Technician Online

March 9th, 2007

Lowe aims high

Nick Jeffreys
Deputy Sports Editor

TAMPA, Fla. – Sidney Lowe isn’t backing down from North Carolina or Duke.

Instead of treating the rivalries like any other game, he has decided to take the schools head on – and it’s worked.

In his first year at N.C. State, he has defeated the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils in the same season – something that hasn’t happened since 1995.

And it’s the attitude he’s instilled in his players about the importance of the games that’s worked.

While many Carolina and Duke fans have overlooked the rivalry in the past couple decades, the first-year coach, after the win against Duke on Thursday night, said the rivalry never went away.

“It’s not something that I made up,” Lowe said. “It was something that was there when I got there as a player. Someone told me they were big games so nothing has changed.”

Whether Lowe can be successful in pitting his team in the same category as the two schools is unknown. But for Wolfpack fans, it has to be comforting knowing that Lowe is trying to tap into the two-team dynasty in the triangle.

“You have three schools that have great basketball tradition, three schools that have won national championships, three schools that have tons of NBA players to come through here,” Lowe said. “Anytime those three lock up, it’s a big game.”

Lowe has the attitude that State can be among the best. First it comes with beating UNC and Duke. Then it comes with consistently reaching the tournament and making a deep run. And then comes to getting players in the NBA.

He shows the fans how important the games are by his “red jacket.” He then tries to give his players an NBA mindset with his background, and even more importantly with the Chicago Bulls NBA theme song – one that was extremely popular during the Michael Jordan dynasty.

Lowe is exciting. Lowe says the right things. And he has caused the fans to think big – but only time will determine whether he will be Chuck Amato or his own person.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 4:28 pm and is filed under Men's ACC Tournament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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