Melih Onvural
Since first-year men’s basketball coach Sidney Lowe took over this summer for departed coach Herb Sendek, there has been plenty of anticipation and speculation about the upcoming season.
How will the offense work with the players left on the team? Who will fill the holes left by Andrew Brackman and Cedric Simmons? And can Lowe handle coaching in the ACC with two of the most successful programs in the country just down the road?
Well, Wednesday night probably won’t answer all those questions, but the public will get its first glimpse of what the 2006 – 2007 team will look like as it plays its annual Red/White scrimmage game. But unlike the past few years, the game will be held in Reynolds Coliseum instead of the RBC Center and will be at 7 p.m., instead of earlier in the day.
In addition, the women’s basketball team will be alternating with the men’s team as each has 20-minute scrimmages.
Junior forward Gavin Grant said the change in time and venue should generate a better turnout and more excitement.
“The RBC Center is far away, and it was on Saturday morning. And the football game was going on, so everybody was at the football game,” Grant said. “Having it on a Wednesday night should make it a lot more fun.”
Albeit against itself and not an opposing school, there will be real-game situations and opportunities for the team to give those attend a preview of what’s to come.
Grant said the change in offense will be one noticeable difference between this team and the teams from the past 10 years under Sendek.
“[The offense] won’t be as slow,” Grant said. “You’ll definitely see us get up and down. Coach Lowe puts an emphasis on pushing the basketball — that’s our No. 1 option. After that, we get into our sets, but it’ll definitely be exciting, especially if guys like [sophomore guard] Courtney [Fells] or [redshirt freshman forward] Brandon [Costner] get on a break — you could definitely see some highlights.”
But Grant added even though the Red/White game will show off the offense and the athleticism of the team, it’s not a good gauge of how a team will play once the regular season starts.
“I don’t really think you can learn too much about a team from watching the Red/White game,” he said. “We’ll be running plays that both sides know — offense and defense. And people are going to cheat plays. We all know what we like to do, so it’s not like I’m going to make a move that’s going to surprise one of my teammates. They’re already anticipating what I like to do and I anticipate what they like to do. So you can’t really get a read on what a team can do from a Red/White game. And as far as how good a team’s going to be — I don’t think you can see that either.”
However, members of the ACC media still put out their preseason poll Monday, which picked N.C. State to finish last in the conference. Out of 62 votes, the Wolfpack received 33 for last place — 18 more than any other school.
But according to redshirt freshman guard Trevor Ferguson, who along with freshmen Bartosz Lewandowski and Dennis Horner will get his first chance to see action for State tonight, the experts are underestimating the potential of the team.
“I understand that we lost a lot,” Ferguson said. “But you saw what Gavin did at the end of last year. And [senior guard] Engin [Atsur] is coming back. People underestimate what Engin can do. He’s a great player. And Courtney and Brandon and [sophomore forward] Ben [McCauley] and all those players returning — they didn’t get much chance to play last year under Herb because that system was so difficult to pick up. But we’ve got a lot of talent, and we’re definitely going to play with a chip on our shoulder.”
Grant said the lack of respect in the preseason polls only motivates him more to prove people wrong and he relishes the role of the underdog.
“People have their opinions, and they think we’re not as good as everybody else,” Grant said. “But we’ll do just fine in the ACC. We’ll win our fair share of games and probably even more. When anybody doesn’t expect you to do anything, then that means you can’t do that bad anyway. We’re going to prove everybody wrong and do what we need to do.”