Very little went right last season for N.C. State, yet it turned out OK. Better than OK, really. The Wolfpack endured the unexpected departure of center Josh Powell, the slow recovery of forward Ilian Evtimov and a late-season injury to guard Scooter Sherrill, and still they won 21 games, reeled in a No. 3 seed in the 2004 NCAA Tournament and defeated eventual NCAA finalist Georgia Tech -- twice.
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| Herb Sendek has turned the ACC's former worst team into a Tournament threat.(Getty Images) |
N.C. State coach Herb Sendek, a cautious man, veers away from that direction. When you ask him about the momentum his team is riding, about the vast distance N.C. State has come since he took over the ACC's worst program in 1996, Sendek raises the caution flag.
"You always want to do better," he says. "You always want to be farther ahead."
If N.C. State gets any better, if it gets any farther ahead, the Wolfpack will finish in first place in the ACC and make major headway in the 2005 NCAA Tournament.
Don't say it can't happen. Since the Wolfpack's second-round NCAA loss to Vanderbilt in March, a number of delicate situations have worked out to N.C. State's benefit:
- ACC player of the year Julius Hodge surprisingly decided not to enter the NBA Draft. After finishing among ACC leaders in every major statistical category -- points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots and shooting from the field and foul line -- Hodge will return for his senior season. And he will return with 15 pounds of additional muscle.
- Recruit Andrew Brackman, a 6-foot-10 forward with 3-point range, told Major League Baseball teams not to bother drafting him in early June. A pitcher with a 90 mph fastball and early round draft potential, Brackman went undrafted because he would rather play both sports for the Wolfpack.
- Guard Engin Atsur made the Turkish national team, meaning he will spend the next six weeks training with his country's best players. Atsur's productivity almost doubled in the second half of last season, highlighted by his 43.7 percent 3-point accuracy in league play. If this summer's competition helps him make a similar jump in production from his freshman to sophomore seasons, Atsur could challenge for a spot on one of the three All-ACC teams.
- Ohio State apparently has decided against making a run at Sendek, the 2004 ACC coach of the year. Sendek might be a former coach at Miami University in Ohio, but he would never leave what he has built for the cleanup job awaiting the Buckeyes' next coach. Being linked to Ohio State by something more substantial than media reports would have hurt Sendek's recruiting. Instead Sendek has been left alone, which helped him get a verbal commitment this summer from 6-6 Mississippi wing Courtney Fells, whose versatility and shooting ability will make him a perfect fit for Sendek's offense.
Even Evtimov's latest knee injury has turned out OK for the Wolfpack. After redshirting the 2002-03 season following surgery on a torn ACL, Evtimov averaged 9.8 points last season but only looked fully recovered in the final four games, when he averaged 18 points. In mid-June he suffered another knee injury, but tests revealed no ligament damage. Surgery was required, but he is expected back for the start of practice.
"If it's going to happen, now is the time for it to happen," Sendek says. "He has time to deal with it, and not really lose too much."
A rock-solid guy, Sendek. He doesn't panic, even in the worst of times. Ask him about one player's injury or another player's slump, and all you'll get from him is a shrug of the shoulders and the reminder that, "We are who we are."
Under Sendek, the Wolfpack are merely one of the best programs in the ACC. In today's ACC, more than ever, that's a sizable compliment. The league is coming off a season in which it posted the highest conference RPI ever, with six teams receiving NCAA bids and two others (Virginia and Florida State) clinging to hope on Selection Sunday.
In the four years before Sendek arrived, N.C. State finished last in the ACC three times, and next-to-last the other season. With one exception, the Wolfpack have equaled or increased their ACC victory total in each of Sendek's eight seasons, going from three league wins in Les Robinson's final season in 1995-96 to four wins to five to six, six, five, nine, nine and finally 11 ACC wins this past season.
While Duke remains the ACC's clear No. 1 program, N.C. State is on roughly even footing with the league's next tier that includes 2002 national champion Maryland, 2004 NCAA runner-up Georgia Tech, vastly improved Wake Forest and rebuilding North Carolina.
N.C. State isn't going anywhere, either. Its run of three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, after an 11-year absence, is no fluke. With Sendek recruiting long, versatile players like Brackman, Fells and incoming 6-10 freshman Cedric Simmons for his position-less system, the Wolfpack will get better as they master a Princetonian system that had never been run, until now, with these kinds of athletes.
Yes, everything is going just right for the Wolfpack -- even the proposed changes to the college court. The wider lane and deeper 3-point line that will be tested during 2004-05 exempt games would be a boon to N.C. State's spread offense if adopted permanently.
"I may be a minority of one in the ACC," Sendek says, referring to other league coaches. "I'm very eager to see how that experimentation plays out."
Our guess is it will play out like everything else seems to play out these days: N.C. State will do better, and N.C. State will be farther ahead.
