Last season Maverick Rowan was thrown to the fire, with the injury to Terry Henderson he was forced into a much larger role than Gottfried had intended. In fact Rowan started 31 games for the Pack, and averaged 12.9 points per contest. His 426 points was third best in NC State history for a freshman. There is no question that Rowan was a welcome addition and had plenty of memorable scoring games last season.

With the good came the bad though, Rowan was subpar in his shooting percentage, he finished the season at a 36% clip. Although he found a way to score, defensively he left much to be desired. One of his biggest weaknesses was his lateral movement. Maverick was sluggish moving laterally and could not keep anyone in front of him, this put lots of pressure on NC State’s help side defense. Another area where Maverick was weak was rebounding, for someone who is 6-7 and has a decent build, he only yielded 3.1 boards a game.

Where does all of this leave Rowan? NC State has added talent for the upcoming season, and have plenty of options for the wing. Gottfried now has the following options to play the perimeter, Dennis Smith Jr, Terry Henderson, Torin Dorn, and Markell Johnson. It appears that the starting lineup will consist of DSJ, Terry Henderson, Torin Dorn, Malik Abu, and Omer Yurtseven.

That leaves Rowan to come off the bench, but that is not a bad thing. By playing with the second unit Rowan will be able give some instant scoring punch, while facing a teams lesser defender. Also in some situations Rowan could see minutes with a smaller lineup that can provide outside shooting, by pairing with Smith, Henderson, and Dorn. Once again Maverick should be able to take advantage of a favorable matchup as a team’s best defender should be matched on Smith or Henderson.

The best thing Maverick can do is accept his role and fill it. This offseason will be important as Rowan will need to improve his shooting off the catch, and work on his other parts of the game to help improve those around him. If Rowan can improve his handle, conditioning, and quickness then he can have an even bigger impact this season despite not playing as many minutes.

Maverick will be needed next season if State will contend for the ACC and have a deep NCAA run. Also by filling his role this season and getting better at shot selection, and improving his all around game he will be in line to have a great last two seasons at NC State.

What do you think Rowan’s impact will be this coming season?