Jim Young, Editor of the ACC Sports Journal, shot me an email to let me know their N.C. State basketball preview was up. It's good stuff and you should check it out here.
An interesting note in the email he sent: "Man, Julius Mays didn't pull any punches, did he?"
Referring to this quote:
But his quote gives credence to what we heard intimations of and saw glimpses of on the court last season: The players left over from the previous regime had a major beef with the new coaching staff and Sidney Lowe in particular, and went so far as to actively lobby the other players on the team to rebel against the leadership structure.
That's about as caustic a coaching/playing environment as one can imagine. It's no wonder this team seemed to have no direction or multiple personalities at times...there was a war being waged behind the scenes. And a team divided against itself cannot win, to borrow from some historical oratory.
Mays' comments give me optimism for this season, however, as I think we'll finally see a team all pulling in the same direction for once. We may not have the horses now to make a push for the conference title or even land in the top half of the conference, but I do think a .500 conference record is possible. If State can break even in the league and perhaps steal a nice out-of-conference win somewhere (and get some breaks along the way), an at-large NCAA berth is not out of the question in my mind.
An interesting note in the email he sent: "Man, Julius Mays didn't pull any punches, did he?"
Referring to this quote:
“I won’t mention names, but we’ve had players who have been more about themselves, would rather score 30 points than N.C. State win the game,” Mays said. “We also had players trying to get other players to turn against the coach and get them on their page instead of Coach’s page. When you’ve got individuals like that, you can’t win.LOL, no, no he didn't.
“Now, with the young guys and the veterans that we have, we’re all on the same page with each other, and I feel like we can be a lot different.”
But his quote gives credence to what we heard intimations of and saw glimpses of on the court last season: The players left over from the previous regime had a major beef with the new coaching staff and Sidney Lowe in particular, and went so far as to actively lobby the other players on the team to rebel against the leadership structure.
That's about as caustic a coaching/playing environment as one can imagine. It's no wonder this team seemed to have no direction or multiple personalities at times...there was a war being waged behind the scenes. And a team divided against itself cannot win, to borrow from some historical oratory.
Mays' comments give me optimism for this season, however, as I think we'll finally see a team all pulling in the same direction for once. We may not have the horses now to make a push for the conference title or even land in the top half of the conference, but I do think a .500 conference record is possible. If State can break even in the league and perhaps steal a nice out-of-conference win somewhere (and get some breaks along the way), an at-large NCAA berth is not out of the question in my mind.
I'm not believing anything that this coaching staff or players say. Every year we get predictions that don't happen... from team chemistry to style of play. Just remember to look at this blog entry in March!
ReplyDeleteFair enough...certainly we hear promises every year that go unfilled. Lord, the "NOW we're going to play up-tempo, we promise!" line gets tossed out every fall it seems.
ReplyDeleteI do think there's evidence there to believe there will be improved chemistry, though. Think of it this way: It can't be worse. It can only stay as bad, and I don't think it will. Optimism, yay!
if those farkers were so miserable and hated coach lowe, why didn't they leave? we couldn't have sucked any worse and might have actually been better off playing walk ons.
ReplyDeleteThe "we will play up-tempo, we promise" line as you call it, is now and has always been linked to the comment "if we do not turn the ball over".
ReplyDeleteFells, Costner, Javi, and Degand were turnover machines. Hopefully Javi and Degand have improved, but if they have not, we will have to slow it down again. Mays is just not a fast paced PG.
Same stuff different day .........."Why did they not leave" Better why didn't the staff run them off??
ReplyDeletecostner is no longer here, right? he had a year of eligibility left. fells and mccauley had no better options and i guess you can make it uncomfortable for people but you can't force them out.. which is probably why they tried to create an atmosphere of dissention.
ReplyDeleteand i know it's easy to just blame those three for the failings of the program for the last few years. this year will tell us a lot. we might not be any good, but the effort *should* be there. if not, then the truth will be revealed. the thing about those Les Robinson teams was they played hard. it was about talent, not effort. that's easy to see. if this team is hustling, making the right plays but just coming up short because of talent, that can be tolerated. it's the derision and the laziness that isn't tolerated.
we will soon see what's what.