Preview: NC STATE BASKETBALL 2014-15

The 2014-15 season is upon us.  After finishing 22–14 (9–9) tied for seventh place, a semifinal loss to Duke in the ACC Tournament and a second round loss to Saint Louis in the NCAA Tournament, the Pack has a bit of a rebuilding job to do this season.  How well they do depends on many factors, but the season may just be better than many expect.

Thus far I have to say that the Mark Gottfried era has been both promising and very successful.  Despite losing talented stars prematurely in recent  last years like  C. J. Leslie, Lorenzo Brown,  Rodney Purvis and Mr. Everything T. J. Warren, Gottfried has been able to reload and keep the ship afloat while still producing solid basketball teams.  Although some of those mentioned were former head coach Sidney Lowe’s recruits, Gottfried showed that he along with a talented staff, could blend together an assortment of talent who either played the same positions or had severe confidence and maturity issues.  No easy task for  a new coaching staff.  However, Coach Gottfried gott it done.

In fact, an easy argument could be made that Gottfried has indeed brought Wolfpack Basketball all the way back.  Had the aforementioned players returned along with forgotten workhorse transfer DeShawn Painter, the past two years were national championship caliber teams.

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Today, the 2014-15 Wolfpack Basketball team is young, talented and…unproven.  With the departures of Warren, the unexpected transfer of highly recruited point guard Tyler Lewis and  7’1 senior center Jordan Vandenberg, the Pack has lost a solid core of experience and points.  Fortunately, last season we saw enough promise in now senior  guards Ralston Turner and Desmond Lee to think the leadership void can be filled. This coupled with the energetic performances of youngsters BeeJay Anya, Kyle Washington and Lennard Freeman-all sophomores, the future appears bright;  especially if the team can stay intact and not suffer any early NBA entries or transfers.  The wildcard on this team no doubt rests with 2013 blue chip recruit Anthony “Cat” Barber.  The lighting quick point guard started 18 games as a freshman averaging 8.5 points per game and was  among ACC leaders in assist-turnover ratio for most of the season.  If he can progress his game, step up in leadership and be the glue that all coaches want from their point guard, this team can be very good.

Ralston Turner of North Carolina State Wolfpack during ACC basketball media day at The Westin. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

But….

This team IS young.  Newcomers that are expected to have immediate impacts are highly regarded 4-Star twin brothers (SF) Cody and Caleb Martin from Mocksville, NC and 4-Star power forward Abdul-Mailk Abu from Boston, MA.

Picked to finish 9th in the Pre-Season ACC Poll, the Wolfpack has a lot of work to do and a lot of convincing of skeptics that they are better than average.  For some reason this team reminds me a lot of the 1981 and 1982 NC State Basketball teams that had most of the components to the eventual 1983 NCAA Championship team.  Like today’s version, those teams were young, energetic and possessed raw talent.  Hopefully Gottfried can mold, shape and re-build this team into a credible threat on the court.  I think that he can.

Good luck and GO WOLFPACK!