The GottFather

NC State's Mark Gottfried is making recruits offers they can't refuse

November 3rd, 2011

I will keep this short because I really don't know much about NC State's new coach Mark Gottfried. I do know that "Gottfried" is very friendly to nicknames (notably, the title of this piece: The Gott-Father). If Debbie Yow were to fire him soon, you could say he "Got Fried". Or, maybe Mark would be happy to leave Raleigh at that point and he really just "Got Freed".

ANYWAYS, on Wednesday Gottfried secured another big-time recruit in T.J. Warren. Along with Rodney Purvis, Gottfried has now convinced two five-star recruits to attend NC State next year. The man has not even coached a game but has already made some serious noise in the ACC with these signings.¹

You would think State fans would be going nuts with National Title predictions but I have seen mostly tepid optimism from the Pack. It seems Sidney Lowe taught them that talent doesn't really mean anything without the right chemistry and coaching.² Surprisingly -- and I mean very, very surprisingly -- State fans seem fairly cautious about the high level of talent Gottfried is bringing in.³

ANYWAYS, I am excited to see a rejuvenated NC State men's basketball program. This is not out of the goodness of my heart or anything. It is for purely selfish and UNC-centric reasons. I'll spare you the longwinded approach I often use in my pieces, because the idea here is really simple: Tobacco Road Basketball is more fun when NC State is good. I don't understand how anyone could deny this.

Look, I am not saying I ever want my alma mater to lose to the Pack. Obviously, I hope we crush them every time we play. But basketball is more fun when the Heels play ranked teams that are nationally relevant as opposed to unranked teams that are not nationally relevant. Now add in the fact that thousands of UNC and NC State fans live next door to each other, and it makes for some entertaining ball games.

One reason I'm writing this is because, at Gottfried's current rate, NC State looks to be pretty good in the near future. If CJ Leslie were to return for his junior season, the Pack could be very good next year. Warren seems like a classic glue guy who can consistently give you fifteen points, six or seven rebounds and a good dose of any other random statistic. Purvis appears to be in the same mold as other dominant scoring-lead guards such as Eric Gordon and OJ Mayo. Will he be that good? Who knows, but no one would be surprised if he averages eighteen points per game before jumping to the NBA Draft.

If both of these freshmen are as good as advertised, Gottfried could have himself a serious Final Four threat in 2012-2013 if Leslie and Brown were to continue to develop into go-to guys.⁴ Tar Heel fans should be happy about this if for no other reason than it is extremely satisfying watching NC State beat the hell out of Duke in basketball. It might be even more fun than watching Duke beat NC State in football. Here's to hoping both of these happen more often.

 

Note 1: A friend of mine (a State alum) sent me this video from inside an NC State practice two weeks ago. You can see how intense Gottfried's drills are compared to the rumors of how laid back Lowe was in practice. I emailed N&O writer J.P. Giglio to say I was excited to see the program turning around; and he was kind enough to respond with a few likewise comments. But I totally forgot Giglio was a State graduate. He knows I'm a UNC alum, and I can't help but wonder if he thought I was patronizing him; along the lines of "Aw, it's cute that State is good again". I really don't mean that at all and I hope that email, or this piece, are not perceived that way. (I also realize State fans probably don't care at all what I think.) But for the record, I want Gottfried to get NC State back on track. I want the Pack to beat  Indiana in four weeks and I want them to crush Boeheim and Syracuse this year. This doesn't mean I'm a State fan, I just think it's better for Tobacco Road Basketball in general. How could it not be?

Note 2: I am pissed off I couldn't find a way to work one of my favorite ACC players of all time, Julius Hodge, into this piece. I'll see what I can do about that in upcoming weeks. I can't blame Tar Heel fans for disliking Hodge since he robbed Rashad McCant's of the 2004 ACC POY. But, he did single-handedly knock a stacked #2 Connecticut team out of the Tar Heel's 2005 NCAA Regional, which was a big time favor. Thanks Jules.

Note 3: This doesn't really go with the rest of my piece, but to any Pack readers: if you aren't already happy Harrow left, you should be. If Larry Drew taught anyone anything, it's that chemistry matters. You're better off. Trust me.