Preseason polls are one thing, but Atlantans have seen just how close N.C. State is to joining the likes of North Carolina and Duke at the top of the ACC.
In the ACC tournament semifinals in March at Philips Arena, with 43 seconds left and the score tied, N.C. State had the ball and a chance to win against the top-seeded Tar Heels.
N.C. State point guard Lorenzo Brown, a Centennial High graduate, turned to face his defender just as teammate Alex Johnson prematurely passed him the ball. Turnover N.C. State. The Tar Heels won on a Kendall Marshall bank shot with 10 seconds to go.
But while Marshall and three other Tar Heels left for the NBA, N.C. State returns Brown and three other starters, including standout forward C.J. Leslie, who put off the NBA. The Wolfpack also added three McDonald’s All-Americans, led by dynamic freshman shooting guard Rodney Purvis.
North Carolina and Duke lost six players to the NBA draft between them — all first-round picks. So there could be a void on Tobacco Road that N.C. State is happy to fill.
The media picked the Wolfpack to finish first in the ACC for the first time since 1975, the season after David Thompson led N.C. State to a national championship. ACC coaches also picked N.C. State first in their inaugural preseason picks.
But coach Mark Gottfried acknowledges that no team takes over the ACC reins without going through Duke and North Carolina. Florida State beat Duke once and North Carolina twice last season on its way to its first ACC tournament title.
N.C. State went 0-4 against North Carolina and Duke last season.
“I think for us to truly become established in this league, yes, that has to happen,” Gottfried said. “That doesn’t mean beating them every time. Those programs are very good, but I do think that needs to happen.”
Gottfried learned a little about the depth of rivalries as Alabama’s head coach, but he got a taste of the passion N.C. State fans feel for their area rivals on the golf course one day.
A Wolfpack fan was going on about North Carolina, so Gottfried posed the question: What would he choose, N.C. State beating North Carolina twice and losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament or getting swept by North Carolina but advancing to the Final Four and playing for a national title. The man chose beating North Carolina.
“I said ‘Well, we have an issue there because I want to beat them, too, but I’d sure like to be in a Final Four,’” Gottfried said.
He doesn’t back down from the rivalry either though. His players came into that showdown last March, having lost 12 in a row to the Tar Heels. They used the ACC tournament run to go from the NCAA bubble to the Sweet 16.
The Wolfpack led at Duke by 20 points before losing 78-73 in mid-February during a four-game losing streak, but they bounced back with a four-game winning streak that got them into the NCAA tournament. They beat San Diego State and Georgetown before losing 60-57 to eventual NCAA finalist Kansas in the regional semifinals.
Gottfried is a master marketer. He rode a zip-line from the second deck at PNC Arena to the floor for N.C. State’s first practice. “My voice was a little higher after that,” Gottfried said. “The straps down there were a little tight.”
That was after plans to parachute out of an airplane at an N.C. State football game last year were rained out.
Gottfried dusted off the old trophies from national and ACC tournament titles and displayed them again. The team hasn’t won the ACC regular season since 1989 or a tournament title since 1987, but they have pieces to do it.
Brown, who ranked second in the ACC in assists last season (6.3), has a full season at point guard after converting from a 2-guard. Senior Richard Howell, the 6-foot-8 Wheeler High product, is down to 250 pounds, which means he’ll be in better shape to cut down on foul trouble.
He and his Wolfpack teammates are more worried about their own progress than what prognosticators are saying.
“How we play on the court determines who is going to be No. 1,” Howell said. “We want to go out there and prove ourselves.”
