Sunday, March 18, 2012

This time last year NC State had just ended the most dismal year of 5 years with beloved player turned Coach Sidney Lowe. Coach Lowe resigned to allow new Athletic Director Debbie Yow to name a replacement. We love Lowe and feel awful that it didn’t work out.

AD Yow couldn’t interest any big name coaches in the job. Most of the players were considering transferring (Ryan Harrow did transfer to Kentucky).

We ended up with what was considered, at the time, a has been coach turned ESPN announcer. Clearly we were grasping at straws.

If you had said we’d be playing like a ‘team’ – (something missing the previous 5 years) – with a trip to this year’s Sweet 16 – you clearly did not know anything about basketball or were delusional.

Hell, if you had said we’d even be in the NCAA or NIT this year – I’d have said – riiiiiiight. Uh huh.

Coach Gottfried put together a stellar staff and has conjured up a miraculous turnaround. He got the kids in better shape and instilled a culture of commitment and dedication. No showboating. It’s a team. Tough Love. You are part of the family or you go somewhere else.

Yow and Gottfried reached out to the fans too. Straight talk and no promises other than to ‘do it right’. We’re the cat.

Today's win over Georgetown not only sends us to the Sweet 16 - it is also the most season wins by NC State since Coach Jim Valvano in 1987 - 1988.

I love watching these guys play.

LC

You may notice a small patch on the right shoulder of our team uniforms with the initials LC. That's for Lorenzo Charles who died this year in a traffic accident.