Media Day Audio Clips
Sendek Quotes On Red/White Game
By Tony Haynes
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Senior center Ron Kelley
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No one associated with the NC State basketball program will soon forget
about the February swoon that prevented the Pack from reaching the NCAA
Tournament last season. A trip to the NIT semifinals was hardly any
consolation for a team that was 15-4 in late January. Then, out of nowhere,
NC State forgot how to win. And with key reserves Ron Kelley and Marshall
Williams sidelined by injuries, the team that triumphed in 15 of its first
19 games dropped seven in a row.
With that, March madness turned into a March mess.
Now, a new season is on the horizon. And for the program that has continued
a methodical climb upwards, this will be a year of opportunities.
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Junior guard Anthony Grundy
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"When you don't do as well as you want to it really does motivate you," said
junior guard Anthony Grundy. "I think everybody came back this year and
instilled in our freshman that we wanted to do better; we don't want to lose
seven games in a row again. Hopefully we can get off to the same start as we
did last year and continue it. I think our guys are really motivated and are
ready to start practice."
The Wolfpack won't waste any time getting started-three practices are
scheduled on October 14, the first official day college basketball teams are
permitted to hit the practice floor.
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Head coach Herb Sendek
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As it stands now, the Wolfpack will return three starters from a team that
won 20 games last season. That number, however, shrunk from four to three
earlier in the week after it was learned that senior forward Damon Thornton
had been suspended indefinitely for some off the court problems.
"I've obviously talked to Damon and he is somebody who is in a great deal of
pain," said coach Herb Sendek. "He hurts very badly, but my words can't
convey that with enough depth; you'd have to witness it yourself. We remain
committed to helping him."
If there's one Wolfpack player who will be under the microscope this season,
it's Cliff Crawford. The athletic sophomore is expected to take over the
reigns of a point guard position that was occupied by Justin Gainey for four
years.
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Sophomore guard Clifford Crawford
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"I think the biggest thing for Cliff last year was the learning curve,"
Sendek said. "He is somebody who even last year was a gifted athlete. You're
talking about a young man who's roughly 6'3, 185 pounds; he's very strong
and he has a gear that perhaps nobody else on our team has. He's extremely
quick and athletic. I think the year of experience he had, not only in games
the last third of the season, but day in and day out in practice will serve
him well and help him be the foundation for this year."
NC State will practice for two weeks before opening the doors of the
Entertainment and Sports Arena for the Red/White game on Saturday, October
28. The first regular season game will be against Penn in the CoSida Classic
on Friday, November 17.
