Quick thoughts:
– The game vs. Miami was horrible. We looked more interested in partying at South Beach on New Year’s Eve than playing any basketball. Abu was about the only one who showed up to play.
– Sadly, laying an egg early in conference season is predictable with Gott.
– We have enough talent to secure the ACC double bye. We have a NBA point guard, a potential NBA prospect playing center, our all time leading shot blocker in the middle, a backup point guard that can actually defend fairly well, 3 good shooters, and 2 motor guys. That is enough talent to win and win big. Does anyone actually believe if given this lineup a coach like K, Roy, Pitino or Boeheim wouldn’t be a serious title contender? Heck, what if Tony Bennett or even Larranaga had this roster?
– Getting talent to you is part of coaching, and Gott’s been good at that. I will give him credit as one cannot win without talent.
– Gott is a mediocre coach on the court and as a program runner. He’s now got ~ 20 years of power 5 experience. He’s got a program with more resources now, but also tougher competition. At both Alabama and NC State he’s a .500 in conference coach, and his non-conference and overall winning percentages are about the same. This guy is what he is, and that’s not really going to change.
– There’s a lot of basketball left to be played this year. The floor for this team should be the Sweet 16, and the reasonable reachable goal should be to secure one of those top 4 ACC spots that get the double bye. By doing that, the seeds will be favorable enough to possibly win the ACC tournament and to get a very good national seed, which would open the door to the Elite 8 or beyond.
– Yow loves Gott and isn’t firing him. Those two are seemingly a package.
– Gott’s teams do tend to improve and peak around tournament time. That means we need to be patient and wait and see how this plays out.
– If we fail to meet the floor this year, Gott should be gone. He will have squandered a king’s ransom. He will not be though.
– If I were Randy and Gott underperforms this season, I’d ask for Yow’s early retirement. She’ll have done here what she could feasibly do, but more loyalty to Gott (NC State’s most important coach) isn’t going to be rewarded.
– I said last spring and I still believe that the BEST thing that happened to NC State basketball in a long time was Archie signing that extension at Dayton. Hopefully it keeps him out of play this offseason.
– For all those who were screaming about DD during football, I felt (and still feel) that by doing so, it has hurt our collective credibility to voice legitimate concern about Gott. We just look like the lunatic fringe. DD is a pretty bad game coach, has a terrible overall record, and doesn’t manage the media and fan base well, but against resources and input$, he is acceptable. Gott’s got a machine that is top 15-20 in every measurable way except his coaching performance. He’s the poster child for doing less with more. We are a basketball school in a basketball conference, and there should be considerable scrutiny of him. Instead because of the “noise” around football in the fall, Gott seems like a saint to the AD.
