NC State Wolfpack

By Tony Haynes

ATLANTA -- The ACC basketball season ended the way many suspected it would with the Duke Blue Devils hoisting the championship trophy above their heads for the third straight year.

For NC State, the season ended much the way it began-in disappointment. The Wolfpack's last game of the year, a loss to Duke in the tournament quarterfinals, looked strikingly familiar. The Pack never was able to get out of its own way as poor shooting and turnovers overshadowed effort and determination.

From the time senior Damon Thornton was suspended just a few days before the start of preseason practice until the final horn at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, coach Herb Sendek's fifth season at NC State was, in a word, disjointed.

After stringing together three straight non-conference victories to close out the month of December, the Wolfpack would never put together back-to-back wins again. And ironically, State's best stretch of basketball during the season resulted in three consecutive losses. In the seven days between January 28 and February 3, the Wolfpack suffered agonizingly close to defeats to North Carolina, Wake Forest and Syracuse. In all three cases, the Pack had taken nationally ranked teams down to the wire only to come up short.

It all ended with a bitter 13-16 record, including a 5-11 mark in the ACC. To be sure, the Pack's schedule was more difficult this season. Six of NC State's non-conference foes-Charlotte, Fresno State, Penn State, UNC-Greensboro, Georgia, and Syracuse-all made it to the NCAA Tournament. And if you include three games against Duke and two versus the other five ACC teams that made the big dance, 19 of the Wolfpack's 29 games were played against NCAA Tournament qualifiers.

For Sendek, this marks the first time in his eight-year head-coaching career that one of his teams has suffered a losing record. This was also the first time one of Sendek's NC State teams hadn't improved its record from the year before.

The game of college basketball is changing, and it appears that the Wolfpack is on the verge of changing with it. The three-point shot, and how it is used, has become the ultimate weapon. In many cases, coaches are choosing to go with smaller, more skilled line-ups in an effort to get extra shooters on the floor.

Once stereotyped as rebounders and defenders, power forwards are now shooting the three and putting the ball on the floor more. Duke's Shane Battier is the poster child for where the game seems to be going. Although he's listed as a four-man, the 6-8 Battier does everything a guard can do. And it doesn't end with Battier in the ACC. Maryland runs a variety of plays designed to get 6-9 Terence Morris three-point shots. At Virginia, Chris Williams plays both inside and out. Even North Carolina, which usually prefers a lineup with two post players, seemed to be more effective last weekend when it moved 6-8 Jason Capel from the three to the four.

For the last two or three years, NC State has almost been forced to use two more conventional power forward-type players at the same time. Thornton and Kenny Inge certainly fit the mold of the typical four man who plays rugged defense and bangs the boards. But neither has ever been a threat to score from the perimeter or even handle the ball away from the basket.

Next year could be very different. Without Inge, Thornton and even Ron Kelley, NC State could struggle on the defensive end of the court, especially early. Rebounding will also be a concern. But like many other successful teams in college basketball these days, the Wolfpack will feature many more interchangeable parts. For instance, a lineup featuring Cliff Crawford, Anthony Grundy, freshman Julius Hodge, Damien Wilkins, along with a post player like Marcus Melvin or freshman Jordan Collins, will provide the Pack with a team that should be able to score from many spots on the floor. The NC State coaching staff is confident that even the 6-8 Melvin will become an effective three-point shooter before his career is over.

The Wolfpack will also finally have the services of 6-9 redshirt freshman Michael Bell, who is expected to be a versatile performer as well. And with returning guards Archie Miller and Scooter Sherrill being joined by recruits Levi Watkins and Josh Powell, NC State should be one of the deeper teams in the league.

Next year's team will be young, which could lead to many bumps in the road. Inexperience and limited size along the frontline will be a challenge to overcome. Yet, because it will have a plethora of versatile perimeter players, the Pack should be much more difficult to defend. And more than likely, next year's team will be somewhat similar to Virginia, which has overcome a lack of size by running and pressing for 40 minutes.

In other words, NC State basketball is about to make a 'transition.'