North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Basketball in the Summertime
6/28/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
June 28, 2004
By Tony Haynes
NC State men's basketball coach Herb Sendek had a big smile on his face as he entered the Reynolds Coliseum media room for a mid-summer press conference on Monday morning. Why hold a basketball press conference in late June? Why not? This is, after all, Tobacco Road, the home of college hoops hysteria. And for some people - especially coaches - basketball is a 12-month a year sport. The season itself is just a segment of what goes on in a major college basketball operation during the course of the calendar year.
"It's really a great time of year," Sendek proudly exclaimed. "I think any of us who have been associated with basketball have great memories of this time of year. Certainly some of the best times were this time of year, playing pick-up on the playground or going to a basketball camp. This is the time of year when the grassroots of our sport really take root."
Maybe it's not as exciting as a mid-February clash with Duke or North Carolina, but there always seems to be something going on in Sendek's world during the summer months. Whether it's recruiting, camp or keeping an open line of communication with current players, the Wolfpack coach stays busy.
He even has to deal with off-season injuries.
Ilian Evtimov, the skillful frontcourt player who returned to form this past season after missing all of 2002-03 with a torn ACL, is now recuperating from a lesser injury to his other knee. The rising redshirt junior had surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus on June 17.
"He's doing well," said Sendek, who won ACC Coach of the Year honors in 2003-04. "His spirits are good. It was really hard to watch him go through another experience like that, but certainly this injury isn't of the same magnitude as his season-ending injury of two years ago. The projected rehab time is roughly six weeks. At the end of July, he should be back at it. He's a tough-minded guy. If anybody can persevere through it, he can."
Sendek knows something about perseverance after having survived the struggle that marked his early years at NC State. Rebuilding a program that had become a perennial visitor to the ACC Tournament play-in game was a grueling process that presented a plethora of obstacles. But following a gradual five-year climb up the challenging ACC ladder, the Wolfpack has now recorded three consecutive upper division finishes, including a second-place finish this past season. Along the way, there have also been three straight NCAA Tournament bids and two appearances in the ACC title game.
"Slowmentum" has now become momentum.
"You always want to do better, you always want to be further ahead," Sendek said, refusing to be trapped into the notion that his program has completely arrived. "At the same time, we feel like we've made steady and continued progress. I think we really had a good season this past year. Even our earlier teams that didn't cross that magical threshold of the NCAA Tournament can be looked on retrospectively with great pride because those guys helped to build a bridge from where we were to where we are now. They helped us establish a foundation and worked as hard as anybody worked."
As the coach spoke, former guard Ishua Benjamin was no more than several feet away inside Reynolds, assisting a youngster attending Sendek's summer camp. The Ishua Benjamins, Justin Gaineys and C.C. Harrisons of the world never tasted the thrill of an NCAA Tournament game, yet they played an important role in the development of the program.
Now the Wolfpack can call on the likes of Evtimov, Julius Hodge, Engin Atsur and a whole host of talented players who were good enough to give NC State a 5-1 record against the powerful threesome of Duke, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest last season. A highly-ranked recruiting class will only add to NC State's improving talent base in 2004-05.
Hodge, the reigning ACC Player of the Year, gave brief consideration to an early exit to the NBA before announcing that he would return for his senior season. Driven by his love of the game and burning desire to win, Hodge will again set the tone for the Pack next winter. According to Sendek, the 6-7 forward is again pushing himself this summer in hopes of making his last college campaign a season to remember.
"He's extremely driven and he cares a great deal about basketball," Sendek said. "He works very hard at it. With all his heart he wants to do well."
And that desire to do well extends far beyond basketball improvement. Although he'll never be labeled a Karl Malone look-alike, Hodge continues to add muscle mass to his rail-thin body.
"He consistently weighs over 200 pounds now," Sendek said. "He's continually adding strength and increasing his numbers in the weight room. He doesn't have a body where that comes easily. No matter how much he lifts and eats, he's never going to be a real bulky guy. That's ok. There are a lot of basketball players like that; we're not wrestling or playing football. To his credit, he has really gotten a great deal stronger. The next time you see him, you'll notice a difference."
With Hodge showing the way, there's every reason to expect another strong showing from NC State next season, but once again, the margin for error in the powerful ACC will be small and as tenuous as a Jennifer Lopez wedding date. Given the fact that several very good teams will be welcoming the majority of their best players back, the journey through the league will be filled with one difficult challenge after another.
"Last year was incredible," Sendek said. "I think the ACC finished with the highest RPI in the history of college basketball. I think if you go around to almost every team in the league right now, most everybody expects to be as good, if not better next year. We start with very high expectations as a conference. We're all in for another unbelievable season."
A season that can be discussed...even in the summertime.
