Read This: Josh Powell Feature At ESPN.com

This is a lengthy, but excellent, piece on former State player Josh Powell.

The focus of the piece centers around his drive and determination to get to the NBA after leaving, not getting drafted, and spending time playing ball in Europe.

Five years before Brandon Jennings and Jeremy Tyler went overseas to make some money while honing their games to prepare for the NBA, there was Powell leaving NC State after his sophomore season and heading to play for Lokomotiv-Rostov in the Russian Superleague so he could bank some coin while working on his bank shots from the wing.

"I don't think he felt that he was going to get the playing time that he thought he deserved," Knox said. "That led him to say, 'Hey look, I think it's time for me to explore other options whether it's in the NBA or if it's in Uruguay, I want to be in a situation where I'm maturing.'"

Even if he wasn't ready for the league, he would rather get paid to play for whomever than make no money with the Wolfpack and sit.

He was 20 years old when he packed his bags for Russia.

"It's a culture shock," Powell remembered. "It hits you when you're walking in the airport. It's like, you don't know where to go, you're looking up at the signs and everything's in different languages and you're trying to talk to people and they're just looking at you. It was pretty tough. It could get pretty frustrating, but I guess those types of moments make you become even hungrier because it's like -- no disrespect to the situation because I'm going to do whatever I got to do, but -- it's like I know where I want my ultimate goal and that's to be where I am now [in the NBA]. It just drove me. It was a very humbling experience and it just drove me. Being on my own, being in a different country, it's totally different than college or something like that."

He played just two games in Russia before heading to Italy where he finished the 2003-04 season, averaging 12.1 points and 8.3 rebounds. He stayed another season in Italy and got better, averaging 16.6 points and 11.6 rebounds while thinking about the NBA every day.

"It made him see that it was not where he wanted to be long term," Knox said.

The above bolded portion was my emphasis, and a spot in an otherwise great article where I think the author didn't do his homework (or misworded what he meant). Powell certainly was not a scrub riding the pine his sophomore season. He was averaging 27 minutes a game his second season and was already making a name for himself in the ACC. He can certainly be accused, in hindsight, of making an unwise decision to leave before he was ready for the NBA, but to say that he left because he was "sitting" or not getting playing time is not true.

Nevertheless, a great read and a great recap of a great story of hard work and determination.

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Julius Mays To Transfer

Just in case you hadn't heard by now, Julius Mays--as confirmed by a family member--will be transferring from N.C. State to an as-yet undetermined school. He'll have three years to play out his remaining two years of eligibility.

Mays will likely best be remembered for his game-winning three against Miami his freshman year, seen at the open of this clip:

(Continues)

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Kay Yow Spring Football Game Slideshow

A collection of photos from today's Spring Football Game.

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Thoughts On The Spring Game, Russell And More

• This Saturday, at 1:00, State will host their 2nd Annual Kay Yow Spring Game at Carter Finley Stadium. It's been lightly promoted, per usual from our marketing department, but nevertheless the weather should be great (sunny, mid-80s), so it would be great if we could get a solid showing of Pack fans if for no other reason to raise a ton of money for cancer research. And hey, a football game is liable to break out, too.
• There was talk this week of Russell Wilson's return to the football team in the fall. Tom O'Brien went so far as to say, "write it down...he'll be back." I suppose there was some speculation that he wouldn't be back, but frankly I don't get the sense that Wilson's performed well enough on the diamond to get drafted. Or at least drafted high enough to make a leap to the MLB worth giving up his final season of football. So I'm not too surprised he'll be back.
• Where does that leave Mike Glennon? He's been performing well in spring practice and has been patiently biding his time these last three years. At what point does he start to wonder when or if he'll see the field for significant playing time? Wilson could feasibly play two more years--2010 and 2011--leaving Glennon just one season to play. I don't see Wilson getting drafted this fall, I don't see him not playing football and if Wilson continues to play football his senior season, I have to wonder if Glennon will consider hanging around for just one season of playing time.

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The Seedy, Shady Side Of Recruiting

Y'all have probably seen this already at various other sources, but just in case, it bears re-posting:

The phone calls came and then the text messages.

All of them were wrong. NC State coach Sidney Lowe is not getting fired Friday. There is no truth to the rumor among college coaches being spread over the last 24 hours.

Coach Sidney Lowe has had two 20-win seasons with the Wolfpack. And if it was getting to the media, you can only imagine how much it was hitting at NC State.

"It started in the coaching circles," NC State athletic director Lee Fowler said. "I’ve had to tell [signee] Ryan Harrow's mother three times this year that there is nothing to worry about."

If you don’t think this kind of negative recruiting goes on every day in college basketball then you’re being naive. Lowe has had to deal with this for the past two years and he’s hardly alone. And yet credible head coaches believed it to be true Thursday and Friday and were calling each other and media members on the subject.

The world of college recruiting is pretty cutthroat, probably moreso in college basketball where one or two prospects can mean the difference between winning it all and not making the tournament.

There's a pretty big fish out there that two prominent programs are still fishing for...Raleigh's CJ Leslie. State had him once and wants him back; Kentucky wants him too. Badly, especially since they lost an entire TEAM to the NBA draft this week.

Though there's no concrete evidence (at least none unearthed at the moment) linking the rumors to Kentucky and John Calipari, it certainly doesn't take long for folks like myself to see that the stability of State's coaching situation would have a large impact on Leslie's decision, and that UK would be the prime potential benefactor if Leslie balked at returning to State's fold.

Compound that with Calipari's history as being just one step ahead of the NCAA's investigators, and it seems hard to imagine these rumors starting somewhere other than Lexington, KY.

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