Losses like the Pack’s last two, in which it was blown out by Maryland before crumpling down the stretch Tuesday night against the Tar Heels hurt. They hurt even worse considering the optimism that surrounded this team as recently as a week ago.

A 14-point romp over Duke, the team’s second victory in three consecutive games against ranked conference rivals, had many fans struggling to remember the last time the Pack had played so well. It wasn’t just the double-digit margin of victory over the Blue Devils, who came to Raleigh ranked No. 7 in the country, that had fans so thrilled. It was the way the Pack won. Yes, junior forward Tracy Smith led the way as fans would have expected him to. But what had so fans so ecstatic was that the entire starting lineup finished in double figures, guards Javier Gonzalez and Farnold Degand dished out a total of 14 assists, and the Pack shot 58 percent from the field while holding the Devils to just 39 percent shooting from the floor.

Less than 10 days later, the excitement resulting from wins over Duke and Florida State and a thrilling but eventually futile comeback against Clemson is already a distant memory. The team is now 2-5 in the ACC and last won back to back games in December, against Winthrop and UNC-Greensboro. Coach Sidney Lowe’s team appears slightly more likely to fail to qualify for the NIT for the third season in a row as make the big dance for the first season of his four in Raleigh. If I knew exactly what to do to solve this problem, I would be discussing it somewhere other than on the Technician sports page. But I do know one thing we shouldn’t do any time soon: fire Lowe.

I am no more pleased with how this season, and for that matter, his career with State to this point, have gone so far than anyone else, but cannot fathom any good coming from firing him after this year. Say what you want about him, but Lowe can recruit. Amongst this year’s freshman class, State already has a lights-out shooter and solid defender in Scott Wood, a freshman post presence in Richard Howell, a player many are hoping to see crack the starting lineup sooner than later, and two other rookies, forward Josh Davis and center Jordan Vandenberg, capable of playing well enough defensively to provide minutes, if nothing else, off the bench.

A scary thought for the rest of the conference is that next season’s freshman class promises to be even better, at least according to recruiting experts like rivals.com, which has the Pack’s class of 2010 ranked No. 11 in the country.

And the 2010 class is still a work in progress. Next season’s freshman class may very well crack the top 10, if not the top five, should C.J. Leslie, a nationally coveted local recruit and one-time N.C. State commitment who has attended the Pack’s last three home games, sign with the Pack.

What will actually happen before and during next season is anyone’s guess. Leslie may go the way of Kentucky superstar freshmen John Wall and Demarcus Cousins, who both considered coming to State before choosing to play for John Calipari and the Wildcats. Lorenzo Brown and Ryan Harrow, a pair of star guards largely responsible for the attention next season’s class is getting, may or may not live up to the sky-high expectations that will immediately accompany their arrival in Raleigh.

But I feel much more comfortable making predictions about what will happen without Lowe than what might happen with him next season. It is safe to assume that Brown, Harrow, and Luke Cothron are coming to State more because of Lowe than because of the recent accomplishments of the team, which has won five, four and six games each in Lowe’s first three seasons. Should State finish at the bottom of the conference standings, and then fire Lowe, those players are less than likely to ever suit up in red and white.

But next year will be a different story. With or without Leslie, expectations for next year’s team will be high, and should the team fall well short of meeting them, Lowe will need to be held accountable and or fired. All the talent in the world amounts to nothing if undeveloped, and another finish in the ACC cellar next season would indicate that Lowe lacks the ability to do the one thing more important than attracting big-time talent, developing it. But letting him go in March or April, regardless of how and when this season ends, promises to do little more than begin a new era of N.C. State basketball a year earlier than necessary.

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