NC State Wolfpack

By Tony Haynes

The Atlantic Coast Conference owes a dept of gratitude to Anthony Grundy. After building what appeared to be a commanding four games to one lead in the second annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge, the ACC watched the Big Ten bounce off the mat to even things at four games apiece.

It then came down to NC State and Penn State.

With Damien Wilkins, Damon Thornton, Cornelius Williams and Michael Bell unavailable, the Wolfpack needed someone to step up and be counted, someone who would be willing to look the Lion in the eye without flinching. That someone would be Anthony Grundy.

In the decisive game of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, Grundy scored, Grundy defended, Grunded rebounded and Grundy made kamikaze-like dives on the floor for loose balls. Maybe Anthony Grundy should be appointed president since it appears the job will be open for awhile.

Anthony Grundy, the ACC Nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

Behind the Louisville junior's 29-points, seven rebounds, and three steals, the Wolfpack held off pesky Penn State to secure yet another entertaining ACC/Big Ten Challenge for the locals. And perhaps more importantly, the startling performance helped NC State capture the big win it had so desperately been searching for this season.

"I think our team really needed this, especially after the two losses we had earlier in the season," commented his majesty. "It's just a great game to have, especially against a great team like Penn State. They weren't an easy team to beat. We did a great job of playing defense and winning the game."

And no one played better defense than Grundy, who succeeded in shutting down one of the nation's best guards. In a pre-season vote by his peers, Penn State's Joe Crispin was selected as the best shooter in college basketball. You'd get no argument from Kentucky. On November 25, Crispin blew the roof off at Rupp by erupting for 31-points.

After huddling with his coaching staff, NC State's Herb Sendek decided to give Grundy the assignment of guarding Crispin most of the time. The hope was that Grundy's long arms would allow him to do the best job of contesting Crispin's deadly three-point shots. Good call. The Penn State assassin was 0-for-7 from the arc.

"My goal was to take away the three-point shots," Grundy explained. "We realized that was one of their main strengths. The thing about Joe Crispin is that he has tremendous range and he can shoot from a lot of places on the court. We just wanted to get up in his face and limit the number of three-points shots he could take."

So thoroughly frustrated was Crispin by Grundy's strategy, he abandoned the perimeter jumper in favor of several futile drives to the basket where help was waiting.

In a season that has seen NC State suffer its share of ups and downs, Grundy has been the Pack's Rock of Gibraltar. In the first five games, he has led his team in scoring four times. In three of those contests, he tallied more than 20 points. And on those few occasions when Grundy hasn't scored, he's helped his team in other ways. In the Wolfpack's 89-51 victory over Charleston Southern, he dished out a career high 11 assists.

"I think I've grown," Grundy said. "By me changing my body and improving the aspects of my game over the summer, I think it's helped a lot."

Those improvements have helped the player, his team, and his conference.