Pack ready for a new look

RALEIGH -- It didn't take a magnifying glass to see the cracks in N.C. State's basketball team last year. The visible lack of chemistry on the court was only one manifestation of a team divided.

Brandon Costner, Ben McCauley and Courtney Fells were good basketball players, no doubt about it, but they were recruited by a different coach to play a different kind of game. The longer they played under Sidney Lowe, the bigger the rifts became. Last season, none of the parts fit at all.

"Last year, there were more guys about themselves," sophomore point guard Julius Mays said Friday. "This year, it's about a team that wants to win. ...

"Everything is about the team. We won't have anybody going against Coach Lowe, or trying to get other guys to go against Coach Lowe. It feels a lot better."

The mood may have improved, but that trio also led the team in scoring last season, so their departure deprives State of a great deal of raw talent this season. It also marks a beginning of sorts.

For the first time, Lowe will have a team composed almost entirely of his recruits. And for the first time, he'll have a chance to show fans what kind of basketball he wants his teams to play. Making that kind of statement may be more important than wins, which could be scarce this season.

Lowe has his supporters and his detractors, each with their own positions, but if there's an area of general agreement it is that his N.C. State teams have yet to develop an identity of their own.

That was easily explained in the early days of his tenure because he was handed a roster full of players recruited to play a very specific system. Say what you want about Herb Sendek, but his teams had a very clear identity, one that stemmed from his Princeton-style offense, and his choice of players reflected that. That's not an issue any longer.

Asked Thursday about what identity he wants his teams to have, Lowe said, "I want to see us go out and play as hard as we can, as smart as we can."

That's a noble goal, but there are 11 other ACC coaches who would say the same thing. More than a few of them can also point to other areas of the game where their teams excel, from Duke's grudging defense to North Carolina's full-court schemes to Miami's zone, just to name a few examples.

With Sendek-style personnel, Lowe was limited in his options. Even if State wanted to play more up-tempo, it wasn't realistic to ask half-court players like Costner and McCauley to play that way. If Lowe took them out of the game, as he did for long stretches last season, it revealed a talent deficit that put State at a disadvantage no matter what style the Pack tried to play. It was a no-win situation, and too often that was the result for the Wolfpack.

The players Lowe brought in this year will help address that, and next year's class is shaping up even better, even if there's still a long way to go overall. But it's the players who were here last year who are the most excited about the potential changes that may be in store.

"People who are used to us playing a slowdown game are going to be surprised," Mays said. "It's completely different this year. We want to run."

The Wolfpack has players who can play that way, even up front. Forward Tracy Smith, who emerged as a legitimate ACC scoring threat down low last season, isn't a hulking behemoth. He'll carry the load in the post, but he's nimble for a big guy.

If Lowe wants to run, Smith is ready.

"Whatever he wants," Smith said, "we're ready to give it to him."

This is the year everyone should find out exactly what Lowe wants.

There shouldn't be anything to slow him down.

State may not win often this season, but this is Lowe's chance to show how they'll win in the future.

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