Lowe Piecing It All Together

By: WolfpackHoops Staff

When Sidney Lowe took over as the Wolfpack head coach three years ago, he was handed the formidable task of taking the NC State Wolfpack basketball program to the next level. The memories of a University once celebrated for it’s basketball prowess were growing hazier and hazier with each passing year. The emergence of basketball powerhouses such as The University of North Carolina and Duke overshadowed the once dominant Wolfpack, and left them, and their fans wondering how and who will lead them back to glory.

Enter Sidney Lowe. Lowe was the point guard whose play, under legendary coach Jim Valvano, led the Pack to their second National Championship with one of the most memorable runs in NCAA history. With Lowe, the Wolfpack had someone who understood them, who understood the rivalries and who understood the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in his way. “My love for this area and for this university runs deep. My commitment here will be second to none.” Said Lowe in his first press conference. With a renewed sense of confidence, the Wolfpack fans were ready for the next great chapter in NC State Basketball history.

Fast forward to 2009. Sidney Lowe has an overall record of 51-46 and a less than stellar conference mark of 15-33. With three seasons under his belt, some Wolfpack fans are beginning to grow impatient. The win-now mentality that had harbored in Raleigh in years past is starting to rear its head again. However, if you look past the record, and examine the program a little closer, if you listen to the players when they speak, you find that there is something a little different going on this off-season. Players are maturing, they are starting to take it upon themselves to make sure they are prepared to go the places they want to go this season. The pieces may just be starting to come together. This will be the first season that Sidney Lowe will have a team entirely made-up of his players (with the exception of Senior forward Dennis Horner), so he will finally have his tools to work with. These players are the ones that bought in to what was pitched to them as recruits, players that are hungrier than ever to change the culture in Raleigh.

“I think people are really ready to turn this thing around. I mean, we have a lot of people in here that are just all about winning. Nobody is about themselves and everybody is about the team. None of us like losing, and we've seen, in spurts last year, how good we could be, but we let games slip away and we're just tired of that. We just really want to win games. " said Sophomore Julius Mays

Mays is just one Wolfpack player that has seen a drastic change in off-season work outs and team togetherness. Sophomore guard CJ Williams also expressed a new attitude and a new commitment to putting in the extra work to get better.

“Probably the biggest difference between this team and last years team is that you see a lot more guys working out on their own. There were guys that did that last year, but not as many. I mean, every day you see Javi, Johnny, me, Julius, Dennis, Tracy in the gym. Now we are all working out but it’s on our own. One is shooting, one is lifting, one might be relaxing and then we have a little chain going. When one person is done shooting someone else will go shoot and another person will go fill his spot in the weight room. It’s just that there are a lot more guys taking it upon themselves to get better. I really like that and I like that idea and I think because of that, things are definitely going to change.”

Since day one, Coach Sidney Lowe has preached mental toughness, and that hard work will earn court time. It seems as if that message is starting to sink in, as players are now understanding what those monikers really mean. It’s apparent to the players that a change is in order, and it’s beginning to open the eyes of the coaches, especially Sidney Lowe.

"(the goal this off-season was) to get better at everything and I feel very comfortable and confident in that. I don't know if you've seen any of our guys, but if you haven't, you'll see. They're different, they're just different. Their expressions are different, their mindsets are different, their bodies are different. Dennis Horner likes to walk around with his shirt off for the first time. It's interesting. He's proud of his work. When you see our guys you'll be able to see and it's because of the extra work they're putting in. No one is telling them to be in the gym at 6:30am. They're in there working out, that's what they are doing." Lowe said.

When a team starts to understand work ethic, you know they’ve begun to understand winning and what it takes to become a winner. Obviously, every team “wants to win”, but just how badly a team wants it can only be measured in the preparation and hard work they put in during the off-season. Sidney Lowe is still in the process of building the NC State program, but if this summer was any indication, he is on the right track and the pieces may just now be starting to fall into place.