NC State Defeats Duke

Oh my. I'm busting with joy. Sidney worked some magic tonight. NC State takes out Duke 85-80 in OT.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=270670150

We only have 6 scholarship players. Only two returning players that saw significant minutes from last year. I went into the season thinking 3 wins in the ACC and maybe ten wins overall. Below that would be a bad year and above that would be a good year. Then one of our returning players, best player, and point guard Engin Atsur got hurt in December that kept him out for about two months. That of course lowered my expectations. Amazingly this team has won 6 games in conference, 16 games overall (winning record), and beat 4 top 25 teams.

At the end of last season, Herb Sendek left for more money and a fan base that would support him at ASU. I think the more money was like $800k/year. I've heard mixed feelings toward Sendek from NC State supporters. I never really liked the guy and I think it was good he left.

My biggest problem with him was his inability to get guys ready to play in the big games. They never played with any emotion. He had success. He was able to take us to 5 straight tourney appearances after being absent for a decade. When the team played well, it was so pretty to watch. Lots of backdoor cuts and methodical calculated passing. But if the team needed a spark, it wasn't going to come from the coach. Typically it would come from super spazz Julius Hodge who would usually cause more harm than good. And this lack of a enthusiasm was always my problem with him.

It was always most apparent in the games against UNC and Duke. NC State is the long forgotten team in this triad. NC State brought big time basketball to NC, but for various reasons fell over a 15 year period. I've mentioned my hatred for UNC. I don't really care about Duke all that much, but I know many people do. Anyway, despite Sendek having success over the last couple of years, one thing remained the same. We would always lose to Duke and Carolina. And it wasn't just that we would lose, we would get killed. It wouldn't even be competitive. Many of the games, State would be the higher ranked team and would be favored, but would come away losing by like 25. This is why so many people wanted Sendek out. 12-4 in the ACC is good, but not when your four losses are to the teams that are only 50 miles from your campus.

So I was relatively happy when Sendek decided to leave. Then I was glad to hear that the AD, Lee Fowler, was laying down the gauntlet in interviewing new candidates that he expected wins over UNC and Duke. But even I thought he went too far when he said we needed to start beating them this year. As I've stated, the team was in disarray with few returning players and the recruiting season already over. He went after big name John Calipari, which was awesome. I think he offered him around 2 million dollars/year. But I also heard that Calipari turned it down because the expectations to beat UNC and Duke in his first year were just ridiculous.

Sidney Lowe in his first year now has a 1-1 record against both UNC and Duke. Unbeleivable.

And the recruits are coming...