North Carolina State University Athletics
A Reason For Optimism
3/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 26, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Gavin Grant liked being in the Sweet 16. He wants to go back. And maybe even a little further.
The NC State freshman was one of many disappointed players in the lockerroom Friday night following the Wolfpack's season-ending loss to Wisconsin in the NCAA Syracuse Region semifinal against Wisconsin who was also able to be a little optimistic about the years to come.
"We are going to be really good for the next couple of years," Grant said. "We have a McDonald's All-American coming in here, Brandon Costner, and me, Cedric Simmons and Andrew Brackman were pretty good as freshmen this year. And our upperclassmen are really good leaders.
"I think we should be pretty good."
It will likely be a different team, since there won't be a specific player to take over for Julius Hodge's versatility. Hodge was the team's top scorer, rebounder and passer for the last three years, and no one player can take over for that.
But that doesn't mean there won't be someone to step into Hodge's leadership role. Both Ilian Evtimov and Cameron Bennerman are well-prepared to handle those responsibilities, each having been to the NCAA Tournament every year in his career.
"I want to be a leader on this team," Bennerman said. "I want to step up and be positive. But we will be starting over. We'll have to show the freshmen how we do things here at NC State.
"But I think we can build off this season."
Engin Atsur, the only player on this year's roster who started all 35 games, will also be expected to be more of a leader, a role he takes seriously.
"We have a lot of good upperclassmen," Atsur said. "I think we can be really good."
The Wolfpack, which finished with a 21-14 record, has been to four straight NCAA Tournaments now, and can tie a school record if it reaches the Big Dance again next year.
There is raw talent coming in with Costner, a 6-foot-6, 190-pound wing player from West Orange, N.J., who was recently selected to play in the McDonald's All-America game, plus a pair of 6-foot-9 interior players in Courtney Fells from Shannon, Miss., and Ben McCauley from Herminie, Pa.
Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek believes that his team will take some confidence from its end-of-season success, after reaching the semifinals of the ACC Tournament for the seventh time in nine years and getting over the hump of going to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1989.
"I think over the last four years our program has made great strides, and I think we have established ourselves as one of the best programs in the country," Sendek said. "Next year is another chapter. It will be competitive, as always, and everthing will start 0-0.
"We'll have a lot of work ahead of us."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
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