North Carolina State University Athletics
Hoops Practice Begins Saturday
10/12/2001 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Oct. 12, 2001
By Tony Haynes
For the men's basketball team at NC State, the arrival of a new year will be accompanied by a new cast of characters and a new style of play.
For coach Kay Yow's Wolfpack women, the upcoming season will bring high expectations, due in part to a solid group of returnees that played on a team that went 22-11 last year.
Both squads will begin a long journey when they hit the hardwood for their first official practices of the year on Saturday.
For men's coach Herb Sendek, the question is this: will an improved skill level and youthful enthusiasm be good enough to overcome a lack of size and experience in the frontcourt?
"We're going to have to be patient," Sendek said. "We're going to have to take time not only with fundamentals, but with terminology to make sure everyone's on the same page. It's going to be a real learning process for us as we get going."
The frontline Sendek will send out on the floor this season will look very different from the one he has relied on during most of his five-year tenure. In recent years, players like Kenny Inge, Damon Thornton and Damien Wilkins provided the Pack with plenty of rebounding and defense. This season, the Pack will rely on a smaller, less rugged and more skilled group of frontline performers.
"We're going to be really young along the frontcourt," Sendek said. "But one of the really engaging aspects of this young frontcourt is that I think they really have a good skill level. That maybe can allow us to do some things offensively to take advantage of that."
Sophomore Marcus Melvin and redshirt freshman Michael Bell along with true freshmen Josh Powell, Jordan Collins, Ilian Evtimov, Levi Watkins and swingman Julius Hodge will all be given an opportunity to contribute.
With more shooters and ball-handlers on the floor, the Wolfpack should become more efficient in transition. It won't take long to find out. NC State will try to take advantage of having more shooters, dribblers and passers on the floor by running at every opportunity. The faster tempo could also help the Pack combat an overall lack of size inside.
Meanwhile, the Wolfpack women enter preseason practice with all kinds of confidence after advancing all the way to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament last spring. Three returning starters-Carisse Moody, Ivy Gardner, and Talisha Scates-will give the Pack plenty of experienced punch. Yow also welcomes back point guard Terah James and center Kaayla Jones, who both sat out last season with injuries.
NC State has already appeared in the top 10 of three national preseason polls. Women's Basketball News Service lists the Pack as the No. 6 team in the country, while Women's Basketball Journal and Street & Smith's rank NC State 8th and 10th , respectively.
The Wolfpack Women will hold two practices on Saturday. NC State will open the 2001-02 season by hosting the GlaxoSmithKline Invitational on Nov. 16-17 at Reynolds Coliseum.
