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2009-10 North Carolina State Basketball Predictions

Written November 10, 2009 by Rock Henderson

Widely considered to have some of the best young talent in the ACC, the North Carolina State Wolfpack will try and put the pieces together this season and improve on their 16-14 record. The backcourt that received much criticism a year ago for their inconsistent play and questionable decision making will need to be an area of strength for Sidney Lowe’s crew. While the jury is still out on PG’s Javier Gonzalez and Farnold Degand, the Wolfpack seem to have enough talent to exceed their six win total in conference play last year. This will be Lowe’s most challenging season as a head coach to date. Looking at the latest NCAA basketball odds, the Wolfpack are listed at +15000 odds to win this year’s national championship.

North Carolina State will have to find a way to replace the talented frontcourt they possessed a year ago when F Brandon Costner and C Ben McCauley led the team in scoring and rebounding. G Courtney Fells was the Pack’s main outside threat and departed the program due to graduation. Lowe brought in two four star recruits to fill the void left in the frontcourt. Freshman Richard Howell and Deshawn Painter will be called upon early in the careers to contribute right away. F Scott Wood will be relied upon to come off the bench and be productive his first year. Point guard Lorenzo Brown could also see playing time during conference play as Gonzalez has shown that he is capable of turning over the ball in mass quantities during the game. Get a 20% deposit bonus that you can use to do your NCAA basketball betting this season when you open a new account and deposit $300 or more at Bookmaker!

With so much youth on this team, junior C Tracy Smith will be looked upon to provide leadership and toughness in the paint. Playing behind two very talented players last year, Smith still managed to average 10 ppg and should see those numbers increase being the main focus of the offense. Things get a little shady after Smith as to who is going to step up and provide scoring for this team. Senior Dennis Horner will get most of the run at one of the forwards, but only averaged 6.4 ppg off the bench in his junior year. A player to keep an eye on his sophomore guard Julius Mays. As a freshman, Mays played about 15 mpg and showed flashes of being a go to scorer. He will need to step his game up in a big way to provide the Pack with an outside scoring punch. G Javier Gonzalez hit on 43% of his three point attempts, but hopefully spent the off-season working on his ball handling and passing skills in order to run the point efficiently. Rounding out the projected starting 5 will be sophomore F C.J. Williams, who saw action last year before suffering a season ending injury.

There has to be bottom feeders in every conference and I see North Carolina State being one in the ACC. This team looks to be a year or two away from making some noise, but they could sneak up on some teams not expecting much of an effort from the Pack. Their success will depend mostly on the development of their backcourt and how quickly their freshman transition to the intensity of the college game. No major postseason play for the Wolfpack this season.

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