North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Wolfpack Seniors Have Earned Their Stripes
2/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2006
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. - As they get set to play their final home game at the RBC Center on Saturday, NC State seniors Ilian Evtimov, Cameron Bennerman and Tony Bethel will likely take a moment to reflect back on their careers with the Wolfpack. And when they do look back, they'll remember the hardships and obstacles they've all had to overcome in getting to this point. But once the pregame ceremonies honoring their services have concluded, all three will then have to focus on the task at hand, which is to help the Pack get a win over Boston College. Game time at the RBC Center is set for 3:45 p.m.
It will be a crucial game for NC State, which needs a win to maintain its hold on second place in the ACC standings. And after being throttled at home by North Carolina on Wednesday, the Wolfpack will again be trying to avoid its first two-game losing streak of the season. Top-ranked Duke and NC State are still the only two teams in the ACC who haven't dropped back-to-back games all season.
Boston College will also be in bounce-back mode after getting drilled at Virginia on Tuesday, 72-58.
The Wolfpack's seniors are all enjoying stellar seasons, well-deserved success considering the adversity all three have faced in their careers.
"Part of being a senior is you've been able to learn, overcome and grow from the sum total of your experiences, both the good and the not so good," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "These three young men that we'll honor have had terrific basketball careers and all have added great value to our program."
Coming in with an outstanding freshman class that included the likes of Julius Hodge, Jordan Collins, Levi Watkins and Josh Powell, Evtimov quickly became the poster child of what NC State's hybrid of the Princeton offense was all about. A lethal 3-point shooter and cagy passer, the 6-8 native of Bulgaria left fans breathless with his uncanny passing ability that first year. But then came a series of physical ailments that started with a torn ACL prior to what was expected to be a promising second season.
Since then, Evtimov has continued to battle knee problems, although he had been in good health this season before spraining a ligament in his left foot more than a week ago against Florida State. After missing last Saturday's game at Virginia Tech, he tried to fight through the discomfort in 15 minutes of playing time against UNC on Wednesday.
Along with putting together a fine career, Evtimov has also excelled in the classroom. He's now in grad school after receiving a degree in communications last spring.
"Ilian is accomplished in every thing he does it seems," Sendek said. "He's somebody who really gets the most out of the gifts he's been blessed with, both on and off the court. He's working on his master's degree and he's fluent in four languages. He's going to be a winner in whatever he does."
Above all else, Evtimov is about to witness NC State's fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Prior to his arrival, the Wolfpack had gone 10 years without a bid.
Bennerman, a native of Greensboro, has also been forced to demonstrate a certain level of patience during his four years at NC State. Playing behind Scooter Sherrill his first two seasons, Bennerman basically had to wait his turn. And after Sherrill sustained a severe ankle sprain in the last week of the 2003-04 season, he got the opportunity to flash some of his eye-popping athleticism down the stretch as a sophomore.
And although Bennerman currently leads NC State in scoring with an average of 13.5 points per contest, perhaps he will always be best remembered for the defensive job he did on Charlotte's Brendon Plavich in the Pack's first round NCAA Tournament game last March. After watching Plavich bury five 3-pointers in the first half, Wolfpack head coach Herb Sendek asked Bennerman to stick to the 49rs guard like flypaper in the second 20 minutes. Bennerman did just that, holding Plavich to 0-3 shooting while also scoring 12 points himself in the Wolfpack's come-from-behind 75-63 triumph.
"Cameron has really improved through the course of his career," said Sendek. "I look back to where he started as a freshman and in his own way, he's really experienced tremendous growth. His senior year has been tremendous."
Heading into his final home game, Bethel has become one of the league's most deadly 3-point shooters, hitting an ACC-best 53 percent against conference competition. But above all else, he has given this team toughness, maturity and leadership. Those are the same qualities that showed up behind the scenes after he transferred to NC State following two years at Georgetown. And even through he was required to sit out one season following the transfer, Bethel was already becoming an important force in practice, pushing teammates like Hodge every single day. Hodge, in return, praised Bethel's efforts.
Bethel's junior campaign was one he would just as soon forget. After playing well early in the season, he contacted flu-like symptoms which eventually gave way to an intestinal disorder. Then, not long after he worked himself back into playing shape, he suffered a severe groin tear in the first round of last year's ACC Tournament. All told, Bethel missed eight games in his junior year, a big blow when one considers that NC State has posted a 32-10 record when he has been in the starting line-up.
"When you think of Tony, you think back to all that he's had to overcome in terms of injuries," Sendek said. "What he's meant to our team this year has really hard to calculate; he's been invaluable to us. Only now that we've seen how brilliant he has been you can't help but wonder what he could have meant to our team last year. In retrospect, we can now connect the dots and see what Julius was talking about when he could only practice with us that year."
The scenario on Saturday will be a familiar one: in early January, the Wolfpack rebounded from a disappointing loss to UNC by taking its frustrations out on Boston College three days later. The Pack's 18-point win at B.C. was its largest margin of victory over a ranked team on the road in over 50 years.
Now, with their seniors leading the way, the Pack will try to do it again.
But before the ball goes up, Ilian Evtimov, Cameron Bennerman and Tony Bethel will have the opportunity to soak up the cheers of appreciation from Wolfpack fans during a pre-game ceremony that will begin at 3:30.
The adulation and praise they receive has certainly been well earned.
Evtimov Hurting: It remains to be seen if Evtimov will actually have a chance to play in his final home game. Those 15 minutes on the court against the Tar Heels, combined with a fairly quick turnaround, have put his availability in question for the B.C. game.
"He's sore," Sendek said. "We only got limited minutes from him the other night. Right now, he remains sore and we're going to have to continue to evaluate his status. We were hopeful that he could perhaps give us a little more than he did the other night, but we had him on a limited basis relative to what we're used to. He's not going to practice today (Friday) and he didn't practice yesterday. Since he hurt himself against Florida State, he has not practiced at all. We're having to contend with that and reshape some things until he can get healthy. We'll continue to evaluate how he feels and hope for the best."
