The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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BKB PREVIEW 12-13 backcourt, convinced Cal State Bakers- field transfer Alex Johnson to enroll at NC State. The combination of Early and Johnson successfully reached out to Leslie. "Part of my job, or any of our jobs as coaches, is to help develop these young men," Early noted. "It's not just C.J., al- though C.J. probably needed the most at- tention, but it's all of them." Gottfried also wanted Leslie to bury his freshman troubles. He started that process by referring to Leslie by his first name of Calvin instead of C.J. "He's Calvin to me forever," Gottfried stated. "He's turned over a new stone." Gottfried also worked hard to teach Leslie how to be successful. "He was a stubborn guy," Gottfried ad- mitted. "It was like pushing a mule every now and then to get done what you want done." Leslie's season was anything but smooth at first. He missed the first three games of the year for taking impermis- sible benefits, and he was taken out of the starting lineup due to discipline reasons for a game at Wake Forest, during which he missed his only three shot attempts in 17 minutes. But throughout the year, Leslie began to steadily buy into Gottfried's system, and he realized he could flourish. "I understand things better," Leslie re- flected. "Coming in as freshman, I really didn't know much. It's not the same as high school. I understand things a lot bet- ter." Leslie may have had his coming-out party against No. 7 North Carolina in the then-RBC Center Feb. 21. The first time the two teams met, Leslie was held to just nine points on 3-of-12 shooting while going up against UNC's long-armed ace defender John Henson. In Raleigh when the teams met again, Leslie used his quickness and athletic ad- vantage to turn the tables on Henson. Les- lie shot 9 of 17 from the field, and finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds. "I think there were kind of stages: early part, April, May and June; then the early part of practice where he was still trying to figure us out and learn how to practice harder, pay attention better and do things the right way in practice and games," Gottfried noted. "I thought his last 10 or 15 games, he played as well as anybody in the country." Still More To Prove The biggest question surrounding NC State's offseason was whether Leslie would turn pro or not. Relying on his close group 26 ■ THE WOLFPACKER Leslie averaged 18.0 points and 9.1 rebounds in the Pack's final 10 games last season, and he earned ACC All-Tournament honors after averaging a double-double during NC State's three-game run in Atlanta. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN "He doesn't need to be a great three- point shooter," Gottfried noted, although. "He needs to be a great 15-foot shooter." Leslie has also focused on making sure he is properly hydrated at all times so that his body does not suffer from the cramp- ing issues that plagued him at times dur- ing last season, notably in an early season home loss to No. 1 Syracuse. Most of all, though, Leslie seems to have the right mindset. He is not coasting off of last season's success nor listening to the preseason hype of NCSU as a top- 10 team. Leslie's one goal for this season is sim- ple: hard work. "Nobody is going to hand us anything," Leslie said. "We are going to be the team son," Early added. "He was an 18-year, 17-year-old freshman when he got here. Now he's an older kid, been in college two years. He understands what he needs to do to become a better player. "I think Coach Gottfried has done a great job of helping to push him along to maturing, but I give C.J. credit for helping him toe that line." Leslie's personal goal for this season is simple: "Just hope to keep getting better." He's more interested in proving the Wolf- pack belongs among the nation's elite. "Because we want to excel," he said. "We want to go farther in the NCAA. We're proud to be one of those [Sweet 16] teams, but we're not happy about it. "We definitely think we can be better." ■ of family and friends that helped him sur- vive his difficult freshman season, Leslie spurned the NBA for another year in Ra- leigh. "I just got it in my head that I wasn't done yet," Leslie said. "I really felt like I had something to prove, something to come back and do more. That was the main thing." One of Leslie's top objectives this off- season was to become a more reliable shooter, especially from around 15 feet, which should help him improve his career 57.2 percent foul shooting. that is going hard in practice and doing what we're supposed to do. "[The rankings are] all fine and dandy, that's good to hear, but we really want to focus on getting better as a team. If we do that, then everything else will just come to us and it'll take care of itself." Leslie's maturation has not gone un- noticed. "He's grown like no other," Brown con- firmed. "I haven't seen anything like it before. From his attitude to his game on the court, he's just improved overall." "I think he has matured a lot as a per-