The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/89497
BKB PREVIEW 12-13 Thats How A Backcourt That Features More Experience, Improved Depth And A New Option Inside Wants To Play Constantly Solid drilling into their players since the end of last year's 19-16 season. For the Pack's seven-member group of T guards and wings, that means better shoot- ing than last season's collective 36.6-per- cent accuracy from the field and contin- ued development of a defensive effort that, while improved from 2010-11, still allowed opponents to shoot 41 percent and average 65.5 points a game — just 2.2 points al- lowed fewer than the Pack averaged scor- ing per game. "We showed last year that on our good days, we were really, really good," said Pack assistant coach Jon Harper, who works with the team's backcourt players. "But on our bad days, we were bad … and you just can't have that. On those days, you have to be solid — if we can show up every day and be solid, we're going to win a bunch of games because I don't think there are that many teams that do show up every night. "You don't have to be tricky, or at a very high level — you just have to be at one constant level all the time. If we're at one level one game, and another the next, it's hard to prepare because you don't know who is going to play at what level." With four returners from last year's pe- rimeter group — plus a redshirt sopho- more, USC transfer Len'Nique Brown, who practiced all of last season while sit- ting out per NCAA transfer rules — Harper acknowledges that this will be the most experienced group he's worked with in his four years in Raleigh. "They're just a lot more comfortable," he said shortly before team practices be- gan Oct. 11. "They know what to expect, and you don't have to spend 10 minutes explaining something. That's a huge help. Now, everyone here has been coached by us except our three newcomers [fresh- man guard Ashley Eli, freshman walk-on guard Kaley Moser and junior transfer post Markeisha Gatling], and they're used to our system." But that system may be undergoing a tweak this year, Harper noted, with the arrival of the 6-5 Gatling, one of the coun- try's top JUCO posts the past two seasons. "She's the curveball," he acknowledged. Senior Marissa Kastanek ranks 20th in scor- ing in school history (1,230 points), fourth in career three-point field goal accuracy (35.9 percent) and third in career free throw shoot- ing (81.9 percent). PHOTO BY ROB BRADLEY 72 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY BRIAN RAPP he theme word for this year's NC State women's basketball team is "consistent," a mantra that the Wolfpack coaching staff has been