ,I think he knew he was a senior when he took over here.But it is just taking him a little time to finding one.

  7. MatSci94 03/02/2010 at 12:51 PM #

    From this weekend

    1 2 T
    ASU 30 16 46
    CAL 29 33 62

    4 total points in the last 11 minutes of the game.

  8. Thinkpack17 03/02/2010 at 12:54 PM #

    KChill speaks as if these boards are filled with Herb fans. I can’t say I see it.

  9. Wulfpack 03/02/2010 at 1:00 PM #

    Again, not making any sort of argument about Herb being a great coach. Just refuting false blanket statements, such as Herb couldn’t recruit, or couldn’t get his players to the next level.

    If Sidney Lowe would just go win some games and get his teams at a tournament level, you would see wide support. Hasn’t happened yet, but it needs to.

  10. LRM 03/02/2010 at 1:04 PM #

    Gentlemen, this discussion has strayed way off topic. Please keep the discussion focused on the content of the blog entry.

  11. Ed89 03/02/2010 at 1:07 PM #

    Cal has Mike Montgomery. Maybe he should have been our 3rd choice. Or was he? Back to the thread. IF we make it to the NIT, it will be a good thing. Do I expect more next year? Hell yes.

  12. Rochester 03/02/2010 at 1:10 PM #

    As I mentioned above, Herb hit his ceiling and it was time to move on. I guess that sounds pretty loving to someone who wants him and the entire Sendek family burned at the stake.

    Four years later, it’s a little ridiculous to blame the plight of the program on Herb. Obama may have had grounds to blame some of the country’s troubles on Bush his first year in office, but by now we expect him to man up and make some improvements. If our country is in no better shape than the Wolfpack is by his fourth year, we’ll vote him out of office. Eventually the guy in charge needs to take control and stop blaming his predecessor. It’s not always someone else’s fault.

  13. LRM 03/02/2010 at 1:14 PM #

    “Back to the thread. IF we make it to the NIT, it will be a good thing. Do I expect more next year? Hell yes.”

    I agree with Ed…somewhat. For me the NIT would serve ONLY as tangible evidence of the progress I keep hearing we’re making — so I agree that is a good thing. However, if our issues are primarily personnel-related, like so many have argued, then I don’t see how extending our season with said personnel does anything to help us progress next season, with new personnel. I think it would only serve to give us unfounded expectations, like after the late-season ACCT & NIT run in March ’07.

    Your final sentence I agree with wholeheartedly.

  14. philliepacker 03/02/2010 at 1:17 PM #

    Way too early to even say NIT we would have to win out vs VT and BC giving us a still sad 6-10 league record and than get to the finals in the acct? I also love the ones that say we don’t want the NIT . And yes “those unfounded expectations ” I thought after the 07 run that things were looking up and Sid has done nothing since than but crash and burn. Looking back I place the credit for that run not on Sid but on Astur’s return to the lineup. I would argue that 07 was more Asur’s team than Sid’s.

  15. Rochester 03/02/2010 at 1:29 PM #

    I don’t see how extending our season with said personnel does anything to help us progress next season, with new personnel.

    I agree with this statement completely. It’s not like the NIT prepares a team for the NCAAT. It’s a completely different environment. The NIT is a step down from the ACCT in terms of excitement and attention. The next time we make the NCAAT it will be a new experience for every player on our roster. But the only thing that really prepares you for making the NCAAT is having played in one before.

    Also, should we make the NIT, what are we going to practice that is somehow going to make next year’s team better that we haven’t already been practicing? (And if there is something, please explain why we haven’t practiced it yet.)

    I’m not arguing for turning down a bid, should we somehow finish strong enough to qualify. The NIT is a hell of a lot better than sitting home. But you’ll never convince me that the NIT is a springboard to future success. The last five times we made the NIT we either made the NIT again the next year or didn’t make a postseason tournament at all.

  16. LRM 03/02/2010 at 1:37 PM #

    Well said, Rochester.

  17. Thinkpack17 03/02/2010 at 1:43 PM #

    “I don’t see how extending our season with said personnel does anything to help us progress next season, with new personnel.”

    A large portion of our team has limited in game experience. The more game minutes we can give to the underclassmen (Mays, Williams, Howell, Wood, Davis, Painter, Vandy) the better.

  18. LRM 03/02/2010 at 1:55 PM #

    Thinkpack,
    I understand your argument…to an extent. But unless Sid is planning to change his substitution patterns and give the inexperienced guys more playing time so they’re more experienced going into next year or he’ll suddenly focus on new situations and stress different fundamentals than he has the past four years to prepare for the new personnel, then how do a few extra practices and a couple of games really help? If we somehow manage to extend the season and nothing changes, then aren’t we just making next year’s progress even more difficult? That’s my argument against the NIT (and especially the CBI) being positive.

    I’m not trying to be combative here, just making my argument.

  19. Rochester 03/02/2010 at 2:03 PM #

    A large portion of our team has limited in game experience. The more game minutes we can give to the underclassmen (Mays, Williams, Howell, Wood, Davis, Painter, Vandy) the better.

    In theory, this is a good point. In reality, most of those guys aren’t likely to play much. Horner is a favorite whipping boy of many, but he’s generally more effective than Howell (Sr. vs Fr.), hence he plays ahead of him. Painter and Vandy won’t see much time unless Smith is in foul trouble. Wood is second on the team in minutes played and will have started more than 30 games by then, so another couple probably doesn’t do a whole lot for him, though it can’t hurt.

    If we get on some kind of roll and make the NIT, we kind of need to keep riding the guys who get us there, i.e., the upperclassmen. If not, it will be a short run.

  20. PoppaJohn 03/02/2010 at 2:11 PM #

    Man if they make the NIT this year – which seems incomprehensible to my small mind – Sid will be hailed the king of Hillsborough street and all the talk will be about ‘turning the program around’ and the ‘launching pad for better things next year.’

    That would be hard to take after this dismal year.

  21. Pack Mentality 03/02/2010 at 2:27 PM #

    Yes, when you come to this blog and read various sites on the internet people may talk about the NIT like it is something worthy of being discussed. But have you ever spoken to anyone out in the real world who gives two s***s about the NIT. I know that I haven’t spoken to anybody who cares about it and I don’t either.

  22. Ed89 03/02/2010 at 2:35 PM #

    Didn’t WVU win the NIT the year they beat us with that lucky-ass banked 3 pointer? They’ve gone on to do some good things the last 3 years. Just sayin, that it CAN be a springboard.

  23. Ed89 03/02/2010 at 2:35 PM #

    That, and Huggins is their Coach.

  24. LRM 03/02/2010 at 2:44 PM #

    West Virginia isn’t the best example to use in that argument. They were in the NCAAT the two years prior to that and have been every year since. So technically, that NIT championship was a down year.

  25. Wulfpack 03/02/2010 at 2:50 PM #

    Past NIT winners:

    Penn State over Baylor
    Ohio State over UMass
    WVU over Clemson
    South Carolina over Michigan
    South Carolina over St. Joe’s
    Michigan over Rutgers
    St. John’s over G’town
    Memphis over South Carolina
    Tulsa over Bama
    Wake over Notre Dame
    Cal over Clemson

    Oregon State and Tulsa won the CBI in its two years of existence FWIW. The losers, in a three game series format, were UTEP and Bradley respectively.

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