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2008 NC State Wolfpack NCAA Basketball Season Preview & Predictions

Written October 6, 2008 by Jack Jones

Things couldn’t get much worse for North Carolina State last year when they finished at 15-16 and 4-12 in the conference, good for a last place finish in the ACC. Head coach Sidney Lowe is confident his team will be improved this year. One of the keys to success is how well Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley play. In 2006-07 they averaged 31.2 ppg, but last year that number dipped down to 14.6. If you think they can get back to form then you can win $15,000 on a $100 bet for this team to win the national title.

The team lost a big contributer when JJ Hickson took his game to the NBA after just one season with NC State. The team will have to find a way to replace his nearly 15 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game from the center spot. Most likely that will come from Costern and McCauley returning to form. Neither one of them was able to get into a rhythm playing along side Hickson. McCauley had lost his starting position to the freshman and then wasn’t fast enough to keep up at the power forward spot. Lowe is hoping a return to center, where he is faster than most, will see him return to 2006-07 form. Costner on the other hand seemed unhappy with no longer being the first option on offense. He lost his shot from the outside and wasn’t as willing to get in the paint with Hickson down there. Some other players you’ll see in the frontcourt for the Wolfpack are Tracy Smith, Dennis Horner, CJ Williams, and Johnny Thomas.

If this team wants to get better this season, they are going to have to find a consistent option at point guard. Marques Johnson and Javier Gonzalez were erratic at best, and Farnold Degand tore his ACL to miss the last 21 games. There is hope that Degand was on his way to developing into a solid option, but we are not completely sold. Julius Mays is an incoming freshman that could get a shot to run the team. He’s supposed to be consistent and steady. Courtney Fells is the team’s leading scorer coming back with 10.6 points per game last year. He might even play some small forward if Lowe wants to go with a smaller, quicker lineup.

Final Analysis

There are too many question marks surrounding this Wolfpack team for us to say they are going to make big improvements this year. It will be tough to get much worse than they were last year however. In our ACC basketball predictions, we see them somewhere towards the middle of the bottom half of the conference, but if things fall into place they could surprise a few teams. A trip to the NIT seems likely, but don’t count on hearing NC State called come selection Sunday. If you want to bet on basketball this year then we recommend heading to BetUS, where you can get up to 145% in signup bonuses!

Every day when the college basketball odds come out our team of handicappers go hard to work breaking down the numbers. They will do their best to provide you with winning basketball picks to help you make more money this season, so get signed up today and start profiting!