Originally Posted by
JasonEvans
This may seem crazy, but I sorta wonder if the extra depth and expectations may hurt State a little bit. Sometimes players perform better when they know they do not need to look over their shoulder to see if someone is waiting to sub for them. They certainly play looser with no expectations on them.
Last season, the State big men, Costner and McCauley, were unhearalded and unknown. They played loose and played hard and took many teams by surprise. I mean, these were the same guys who barely sniffed mop-up minutes as freshmen and suddenly, as sophs, they were playing 35 minutes a game and racking up double-doubles left and right. I just think there is a chance they may struggle a bit with enhansed expectations this year.
Also, while they played well late in the year, we are talking about a team that lost 16 games last season-- many of them by double digits. How often do teams go from winning 5 ACC games to winning 10 ACC games?
Still, on paper State looks very impressive. If anybody can play halfway decent PG they look to be a very tough team. In fact, I think a very decent case can be made for picking them ahead of Duke in the ACC.
--Jason "it'll be interesting to see how Lowe does with enhansed expectations too -- NC State fans can be awful demanding" Evans