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Get inside March Madness with SI.com's Luke Winn in the Tourney Blog, a daily journal of college basketball commentary, on-site reporting and reader-driven discussions.
3/10/2007 09:39:00 PM

Whatever You Do, Don't Get Punked

Sindey Lowe has his Wolfpack one more upset away from an NCAA berth.
AP
TAMPA, Fla. -- Sidney Lowe's Red Coat Express cannot be stopped in the ACC tournament. First an upset of Duke on Thursday. Then Virginia on Friday. And now Saturday's magic, a 72-64 win over Virginia Tech. On what would have been the 61st birthday of late N.C. State coach Jim Valvano, Lowe -- a player on Jimmy V's 1983 national championship team -- has piloted the 10th-seeded Wolfpack to within one win of an automatic NCAA tournament bid. And the fact that he's done it while wearing a red blazer straight out of the Valvano wardrobe, well, that's only made it more special for the N.C. State family.

As heartwarming as this story is -- an 18-14 team making an improbable run in March with historic implications -- it's undoubtedly driving fans of Illinois, Stanford, Drexel, Kansas State, Purdue and Texas Tech nuts. Why? Because Lowe's Wolfpack are on the verge of singlehandedly shrinking the NCAA tournament bubble. Sunday's ACC final is suddenly full of intrigue, with Carolina fighting for a No. 1 seed in the dance and N.C. State potentially playing spoiler for a host of at-large candidates.

Ultimately, what may stick with me the longest from the Wolfpack's run is not the red-coat craze, but rather the pregame speech Lowe gave his team at the outset of the ACC tournament. As much as the first-year coach is willing to talk about the Valvano stuff -- "The way we're doing it right now is very similar to what our fans saw in 1983," Lowe said -- he's not into quoting the guy. Needless to say, the words Don't ever give up have yet to find their way into Lowe's motivational arsenal.

Instead, junior guard Gavin Grant said this was the message Lowe gave the team in its Thursday-morning meeting before taking on the Blue Devils:

Don't let anybody come out and punk you. Don't let anybody push you around. It's a basketball game. What's the worst that can happen? You aren't going to get in any fights.

Even if N.C. State doesn't make the Dance -- and I get the feeling it won't, since the ACC final with be its fourth game in four days, and it's against the deepest team in the country -- I think that Lowe's rhetoric has legs. If I'm a coach of a potential Cinderella in the NCAA tournament, I'd crib from Sid. No modern-day player wants to get punked. And if the runts on some No. 16 seed are reminded that they won't literally get their asses kicked by a No. 1, well, who knows what could happen?

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Posted: March 10, 2007 11:43 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
"Aim High, Get Lowe" is now sadly replaced by "Fear the Tomato"

Lowe needs to lose 20 pounds..here's hoping UNC wins so I won't have to listen to arrogant state fans for the next 12 months.
Posted: March 11, 2007 12:10 AM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Coach Lowe gets it. He knows NC State's history and will bring the program back to where it should be - final fours and national championships.
This Wolfpack grad could not be more proud of our coach and our team.
Posted: March 11, 2007 12:37 AM   by Blogger nathan
He accidentally said that they got to the final of the NCAA tournament. It was actually the ACC.
Posted: March 11, 2007 1:34 AM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Is there a better sports event than March Madness? World Cup soccer is close, but lacks the whimsy of Tyler Hansborough walking around in Groucho glasses. Can you see Klingsman telling his players, 'whatever you do, don't get punked'?

Well, come to think of it, yes.

Well done, Wolfpack.
Posted: March 11, 2007 11:41 AM   by Anonymous Anonymous
I am a UNC grad, and I thought Herb Sendek was a decent coach. I was a bit upset when the NC State crowd whined and sent him to Arizona State. Now that Sidney Lowe is the coach, NC State is my second favorite team. When they beat us, I was not really upset because State played with so much heart. That did not exist under Sendek. Coach Lowe is awesome! I hope he stays for quite some time. It will be nice to revive the rivalry!
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