Saturday was one of the most satisfying days of my life. Not only did we get to go out and do habitat for humanity, and prime and paint a whole house, but NC State pulled off a very improbable win over a very cocky UNC. Engin Atsur was still healthy enough to play, and he lead the team to victory.

Watching the game I was stunned to see the difference between NC State without Atsur, and NC State with Atsur. Every time Atsur sat down to get a breather UNC came rumbling back within a few points. Then Atsur would come out, calm the team down, and build the lead back up again. Atsur got hurt during NC State’s win over Michigan, before ACC play began. NC State was awful against the ACC when he was gone. He came back against Virginia Tech last week and we won, and he was back against UNC Saturday, and we won again. NC State needs its point guard, and whether or not Atsur can play will make all the difference for the rest of the season. With Engin Atsur, I am now convinced we can hang with the best. Without him we are last in the ACC. The good news is that he is back and playing again. The bad news is that he is only 70%. Hopefully he will continue to get better and the rest of the season can be more of what we saw Saturday.

Any success by the NC State basketball team this year is a resounding tribute to Sydney Lowe and what he can do with nothing. Last night he won a huge one by upsetting Virginia Tech at Blacksburg. Virginia Tech was first in the ACC, and was 12 for their last 14, with wins over UNC and Duke, ranked 16th nationally. Apparently no one told the Wolfpack this though, because they came out there shooting 53.1 percent for the game, and they won 70-59. Pretty awesome!

Darrell Davis was recruited to play football, but is now on the basketball team at NC State, and he is loving it. Here is an article from gopack about him. I’m excited for him and we’ll see how he can fit into Lowe’s system.

Congrats to Sydney Lowe and NC State for winning their first ACC basketball game on Saturday. As I have said before this year is gonna be really tough, so its nice to be able to put away a few wins.

Also congrats to Virginia Tech for beating Carolina. Good ole Hokies.

It has been one whole year since my first post to thebradlands, December 15th, 2005. I would like to thank my mom and dad, for bringing me into this world. Also my producer/ providor/ spellchecker/ factchecker Warren Myers. Of course I’d like to thank Jillian who has stuck with me through thick and thin and has helped me with my Spanish. And lastly all my fans who have made it fun for me to write knowing that you care enough to check by and read. Blogging has been a great way to vent my excitement in lots of different areas. Hopefully reading has energized you, and thebradlands has been an instrument to get you excited about life.

Well the football season this year was a sorry thing to see. After beating FSU and BC we didn’t win another game all year, and in the end Amato was sacked. Unfortunately not much is expected in basketball this year either. This is Lowes first year coaching, and since he didn’t get to recruit since he was in the NBA, and since syndeks recruits bailed, and since our big guys went to the NBA, and since Brackman is just playing baseball, our team is basically left with absolutely no depth and not the greatest starting five. They are ranked last in the ACC and most likely rightly so. Its a building year.

However last night NC State won over Michigan in their first big test of the season. Despite losing Angin Atsur to injury (our team captain and strongest starter) the guys pulled out a big win, and did it in a fashionable manor. No last minute come from behinds or lucky shots. After being down 16-4 to start the game the wolfpack went on a 31-12 run to end the first half. Then opened the second half with a 19-6 run that put them solidly in a lead which they wouldn’t give up for the rest of the game.

Basically how they won was they used a zone defense that forced Michigan to take three pointers, something they are bad at. Against Duke this defense never would have worked, but against Michigan it was perfect and allowed the Wolfpack to pull off the upset. This is exciting because it is a demonstration of Sydney Lowe’s ability to coach. He saw what needed to be done, did it, and the results were perfect. Another great thing to see is the penetration by the State offense. It was always so agrivating watching Syndek constantly running the ball inside only to pass it out again, and try for a three. Lowe has his guys constantly dirving for the basket and finishing every play. Every shot taken is a high percentage shot. I would have loved to have seen some of the guys we have had in years past, like grundy and hodge, plugged into this new offense.

What does the future hold? Hopefully this is not the high point of the season. Hopefully we can pull off some ACC upsets and make it to the ACC tourney. This team may not be the most tallented but they are 5-0 and they are demonstrating that they are willing to out work and out hustle their oponents. A lot of times a team is good because of the talent it has. I am hoping this team will become better and better as the guys learn how to play better basketball. If they can stay healthy then maybe basketball season will be something of a redemption from that season which just ended.

