I'm not sure who's to blame for this, but lately it seems everybody is spouting the catchphrase, "It is what it is."
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| Herb Sendek was earnest but overmatched by the ACC elite. (Getty Images) |
Well, even though they opted for "One Heartbeat," I think the official motto of N.C. State basketball over the past five years should have been "It Is What It Is." Bring in recruiting classes largely consisting of guys on the fringe of the top 100, get pounded in rivalry games against Duke and UNC, end up around fourth in the ACC, go to the NCAA Tournament, fall well short of the Final Four, rinse and repeat.
At most schools -- Arizona State, for example -- finishing in the top half of the conference, making annual trips to the NCAA Tournament and keeping players' names out of the police blotter is probably enough.
N.C. State is not like most schools. If one of the characters in Dances with Wolves had been a Wolfpack fan, his name would have been "Delusions of Grandeur." N.C. State has a proud basketball history, but that's what it is: history, with the potential for a bright future. The present isn't much to write home about.
Under Everett Case, N.C. State was the dominant program in the ACC, winning 10 conference championships and beating North Carolina 21 times over a span of 22 meetings. But that was a long, long time ago, and the Wolfpack's past 20 seasons have been highlighted by a pair of Sweet 16 trips (1989 and 2005). Obviously, having Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams just down the road makes it one of the toughest jobs in Division I, but Herb Sendek going 3-21 against the Blue Devils and 0-6 against the Tar Heels since Williams' return was too much to tolerate -- the last straw coming with the young Tar Heels' 95-71 win in Raleigh a couple of months ago, when the 'Pack appeared to give up.
N.C. State's fans, whose howls contributed to Sendek's decision to accept a significantly more lucrative deal at Arizona State, have been widely criticized as impatient and irrational by coaches and most of the national media. Not by me, though. After enduring 16 years of frustration since Jim Valvano's resignation, I think the fans have been through enough.
Sendek had ample time to put a signature accomplishment on his resume but remained mired in mediocrity. Ten years, no Elite Eights, no ACC Tournament titles, no ACC regular-season titles. Only one other coach in ACC history (Bill Gibson, at Virginia from 1964-73) had kept his job so long with so little to show for it.
When I was growing up in North Carolina, the charismatic Valvano was a god among Wolfpack fans, especially after answering UNC's national championship in 1982 with one of his own in 1983, followed by Elite Eight trips in 1985 and '86. But he cut a few corners to get to the top -- Chris Washburn could barely spell SAT, much less get a decent score on the test -- and when he was ultimately forced out, N.C. State surged to the opposite end of the priority spectrum by hiring Les Robinson.
Ah yes, Les Robinson. As in the "Les Robinson Invitational" -- the unofficial nickname given to the No. 8 vs. No. 9 play-in game to the ACC Tournament, for which N.C. State became a fixture. Still, Robinson was brought in to clean up the program, not necessarily win championships. When N.C. State returned to the point where a player or two occasionally graduated, it was time to find somebody who could keep things clean while also winning a few games.
Enter Sendek. He was dry, quiet, intense, intellectual and socially awkward. The anti-Valvano.
Jimmy V was a master of the snappy quote, my favorite being, "I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him. He said, 'Of course not.' I said, 'Well, I think you stink.' And he gave me a technical. You can't trust 'em."
Sendek? He was prone to espousing about "honoring the process" and "operating in daytight compartments." I have no idea what he meant by that; neither did N.C. State's fans, and I'd bet his players were confused as well. I don't even think "daytight" is an actual word.
