Grade: F
Wolfpack Nation was strongly convinced that this was the year for the NC State men’s basketball team. With arguably the No. 1 point guard recruit in the nation in Dennis Smith Jr. and a five-star center in Omer Yurtseven, the sky was the limit for the Pack. However, a team riddled with talent only showed flashes of greatness during the 2016-17 season.
The Pack (15-17, 4-14 ACC) was throttled in a plethora of conference matchups including a 51-point massacre to UNC-Chapel Hill, a 30-point drubbing to Wake Forest, a 25-point defeat to Louisville, a 24-point loss to Florida State and another 24-point loss to the Tar Heels for good measure.
Taking into account the miserable outcomes of the season, the most frustrating times were the instances where the Pack pieced performances together.
Smith recorded his first triple-double in an all-around great team outing over No. 21 Virginia Tech, 104-78. The roller-coaster season continued with a milestone victory over No. 17 Duke, 84-82, the first Wolfpack win in Cameron Indoor Stadium since Jan. 18, 1995; inconsistency was ironically the norm for this volume of Pack basketball.
Look no further than former head coach Mark Gottfried for reasons for the Wolfpack’s woes. After four-straight NCAA tournament appearances to start his first five years, Gottfried was relieved of his coaching duties at the end of the season. A lack of an offensive agenda coupled with uncontested 3-pointers and unchallenged drives to the rim were commonplace when watching the Pack play.
When hired in 2011, Gottfried was tasked with something he had never done in his career, coaching defense. According to ESPN.com, in Gottfried’s time at Alabama, the Crimson Tide defense never ranked inside the top 50 in adjusted efficiency. In hindsight, Gottfried was never supposed to succeed, he lucked out in his first four seasons on the defensive end.
Due to the obvious talent on the hardwood, this season will go down as the one-that-got-away. With Smith’s declaration for the NBA draft and the rest of next season’s roster uncertain, NC State’s rabid fans deserve to feel cheated from the 2016-17 season.
