By Al Featherston for theACC.com
The NC State basketball program is not hurting for proven point guards.
There's assistant coach Monte Towe, an All-ACC pick in 1974 when he quarterbacked the Pack to the national title. Assistant coach Pete Strickland was the career assist leader at Pittsburgh when he finished his playing days in 1979. Quentin Jackson, the director of basketball operations, sparked NC State to an unexpected ACC title run when he took over at point guard in 1987. Administrative coordinator Justin Gainey set an ACC record as he played point guard for all 160 minutes in four games over four days as the 1997 Wolfpack made an improbable run from the ACC Tournament first-round game to the title game.
Then there's head coach Sidney Lowe, who established himself as one of the ACC's all-time great point guards when he directed Jim Valvano's Cardiac Pack to the 1983 NCAA championship.
"We're all has-beens," Lowe sighed, shaking his head sadly.
The irony is that doubt about the point guard position is the biggest question mark hanging over the NC State program entering this season.
"I am going to have to change the verbiage on this," Lowe said. "I don't like saying I am concerned about the point guard. I am going to say that the point guard is the biggest question we have right now. We do have some talented players there, they just haven't played yet.
"So it is our biggest question, not a concern."
A year ago, Lowe inherited a young and not-very-deep team. But he did have a veteran playmaker in senior Engin Atsur. Lowe's first Wolfpack team demonstrated the value of having a talented, experienced player at the point - basically, when the injury-plagued Atsur was in the lineup, the Pack was very good; when Atsur was sidelined or hobbled, the Pack struggled.
Ben McCauley
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Now Lowe returns four proven starters. Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley are as talented and as versatile as any post players in the ACC. Veteran wing starters Gavin Grant and Courtney Falls are explosive scorers and good defenders. He's even added depth with the addition of a strong freshman class, including prep All-American J.J. Hickson.
"J.J. is a beast," Grant said. "Fans are going to love him. He only has one gear, and that is 'hard.'"
But who is going to replace Atsur at the point? And will the Pack be able to do what they could not do a year ago - prosper without him?
"There's no question we're going to miss Engin tremendously," Lowe said. "We have three young men who, hopefully, collectively will get the job done for us. They're going to be very young, with our staff and time, hopefully they'll do a good job."
Sophomore Farnold Degand, a transfer from Iowa State, will almost certainly get the first shot at the starting job since one of the three point guard contenders - Tennessee transfer Marques Johnson - won't be eligible until the end of first semester and the other - Miami prep standout Javier Gonzalez - will miss most of pre-season practice after undergoing surgery to repair an injured thumb.
It's been more than two years since Degand played in an organized game. That was when he led O'Bryant High School in Boston to its fourth straight league championship in the spring of 2005.
The 6-4, 178-pounder sat out the 2005-06 season as a red-shirt at Iowa State, then missed the 2006-07 season as a transfer to NC State. The good news is that he did get to work out with the Pack all last season.
"I can't really say if I feel rusty, because practices are a lot different than games," Degand told Tim Peeler of GoPack.com. "When I get into games, I will be able to tell you that. Whatever the case, I think after the first TV timeout, I'll be back to my old self."
Degand will have just a short time to establish himself at the point before Gonzalez is ready to contend for the job. The 6-0, 176-pounder was voted Florida's 6-A player of the year after leading Krop High to a 28-3 record as a senior. The 6-5 Johnson, who saw action in four games at Tennessee before leaving, starred at Snider High in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he was rated one of the nation's top 50 prospects.
Lowe sounds confident that at least one of his three point guard candidates will get the job done.
"At least this year, we have point guards - plural," Lowe said. "Certainly, you like to have some experience at point guard, because it is a very important position on the floor. But if your guys understand what they are doing and understand what we need from them, they will see that they have a lot of scorers around them. All they have to do is get them the ball."
Gavin Grant
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That's what Atsur did late last season to spark the Pack's strong finish to what had been a disappointing season. Seeded 10th in the ACC Tournament, NC State upset No. 7 seed Duke in the first round, knocked off ACC regular season co-champion Virginia in the quarterfinals; edged No. 3 seed Virginia Tech in the finals and gave No. 1 seed North Carolina a tough game before falling in the finals.
NC State then beat Marist and Drexel in NIT before losing to eventual-champion West Virginia in the quarterfinals to finish 20-16.
That's not bad for an injury-plagued team that was picked to finish last in the ACC in the media's pre-season poll. It was also pretty sweet for a first-year coach who had spent his entire career in professional basketball.
"I think this year is more exciting for me than last year," Lowe said. "I am more aware of what I am up against. Last year, I was excited, but I wasn't aware of what I was really up against. And that's what makes this job fun."
Lowe, already popular with the NC State fan base due to his success as a Wolfpack player a quarter-century ago, further endeared himself to the Red and White by beating all three of NC State's "Big Four" rivals at least once in his first season.
But this year, neither Lowe nor his players will be content to merely exceed expectations or to play the spoiler on Tobacco Road. NC State has the depth of talent to challenge for its first ACC championship since the 1989 team won the regular season crown.
"I kind of liked being the underdog last year," McCauley said. "If we won a big game it was like, 'Wow.' Whereas this year if we lose a big game it's, 'What's going on?'"
STRENGTHS: The four returning starters from last year's fast-finishing Pack are all proven ACC players. Costner is one of the league's top inside-outside threats, while McCauley is a dazzling passer for such a rugged player in the post.
CONCERNS: What else? The point - this team will only be as good as the player who earns the play-making duties.
NEWCOMER TO WATCH: Hickson is a powerful inside player who very well may have jumped straight from high school to the NBA, according to Lowe, without last year's NBA rule change. He scored 14 points and pulled down six rebounds in just 15 minutes of action in the McDonald's All-America Game.
EARLY TESTS: The Old Spice Tournament in Orlando over Thanksgiving weekend features possible match-ups with Villanova, South Carolina, Kansas State and George Mason. The Pack travels to Michigan State, a pre-season top 10 team, on Nov. 28 for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Davidson and Cincinnati visit Raleigh just before Christmas, then the Pack travels to Seton Hall two days after the holiday.
