So going into this basketball season it was widely viewed that NC State with the addition of Cat Barber to an already uber talented squad, should have been one of the bubble teams in terms of ACC contenders, more on the bright side, looking up. Fast forward a few months and we all got to see what a dumpster fire NC State was after finishing 16-17, with a 5-13 record in the ACC. Mark Gottfried has to be the one on the greatest hot seat in the ACC coaching carousel.
Adding to his woes was the announcement by Cat Barber that he would stay in the draft (38.7 MPG, scoring 23.5 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 4.5 APG as well as Abdul-Malik Abu (28.3 MPG with 12.9PPG/8.8RPG/1.3APG) opting to go to the draft as well. Losing your top two scoring options early would be tough enough but then the news hit that both the Martin twins will also be transferring out this summer, taking with them the 4th and 5th scoring options this last season for the Wolfpack. That means that in a season where his job is likely on the line, he just lost 72% of his scoring from last season earlier than he should have.
Couple that with the fact that so far, this recruiting class is one of Gottfrieds worst in years simply by number, although who he got should make for another interesting story as he managed to pull in a top 10 PG in the country, Dennis Smith out of Trinity Christian School, a five star PG who may be the next top talent to suffer at the hands of Gottfired inability to maximize talent.
So I guess my question is what kind of season do you think NC State will have next year and do they finish better or worse than this season compared to Wake, BC and the other cellar dwellers?
Comments
Nice.
Gottfried is the Mark Richt of college basketball. He consistently underachieves with top recruiting classes at a school with great facilities and a championship history.
I'm glad someone said it about Mark Richt finally.
Doing less with more?
Texas football says hi
Gottfried is lucky his AD isn't Jim Weaver. He'd still be worried about getting fired this late in April when all the good coaches are gone.
But I dont hold grudges....
Since I upvoted, I'll feel guilty unless I say rest in peace weaver.
In my experience, NCSU has the worst fan base in the ACC (excluding UVA), so this makes me happy.
I think the dumpster fire burns hot next season, Gottfried is fired, NCSU hires someone else and all the NCSU fans talk about a trip to the final four in just a couple of years after "new coach" comes to town and returns the Bball team back to its "former glory". The cycle starts all over...
I always hear about NC State being this great basketball school. Their last Elite 8 was when Jim Valvano was cheating his way through the NCAA. They haven't been nationally relevant since then. Yea, they underachieve based on their talent but it's not like they're as high profile as they think they are. Honestly, Duke and UNC make us think higher of NC State just because they're all "rivals" (to NC State they're rivals anyway).
Thing is, NCSU is dripping with money and they love to spend it on basketball. They are, much like UVa was, one perfect hire away from being a legitimate contender annually. Just keep praying they keep screwing it up.
To say Valvano was "cheating his way through the NCAA" just isn't true. The allegations that were thrown at NC State in the late 80's are allegations that would be laughed at today. There simply wasn't that much going on, and it was an over blown witch hunt.
The same news stations (and in many cases the same reporters) who crucified Valvano down here in Raleigh, essentially forcing him out are the same ones who are now trying to bury the UNC scandal.
Valvano was caught giving shoes to his players
UNC was caught in the middle of outright academic fraud
Sometimes, the NCSU mindset that its them against the world down here really does hold water very well.
Just because the internet wasn't around in those days doesn't mean it didn't happen.
If your point is that the NCAA doesn't seem to do much, well that's as true now as it was then. At least then it was considered embarrassing.
It's highly unlikely that Abu remains in the draft, he did not hire an agent, and will be back next year. Barber was always a given that he'd be gone after this year, and they can plug Smith in and not lose much. Honestly, the Martins where not all that good, and they would be competing with each other next year for the same spot. One was a high volume/low percentage shooter and the other was a competent defender.
State has Terry Henderson and Torian Dorn coming in as well - Henderson from WVU, Dorn from Charlotte. Both are better ball handlers and scorers. Rowan is coming back and should improve his percentages.
The problem with State last year is they didn't have perimeter scoring that was consistent other than Barber. They were a team that could compete with anyone when Barber, Abu and a third scorerproduced. But that didn't happen a lot for them. They simply had too many guys on the roster who couldn't score. There are a lot of reasons for that - recruiting misses, Transfers, etc.
Gottfried has shaken up the staff as well, they have hired Butch Pierre to take over Rob Moxley's spot, and are on the verge or either hiring Joe Dooley from FGCU or Heath Schroyer from UT-Martin to take Bobby Lutz's spot. In my opinion, both changes where needed - Moxley's health has impeded his ability to recruit on the road and Lutz isn't a strong recruiter. Dooley or Schroyer would be an upgrade.
State is heavy in the transfer market and are looking at adding a F/C or two and maybe another guard. They will have 8 or 9 scholarships available after next year, so 2017 is the big recruiting year for them.
Gottfried is not on the hot seat for next year, I think that that is crazy talk. He's had 4 NCAA tourney appearances and 2 Sweet 16's in the last 5 years. State hasn't seen that sustained success in years. The biggest gripe on Gottfried from the fan base is that his teams don't play good defense. That's never going to change. Gottfried is an offensive coach, he wants to beat you by scoring more points. With a team that had not a lot of scoring options last year, you could see that philosophy hurt NC State in full last year. I expect them to be much improved next year with the additional wing scoring and Abu being back.
Cat Barber was all they had this year. He was a finalist for ACC player of the year and he was a highly talented recruit out of High school. I see a huge drop off at PG which is the most important position in my opinion. Smith might be a great player by the end of the season, but I don't see any freshman coming in and playing near Cat Barber's level right out of the gate. Every team game planned just for him.
How will this get fixed? Gottfried has one player coming in this year. This is extremely similar to the VT team with Erick Green. We couldn't find production besides one player, that player graduated and we didn't improve. Sure Gottfried has better players than we did, but NC State Basketball fans are not VT basketball fans and the ACC is only getting tougher. If Gottfried under performs again, he will be gone next year. NCSU has much higher expectations.
I read their message boards after we beat them in January and almost all of them wanted Gottfried fired right then. Can't imagine their tone has changed after the season that they had.
I think it's crazy that a coach that went to the NCAA Tournament his first 4 years and the Sweet 16 two out of those years has his job on the line two seasons later. I get the point of this post, and 2016-17 will most likely be a tough year for Wolfpack basketball, but I would think the guy would get more than one losing season before being on the hot seat.
Gottfired must have a hypnotist on staff or something as the talent continues to go his way....
http://espn.go.com/recruiting/basketball/story/_/id/15562724/nc-state-wo...
Also looks like Abu will be back from the draft as all current projections have him undrafted.