Well he took matters in his own hands and left for ASU. I dont blame him and I am happy for him that he didn’t wait to get booted. Like I said in my last blog concerning him, his problem was that he refused to adapt to a style of play that would better suit the ACC, and he refused to explain to the wolfpack faithful what he was doing with the team. Increasingly he became out of touch with the realities of the acc and the fans. For everything you did for the team, thanks. Now lets move on. Unfortunately there are consequences for letting him go. But hopefully a new coach will come with new recruits as well. Let’s go wolfpack!

First of all my congratulations go out to the entire wolfpack team who had a really great year with 22-10 record and a fifth straight trip to the NCAA tourny. It was not till injuries down the stretch that NCSU slipped. It was very exciting when we were 21-5 and second only to Duke in the ACC.

The real question though is Herb Sendek. Year after year State has done reasonably well, but it seems that every time we get a good winning streak going, and our national ranking moves up, we falter. We might be doing really well against every other team, and then we will lose to a Carolina team that is young and inexperienced.

I have to admit that over the past 5 or 6 years I have gone back and forth loving Sendek and then hating him. Of late I have grown to really admire the team he put together that fit his offense so well, and I enjoyed the success that the team had for most of the season.

On one side here is Dick Vitale who I have heard on many occasions sing his praise. Mike Krzyzewski also had good things to say about him very recently. On the other hand there are the many wolfpack fans who want him gone. I think that this article has a very interesting insight into the real problem with Herb Sendek:

Anyone who ever takes a job coaching basketball on Tobacco Road has to understand first and foremost the lay of the land, then work within that framework as best he can to produce positive results.

Coaching at State is about Xs and Os and recruiting and emphasizing academics and dozens of other issues. It is also about giving the fan base a sense of hope, in good times and bad. It is also about putting your best foot forward at all times so that when there is adversity, the support, the hope, is intact.

It is not about being all things to all people, but it is about cultivating assets, especially when the biggest potential asset is a passionate support system of followers desperately wanting to feel good about the program.

Sendek has failed miserably on that front. It’s the biggest flaw on his resume. If he could project and instill a sense of hope, then a four-game losing streak wouldn’t drag the program down the way this one did. If he could instill a sense of hope, there wouldn’t be this uneasy truce that exists with an element of the fan base even when he’s winning.

He has been very good, for the most part, at getting his players to buy in to what he’s doing. Most of them are passionately loyal, as are Sendek’s close friends and those who see a side of him that he rarely shows the public. If he can inspire those people, he clearly has the ability to inspire the fan base.

Instead, he has gone the opposite route, especially whenever adversity hits. This is not about one-liners to the media. It’s about putting his best foot forward, showing his human side, explaining why he does the things he does instead of clinging stubbornly to his way and leaving it at that. It’s about giving people something to latch onto as they search for anything to pin their hopes on.

Is it counterproductive? You bet. The atmosphere surrounding the team this past week was surreal, so surreal that it’s a wonder State beat California. There was an us-against-the-world mentality, to the point that Ilian Evtimov, one of the most-endearing players ever to wear a State uniform, lashed out at Sendek’s critics as “idiots.”

An us-against-the-world mentality might produce a win over the Cal Bears every other time you play them, but it’s ultimately fatal. There’s nothing positive to come out of antagonizing the fan base, or the media, or anyone else. It’s a drain on everyone.

Again, Sendek has brought it all on himself with his refusal to cultivate the fan base, and to show his best side to the media, which is in truth his direct connection to the fan base, and to allow his players the opportunity to show their best sides, too.

And since he has brought it all on himself, it’s up to him to either change something or to continue to live in this theater of the absurd. Change doesn’t have to mean leaving, but it probably does mean making the commitment to addressing the issues that are dragging the program down. It probably does mean coming up with a new game plan for cultivating the assets, for instilling more of a sense of hope in the program.

Will Sendek change? Or will he bolt? Or will he remain stubborn and try to ride it out, knowing full well that it will be difficult to match this 22-win season next year?

I think John Delong might have hit the nail on the head with this one. Sendek knows that his offense and his strategy is good, and he knows his team is capable of executing it very well. The problem is, is it really the best strategy against the ACC? I am positive that if he took those players and that strategy to another league he would do fabulously. I dont think it is working out in the ACC though, and I think there needs to be a change.

If Herb Sendek is willing to change his strategy, then I will be very willing to see him come back and coach more seasons at NC State. If he can execute any other stategy as well as he executed the princeton offense with a healthy team this year, then he will be awesome. However if Sendek is not willing to change then it very well might be time for a new coach who will bring an offense to Raleigh which can be more successful in the ACC. There you have it, that is my official position on Herb Sendek.

For what its worth, here is my shot at predicting the NCAA tourney. Go Wolfpack!