The Wolfpacker

46 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY MATT CARTER T he NC State men's basketball team exceeded expectations last season. The Wolfpack was picked to finish 10th in the ACC preseason poll by the league's sportswriters, and sophomore forward T.J. Warren did not receive a single vote for preseason ACC Player of the Year, nor was he selected preseason All-ACC. Warren would go on to have one of the great offensive seasons in NC State basketball history, leading the ACC in scoring and winning the league's top individual honor going away in voting by both the media and conference coaches. The Pack finished seventh in the league and then thrilled its fans in Greensboro, N.C., during the ACC Tournament with an opening-round triumph over Miami and a stunning victory over Syracuse in the quarterfinals before fading in the second half in a loss to Duke in the semifinals. The most important expectation-defying achievement, though, was making the NCAA Tournament for the third time in three years under head coach Mark Gottfried. Right up to Selection Sunday, most of the bracketologists — a group of pundits who make educated guesses on whom the NCAA Tournament selection committee will pick for the Big Dance — were not putting NCSU in the field of 68, nor were they were even considering them to be among the first few teams on the outside looking in. However, NCSU got the last invite over SMU. NC State defeated Xavier 74-59 in Dayton, Ohio, to move on to the round of 64, but poor free throw shooting (9 of 21 over the last five minutes of regulation and the five-minute overtime) contributed to the Pack blowing a 16-point lead with just more than eight minutes left in their upset bid of fifth-seeded Saint Louis in Orlando, Fla. NC State finished the year 22-14 overall, giving them a 70-38 mark under Gottfried. The 70 wins is the most in a three-year span for the Wolfpack since they won 73 games from 1973-76, a stretch that included a 30-1 national title-winning campaign. The last time NCSU had at least 22 wins in three straight seasons was 1972-75. Prior to that it had not been done since 1953-56. "I'm really proud of our guys," Gottfried said in an interview with Raleigh-based sports talk radio station 99.9 The Fan. "We all got to keep it in perspective. We took a team that lost all those guys from the year before, and we learned how we needed to play to be effective. We kept altering and changing and finding and searching for the answers, and we kind of found them. To go to our third straight NCAA Tournament, I couldn't be happier for our players. "They earned it. They did a phenomenal job. They should never hang their head about that, even though they are disap- pointed in that last one. I told them, 'What a run.'" Gottfried's road to 70 wins is also the second fastest in school history. Only Everett Case did it quicker, reaching it in 86 games. If Gottfried is to coach NCSU to a fourth straight 20-win season, something that has not been done at State since the Pack did it five straight years from 1984-89, the obvious first task is to replace the loss of Warren and his scoring average of 24.9 points per game. Warren announced in April he was taking his game to the NBA after two seasons in Raleigh. On The Perimeter It would be tough for even the Kentuckys of the world to replace what Warren provided for NC State. His 871 total points last year is the most ever for a Wolfpack player, passing the legendary David Thompson's 1975 mark of 838 points. Warren's scoring average landed him fifth all time for highest in a single season at NC State. The effort to replace Warren will be a team one, and NC State has the pieces to collectively pull it off. "We'll be a lot different," Gottfried stated. "The way this year's team needed to win, it needed T.J. Warren to score — a lot. My first two years at NC State we were very balanced, and I could see our team next year being a lot more balanced the way we were the first couple of years." Rising fifth-year senior Ralston Turner was the only other NCSU player to average double-digit scoring, chipping in 10.5 points per contest. He got better as the season progressed, averaging 11.2 points in ACC action. When Warren missed the Maryland game at PNC Arena Jan. 20 with an ankle injury, Turner matched his career high with 23 points to lead the shorthanded Pack to a nine-point win over the Terps. Turner made 77 three-pointers in his first year with NCSU after transferring in from LSU. That was almost exactly half of the Pack's 160 made threes all year. Turner should not be the lone shooter on the floor next year, though. Former Alabama guard Trevor Lacey will join the equation after sitting out last season per NCAA transfer rules. Lacey averaged 11.3 points a game as a sophomore for the Tide and made 62 of 166 threes (37.3 percent) that year. The former Parade All-American earned strong reviews for his performance in practice during the season. Gottfried said that Lacey "is going to be fun to watch." "He can play the point some and play the off-guard positions," Gottfried explained. A pair of first-year players last season, rising sophomore point guard Anthony Barber and rising senior wing Desmond Lee, are expected to improve. Barber will likely assume point guard duties full-time after sophomore Tyler Lewis announced he was transferring to Butler. Barber averaged 8.5 points and 3.5 assists per game during his rookie season, starting 18 of 36 contests. Lee added in 8.4 points per game while making 19 starts. The foursome gives NCSU good depth on the perimeter, but insurance also comes in the form of the Martin twins. Natives of Mocksville, N.C., Caleb and Cody Martin are a pair of 6-6 wings who played last season for Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va. Caleb is more of a shooter, while Cody has a reputation for slash- ing to the basket and being an effective rebounder. Caleb is ranked No. 60 in the 2014 class by Rivals.com, and Cody checked in at No. 81. Moving Forward The Pack Returns The Bulk Of Its Lineup, But Must Replace Its Star Player Anthony Barber, who started 18 of 36 games and averaged 8.5 points and 3.5 assists per game during his rookie season, is expected to be the Pack's full-time point guard in 2014-15. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN 46-48.Men's BKB Wrapup.indd 46 4/29/14 2:49 PM

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