A bitter taste lingers in the mouths of men’s basketball team members. After last season’s 15-16 overall finish left State out of post season competition and a 4-12 conference record placed the team dead last in the ACC, players like Ben McCauley said the best thing about last season is that it’s over.
Coach Sidney Lowe, however, said he will use last season’s disappointments as motivation.
“I won’t forget it,” Lowe said. “Because every time we step on the floor, I want to remind myself that we don’t want to go through that again. It’s over, but it’s always there.”
Last season’s woes revolved around an apparent lack of team chemistry, a reflection of what last year’s senior forward Gavin Grant said were “inside the team issues.” According to redshirt junior Brandon Costner, this year’s team will not suffer from the egos that plagued the team a year ago.
“We’re definitely one team. That’s what we weren’t last year,” Costner said. “We were five separate people going out there trying to win. We all had good intentions, don’t get me wrong. We all wanted to win and were all playing hard but we weren’t one unit. That’s definitely going to change. That definitely has changed.”
Another blow to the Wolfpack was the loss of point guard Farnold Degand, now a redshirt junior. After starting the first 10 games of the season, Degand missed the final 21 games with a torn ACL. According to Lowe, Degand will be “ready to go” for the season opener, and even practiced for some of the team’s one hour workout Monday, though not at full strength.
“He’s actually better than I expected,” Lowe said. “We didn’t allow him to go the entire hour, but he showed some of that quickness that he’s capable of having and I anticipate that he’s going to be ready to go.”
The loss of Degand last season threw then-freshman Javier Gonzalez into the fire at point guard in ACC play. According to Lowe, point guard depth will not be as much of an issue with Gonzalez’s increased experience, as well as the addition of freshman point guard Julius Mays.
“I feel comfortable if we can stay healthy, but we need all three,” Lowe said of the point guards. “It would be tough to do it with just two. I think we need all three.”
Lowe said he hopes the team will be able to run the floor with added depth and position changes meant to increase the team’s quickness on the fast break. One of those moves will move senior Courtney Fells from shooting guard to small forward and potentially playing Degand and Gonzalez at the same time, Lowe said.
Moving Fells to small forward opens the up shooting guard position, where Lowe said he feels redshirt junior Trevor Ferguson will surprise people this season with his play.
“We’re going to count on him,” Lowe said. “I think he’s capable of providing that outside shooting for us, he doesn’t turn the ball over, he makes simple plays. He’s going to be big for us. He could find himself in the starting lineup and that’s big.”
Redshirt freshman Johnny Thomas will see action on the wing this season as well, after sitting out last year with a knee injury. Lowe said Thomas is behind Degand in his recovery, but will be in uniform for the team’s first game.
According to McCauley, the team is “pumped up” to turn things around and surprise the ACC this season.
“We’ve mad a lot of progress in the off season,” McCauley said. “We’re going to be one unit, one team this year. We’re all going to be on the same page.”
The obvious attitude change among players from a season ago and the will to work towards redemption revolves around coach Lowe’s passion for winning and bitterness towards last season, he said.
”I think it was just a matter of guys understanding, again, who I am and what this is all about for me,” Lowe said. “It’s about N.C. State. It’s about winning. It’s about the team; it’s not about the individual.”