You have to be impressed. When Mark Gottfried was hired only one thing was for sure, he had a gigantic task ahead of him.

Taking a team that was one of the worst in the league and struggled on both offense and defense and turning them into a contender wasn’t going to happen overnight. There needed to be a culture change around NC State. The good news was that there was talent left in the cupboard. With CJ Leslie, Lorenzo Brown, Richard Howell and Scott Wood hanging around, Gottfried had the guns, but he needed to reconstruct them before they could do any damage.

Nearly halfway through the season and it’s starting to look like he’s done that. NC State is sitting at 11-4 with quality wins over Princeton and Texas and near misses against Syracuse, Indiana and Vanderbilt. Here is our breakdown of what’s been good and whats been bad for the Wolfpack, as well as what they’ll need to do to contend in the upcoming ACC schedule.

The Good

What Can Brown Do For You?….Everything
Lorenzo Brown has been the surprise of the season in many people’s eyes. Last season he was timid, looked out of place and rarely showed glimpses of greatness. But much has changed in the past year.  Brown is averaging almost 7 assists per game, good for 2nd in the conference and his assist to turnover ratio sits at 2.2/1 which is good for 3rd in the conference. That not the only thing Lorenzo has been providing for State, he’s also scoring, rebounding and has become a master thief.  Brown is notching 13 points and 5 boards to go along with those 7 assists per game while also adding over 2 steals per game, which happens to be the best in the ACC.  Lorenzo has become a real team leader for Gottfried’s group and while he’s still working on being a true vocal leader, he is the one player that always is keeping cool and collected and keeping his team together when the going gets tough.

Sharing the Ball, Taking Care of the Ball
NC State has done a complete 180 from last season. A year ago it was hard to watch as the Wolfpack played one on one and sometimes selfish basketball. Everyone wanted to take the shot, everybody wanted to be the hero, sometimes that’s a good thing, but when it starts coming in the way of the team concept, you have a problem. This year it’s been different. NC State is sharing the basketball and sharing the credit. They have all five starters averaging in double figures and have 3 of the ACC’s top 10 players in assist-to-turnover ratio (Lorenzo Brown, Scott Wood and Alex Johnson).

Calvin-ized
Say what you want about CJ Leslie’s transformation to ‘Calvin’ but it’s worked and he’s gone from a player with a questionable attitude who gives questionable effort to one of the most dynamic players in the ACC. He’s an absolute monster in the paint where State has been very good defensively. He’s blocking over 2 shots per game and altering a ton more. He’s shooting at the highest percentages he has in his career and has been taking good shots within the offense. There is no ‘I’m too good for this’ look on his face, or ‘This is too easy for me swagger’ in his body language. Leslie is playing hard and trying to win. That’s it. And when you get Calvin playing with that mindset then your playing with an NBA caliber athlete on your team. We’ve been extremely impressed in the change Leslie has shown this season and think he’s a huge reason that the Pack can be successful this season.

Senior Leader
Every year you wonder if this is the season CJ Williams is going to break out, and every year you’ve watched him fall back into ‘role-player’ mode. Not this season. The senior has been a constant force for the Pack, defending their opponents best player and playing with extremem confidence on the offensive end. His scoring average is up from 4.7 to 12.4. His rebounding is up from 2.4 to 3.9 per game. His assists have gone from 1.1 to 2.3 and he’s shooting 39% from beyond the arc, which certainly trumps the 22% he was shooting last season. What’s nuts is the fact that he’s now shooting over 60% from inside the arc. Think about the last time you saw a stat like this for a guy who doesn’t play in the post? Rarely if ever should be your answer. Williams is shooting 60% not on layups and putbacks, but on midrange jumpers.  All in all you can’t ask for much more improvement in a player. Williams has taken it upon himself to be the consistent leader as a senior and he’s done well.

The Not so Good

Defense
It’s hard to win when teams are raining in shots all over your head all game, but NC State has withstood it for the most part. They are one of the worst teams in the country at stopping the 3 ball. Opponents are shooting 38% from 3 against the Pack. Think about that. There are a lot of teams that might have one guy, if that, that’s shooting the 3 ball at over a 40% clip and the Pack is allowing entire teams to average that number. It’s a certain mix of poor defensive rotation and bad luck. State has been slow to help on the drive and when they do, teams are kicking it out for the open 3 which Pack players are reacting to, but not anticipating (thus making it too slow a rotation). They’re also allowing teams to get what they want far too often. Let’s take a look at their losses:

Vanderbilt – shot 52% from the floor and 36 % from 3 point range
Indiana – shot 48% from the floor and 53% from 3 point range
Stanford- shot 36% from the floor and 35.7% from 3 point range
Syracuse – shot 57% from the floor and 44% from 3 point range

So in their losses NC State has allowed their opponents to shoot (on average) 48% from the field and over 42% from beyond the arc. That’s pretty bad defense. Their only saving grace has been the fact that they’ve done well on the boards and have been (or shall we say Calvin Leslie has been) blocking a lot of shots.

Depth
I know Mark Gottfried keeps reminding us that he’s had teams that have been able to win with only 7 players in the rotation, but depth is going to be an issue with this Wolfpack team, especially when we’re talking conference play. They have 7 players averaging basically 20 minutes or more, but after that the next most is 10 from Tyler Harris. Let’s also note that Harris hasn’t seen much action in the past few games. It’s true that Gottfried has been trying to work freshman Thomas De Theay into the mix, but it’s a slow process. The ACC season is long and grueling and the Pack can’t afford to get tired or get injured because after their top 7 there is a huge drop-off.

NC state opens the ACC season on Sunday when they take on Maryland at 6pm in the RBC Center