North Carolina State University Athletics
Preseason Q&A: Head Coach Jim Valvano
11/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Reprinted with permission of The Wolfpacker and Coman Publishing Co.
Nov. 22, 1982
With the opening game of the 1982-83 season just a week away, third-year NC State coach Jim Valvano does not have a good feeling about his team’s prospects. He’s watched his players struggle to play two styles of basketball in three intra-squad scrimmages and an exhibition game against Marathon Oil.
He’s a little uneasy about the ACC’s experimental rules and the 30-second shot clock. In short, he’s not sure if this squad, ranked No. 16 in the preseason and picked to finish third in the conference in a preseason poll of writers that cover the league, will live up to those lofty expectations.
The Wolfpack opens the season on Nov. 29 against
THE WOLFPACKER: How is the team playing going into the final week of practice?
VALVANO: We are not playing as well as I would have hoped at this point. I never try to mislead anyone. If I think we are good, I will say we are good. I’ve always been that way. Two years ago, I thought we were excellent. And we were. We just couldn’t get over the hump. We couldn’t win a couple of those close games. Last year, I thought we had some potential, and it did develop. The chemistry was perfect, and we won 22 games. This year, I’m not pleased with our play.
THE WOLFPACKER: Why?
VALVANO: Mostly because we are trying to prepare for a style of ball which might not be best suited for this particular ballclub. Obviously, I’m referring to the new rules. I’d like to get the record straight, though. I am in favor of a clock, and I still am after all our practices, our three Red-White games, and our Marathon Oil contest. There’s no question in my mind that I love the clock.
At the present time, I am not all that much in favor of the 19-foot three-point shot. It’s too close. I’ll have to reserve some judgment until we start playing conference games, but it seems that has been the real change, not the 30-second clock. The 30-second clock does what I wanted. It creates action. The clock makes you play. It makes you do good things to win.
The 19-foot shot, however, at this juncture appears to have changed our game drastically. It dictates the defense you must play. That’s why, right now, I don’t feel it is in the best interest of our game. Again, I temper this judgment because we have not played any league games, and I might be wrong.
In light of all that, we have been practicing entirely man-to-man defenses. Some clubs are just suited for a zone. Last year, we were an ideal zone defense team. I think that’s what the game is about. You take the personnel that you have and do the best you can within the framework of the rules.
Because we have practiced so much man-to-man defense to prepare for our conference schedule, our progress has been slowed. We are not at our best in strictly man-to-man play. We have some players who can play it, but our inside people,
THE WOLFPACKER: How does this year’s club compare with last year’s 22-10 team?
VALVANO: I think we are a better basketball team than last year. We have more depth. Obviously, most people think that because we are picked in almost everyone’s Top 20. But with the new rules, I’m not sure that we will be as good as it appears we can be on paper. We have not progressed as far as I would like as we talk.
Last year, we were pretty well established early, and the schedule allowed us to develop our style of ball. This year, we do not have the luxury of the schedule, and we have not developed our style of ball.
We have practiced man-to-man defense and offense against a man-to-man defense. However, we play five of our first six games without a clock and without a 19-foot shot. Therefore, our best style would be with a combination of zone and man-to-man, and we are not prepared.
I don’t think we are as good a team as we are going to be. I think we are going to improve as we get a better grasp for our team. We are searching a little bit. What we have to hope is that we don’t lose a game we are supposed to win as we are finding ourselves. That’s a distinct possibility.
I think, though, with our combination of experience and young talent that we will find our stride, our best style of ball. It might be one style for non-conference games and one style for conference games, but I don’t think that will be the case. I think we will find the best combination of man-to-man defenses, zone defenses, half-court traps and full-court pressure that will be to our advantage.
I do think that our conference play will be handicapped somewhat, and that there will be an inordinate amount of advantage to the clubs with the best athletes. They will be best suited to play the style of ball our conference rules dictate.
THE WOLFPACKER: What are the strengths and weaknesses of this year’s team?
VALVANO: The strength of this team is our depth. In the backcourt, we have five players who can play, two seniors, a sophomore and two freshmen. All are very good. I don’t think there is a backcourt in the country with more depth. I can’t imagine anybody with five better guards than we have.
We have two power players,
Where we don’t have depth is at the center spot. We’ve had it in the past. We haven’t had great centers, but we had depth. My first year here, we had [Craig]
Depth is a positive for us and so is experience in three positions.
Weaknesses for us are probably the lack of a pure three-man who can shoot the ball. We could really use a 6-7 pure shooter. Not Thurl. He’s 6-11 and a pure shooter from 15 feet in. We need the Artie Jones-type shooter. That and the lack of another center concern me. We are better, though, at four positions when you take the starter and his backup than we have been in two years.
THE WOLFPACKER: You will be starting the season with the highest ranked team of your career. Does that bring added pressure?
VALVANO: Yes! I think you must take all pre-season polls for what they are a compliment. They are a compliment of what people think of your program at this point. It’s a compliment of what people think of your program at this point. It’s a statement on your program by the fans, the sportswriters and your colleagues. That’s what makes me feel good. As we go into our third year, our program is judged by those in the print media as one of the top 20 in the country. That’s nice.
But our ranking doesn’t make the season easier. It makes it harder. Now that will be up on everyone’s locker room. Now, you have to live up to all those expectations. That can be difficult sometimes. We are also looked upon as a national TV entity again. We have two national television games.
I think all these things indicate that we are perceived as a solid program going in the right direction. I would like for us to continue in that direction forward by having another good season this year. I would like to have another post-season tournament bid.
THE WOLFPACKER: How good can this year’s team be?
VALVANO: I don’t know. It’s the first time in 16 years of coaching that I can’t give you a definitive statement about that. It’s because of the changes in the game. How are we going to play with the rules in the conference? How are we going to do in our other games? I just don’t know. I can’t get a feel yet for this ball club.
