North Carolina State University Athletics
Behind The Scenes With Tony Haynes: ACC Hysteria
1/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Jan. 7, 2002
By Tony Haynes
This can't be right. Four ACC basketball games were played last weekend and in the first three on Saturday, the road teams all posted wins. Then in the fourth game on Sunday, top-ranked Duke, which was expected to make it a weekend sweep for the visiting teams, lost to unranked and unheralded Florida State in Tallahassee.
In the immortal words of the great Slim Pickens, "What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is going on here?"
Let's start in Charlottesville, where NC State rolled into town having lost 13 straight games at University Hall. The Wolfpack then rolled out of Hooville with a stunning 81-74 triumph over previously unbeaten and fourth ranked Virginia.
In Atlanta, the same Clemson team that lost to Yale of Ivy League fame just last Wednesday turn right around and defeated Georgia Tech 83-76.
Then in the Hallowed Blue Halls of the Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center, North Carolina suffered its worst ever beating in the Dome, an 84-62 shellacking at the hands of Wake Forest.
And just when you thought the madness was over, Duke's All-World guard Jason Williams bricked six consecutive free throws down the stretch as the Blue Devils saw their 22-game winning streak go down the drain at FSU. No, the little green men aren't invading the planet. The same Florida State team that lost to Western Carolina and American University tripped up the defending national champs.
What all this proves once again is that teams change from week to week and all--even Duke--go through their share of ups and downs. Looking at any team's schedule before the season and projecting the final record by checking off probable wins and losses is as futile an activity as it is popular.
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For the first time in his six years as head coach, NC State's Herb Sendek has a team that can handle the ball well at four positions, and boy does it show. In its two biggest wins to date, victories at Syracuse and Virginia, the Wolfpack went through fullcourt pressure like a hot knife through butter. More specifically, the Pack has executed flawlessly against teams that employ zone presses. After watching his team yield layups and open jumpers in the early stages of Saturday's game, Virginia coach Pete Gillen was forced to stray away from the zone traps he prefers in favor of man-to-man pressure.
Certainly, Sendek's exposure to various pressing strategies is an asset. As an assistant coach under Rick Pitino at both Providence and Kentucky, Sendek was always around teams that pressed religiously.
"I never quite understood the comment that people are so fond of making that pressing teams don't like to be pressed," Sendek said following Saturday's contest in Charlottesville. "Actually, it's just the opposite. If you are a pressing team you work against a press more than anyone could ever do, and you work against a quality one at that. I think that's helped our team."
But having good ball handlers at four positions doesn't hurt either. Players like Archie Miller, Cliff Crawford, Anthony Grundy, Julius Hodge, Illian Evtimov and even 6-8 forward Marcus Melvin all have the ability to dribble and pass in the open court. As a result, NC State is averaging just 13 turnovers per game, a figure that leads the ACC.
"We have a better group of dribblers and passers, it's as simple as that," Sendek said. "Basketball is a game of skill and we have taken some positive steps to improve our team in that area."
Here are some other statistics to think about: As a team, NC State has 226 assists compared to 183 turnovers. Last season's Wolfpack team had many more turnovers (482) than assists (372).
So far this season, the Pack has recorded more assists than turnovers in 11 of its 14 games. In 29 games last year, NC State managed to accomplished that feat just eight times.
