North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Lowe Excited to Face Season's Questions
10/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH Sidney Lowe isn’t paying attention to what might have been as he prepares to start his first season as NC State’s men’s basketball coach.
He doesn’t worry about the players who are gone, the underclassmen who could have returned or the signees that opted to go elsewhere. He just anxious to get started with his inaugural season at the helm of a program that he once led to an NCAA Championship as a senior point guard.
“I am the head coach at NC State University how could I not be excited?” Lowe said Tuesday afternoon at the Wolfpack’s annual preseason media day. “We are NC State University and we have as much basketball tradition as any school in the country.”
The coach, who was hired in May to replace the departed Herb Sendek, has spent the last several weeks working with his players on an individual basis in the NCAA-allowed workouts of two hours per week. He’s spent most of that time installing his offensive sets and secondary breaks and working on a two-guard system that doesn’t have to rely on a true point guard.
“I figured those would be the biggest changes for the kids,” said Lowe, who was the floor leader of the Wolfpack team that won the 1983 NCAA and ACC titles.
The coach knows he has some holes to fill, especially now that Andrew Brackman made the official announcement that he would play baseball only in 2006-07. That leaves Lowe without his most experienced available big man and creates a depth problem in the frontcourt.
But it is not the only question that faces the former head coach of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and the Vancouver Grizzlies as he looks over a shortened roster:
Can redshirt freshman Trevor Ferguson, when he becomes eligible in December, be an adequate point guard behind senior Engin Atsur?
Will Atsur, the team’s top returning scorer at 10.8 points per contest, still be able to get off enough shots, while still distributing the ball to his teammates?
Can 6-5 sophomore Courtney Fells play as well all season the way he did at the end last season, when his number was finally called?
Will junior swingman Gavin Grant, who averaged 8.3 points a game last season, be consistently productive in Lowe’s offense? And can he help bring the ball up the court when needed?
Where will 6-7 freshman swingman Dennis Horner fit in to what Lowe expects to be an eight-player rotation once Ferguson becomes eligible?
How will 6-8 redshirt forward Brandon Costner, the Wolfpack’s top recruit a year ago, play after sitting out almost all of last season with a stress fracture in his leg?
What kind of defense will the Wolfpack play with 6-9 sophomore Ben McCauley and 6-8 redshirt freshman Brandon Costner as his primary frontcourt players, with some help from freshman Bartosz Lewandowski?
So Lowe goes into his first practice Friday evening wondering exactly what his first team’s identity will be.
“It’s something I have to find out,” said Lowe, whose team has a little over three weeks of practice and three exhibition games before its Nov. 10 season opener against Wofford. “Are we going to be great defensively? Are we going to be a great executing team offensively? As we go forward and start practicing, we will have an idea by the time we are ready to go (for the start of the season).”
Lowe was careful not to put any specific expectations on his team. He made no promises that the Wolfpack would extend its streak of five consecutive NCAA Tournament bids at the end of the season. But he didn’t say it was out of the question, either.
“(What is a reasonable expectation for this team) is something that hard to say, but it is something we will talk about internally,” Lowe said. “My first expectation is for us to go out and play harder than the other team. That’s is my No. 1 expectation.
“If we do that, then things will take care of themselves. We want to take care of the basketball, play together. Our overall expectation is to go out and out-play the other team.”
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
