Photo by John Joyner.
Freshman guard Anthony Barber takes a shot during the exhibition game against Morehouse in PNC Arena Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013. The Wolfpack defeated the Tigers 87-62.
Only three days remain until the N.C. State men’s basketball team opens its season against Appalachian State, and the feeling leading up to this season compared to a year ago is vastly different. If you have doubts as to whether the Wolfpack can make the NCAA Tournament for the third time in as many years, you’re not alone.
The Wolfpack, picked to finish 10th in the ACC preseason media poll, return only three players who played significant minutes in last season: senior center Jordan Vandenberg, sophomore point guard Tyler Lewis and sophomore forward T.J. Warren. None of those players were regular starters for third-year head coach Mark Gottfried’s squad last season.
With Vandenberg sidelined for four to six weeks because of an ankle injury suffered in last Wednesday’s exhibition game, the Pack is even thinner than expected for most of the non-conference season.
The Pack will also play in a beefed-up ACC due to conference expansion, and it may be tough sledding for the Pack this season. New conference members Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame are all traditional powers, in addition to Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Don’t get me wrong, the Pack has talent. Gottfried pulled in a highly regarded recruiting class that includes 6’ 8” forward Kyle Washington, space-eater BeeJay Anya and lightning-quick guard Anthony “Cat” Barber. LSU transfer Ralston Turner is now eligible after sitting out last season, and he figures to be one of the team’s top three-point threats alongside junior college transfer Desmond Lee.
This team isn’t going to be in the doldrums throughout the season. The Pack’s non-conference schedule is a fairly standard one for a power-conference team, with the typical array of cupcakes including Campbell, Eastern Kentucky, North Carolina Central, UNC-Greensboro and East Carolina. Tougher games include trips to Cincinnati and Tennessee, and visits to Raleigh by Northwestern and Missouri.
That is a well-balanced out-of-conference schedule. Every team is going to play a few patsies — that’s how college basketball works. But adding tournament teams, such as Missouri and Cincinnati, to the schedule is a good move on Gottfried’s part, because the best way to improve is to play teams that are better.
The Pack will be tested in its first three conference games, opening with Pittsburgh at home on Jan. 4 before traveling to Notre Dame three days later. It closes that week by hosting Virginia on Jan. 11. The Cavaliers and Irish were picked to finish fourth and fifth in the ACC, respectively. Those three games will likely give Pack fans an idea of where their team is headed this season.
I find it hard to see State making the field of 68 this season.
The ACC is a meat grinder, and having just one senior on the roster is usually not a recipe for success in one of the nation’s strongest basketball leagues. This team reminds me a lot of the team from former head coach Sidney Lowe’s final season three years ago. They’re talented, but they’re not experienced.
Warren and Lewis are stars in the making. The question is, who is going to step up next to them? The sooner that question is answered, the better chance the Wolfpack have at proving the doubters wrong.