North Carolina State Wolfpack
Atlantic Coast Conference (22-12, 9-7)
Mid-March was a stressful time for Wolfpack fans. The team did not make it easy on them this year. Living precariously perched on the bubble for weeks on end gives people gray hairs. Comparing NC State’s season resume against some of their fellow bubble teams, you see that they really had very few losses that could be constituted as bad. Losing out of conference to Vandy when they were 20th in the nation is understandable. Losses to Indiana and on the road at Stanford are nothing to cry about. State put up a battle for most of their game against top ranked Syracuse only to see the Orange pull away in the second half. A stretch of conference losses at the end of the season was poorly timed but NC State wasn’t necessarily favored to win any of them. The problem of course with the Wolfpack’s tournament resume was that they didn’t manage to beat anyone good.
Big Wins: 11/11 UNC-Asheville (84-75), 11/21 vs Texas (77-74), 1/22 at Miami (78-73)
Bad Losses: 12/4 at Stanford (72-76), 1/11 Georgia Tech (71-82), 2/25 at Clemson (69-72)
Coach: Mark Gottfried (1 season at North Carolina State)
Why They Can Surprise:
Mark Gottfried probably got the most out of his players that could have been expected in his first season on the job. With big senior departures from last year’s team and Gottfried new to the ACC, not a lot was expected of the Wolfpack in 2011-2012. On the back of sophomore forward CJ Leslie, NC State certainly overachieved. Expected to be a one-and-done player before his freshman year started, Leslie was a pretty big disappointment to Carolina State faithful a season ago. He made the smart decision to return to school, where he has taken strides to becoming a much more consistent player and scorer. In State’s run through the gauntlet of the ACC at the end of the year, facing Duke, Florida State and North Carolina back to back to back, Leslie showed up large in all three contests. In the set of three, he averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds per game, adding a robust six blocks in the Duke game. Along with Leslie, CJ Williams and Richard Howell give NC State three starters who are all shooting very well from the floor this season. Teamed with the rest of the starters, all five men are scoring in double figures this season, making it hard for defenses to key on just one man to stop.
Why They Can Disappoint:
Although the Wolfpack are getting excellent production from their entire starting lineup, they have very little in the way of depth behind it. Tyler Harris and Jordan Vandenberg, two players who were getting solid minutes earlier in the year, fell out of Coach Gottfried’s rotation altogether by the second half of the season. The Pack was left with just two contributors off the bench, neither of whom shot the ball well at all this season. The big man, DeShawn Painter, managed to tally fewer combined steals and blocks than committed turnovers. Meanwhile, Alex Johnson, the senior backup point guard, had a nice season passing the ball but could not be counted on for any type of scoring off the bench. During the regular season, this roster alignment left NC State outmanned against top tier opponents and they lost all those games. Otherwise, they were able to compete and win a vast majority of their contests. In a postseason tournament, unfortunately, a lot of the teams they face will be of the former composition rather than the latter.
Probable Starters:
Lorenzo Brown, Sophomore, Guard, 12.7 ppg, 6.4 apg, 4.3 rpg
C.J. Williams, Senior, Guard, 10.6 ppg, 1.8 apg
C.J. Leslie, Sophomore, Forward, 14.6 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.6 bpg
Scott Wood, Junior, Forward, 12.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg
Richard Howell, Junior, Forward, 10.7 ppg, 9.3 rpg
Key Roleplayers:
DeShawn Painter, Junior, Center, 6.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg
Alex Johnson, Senior, Guard, 4.8 ppg, 3.0 apg
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 73.6 (47th in nation, 3rd in conference)
Scoring Defense: 68.5 (219, 9)
Field-Goal Percentage: 46.2 (62, 2)
Field-Goal Defense: 41.8 (107, 6)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 5.4 (245, 8)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 35.5 (112, 4)
Free-Throw Percentage: 72.0 (74, 4)
Rebound Margin: 4.6 (44, 2)
Assists Per Game: 16.1 (13, 2)
Turnovers Per Game: 12.8 (106, 8)
Last Five Postseason Appearances:
North Carolina State 2010 NIT First Round win over South Florida
North Carolina State 2010 NIT Second Round loss to UAB
North Carolina State 2007 NIT First Round win over Drexel
North Carolina State 2007 NIT Second Round win over Marist
North Carolina State 2007 NIT Quarterfinal Loss to West Virginia
North Carolina State 2006 NCAA Round of 64 win over California
North Carolina State 2006 NCAA Round of 32 loss to Texas
North Carolina State 2005 NCAA Round of 64 win over Charlotte
North Carolina State 2005 NCAA Round of 32 win over Connecticut
North Carolina State 2005 NCAA Regional Semifinal loss to Wisconsin
North Carolina State 2004 NCAA Round of 64 win over Louisiana
North Carolina State 2004 NCAA Round of 32 loss to Vanderbilt
*all team stats through 3/4
See All Men’s Basketball Postseason Capsules
