State got on the floor for the first time Saturday night, against Al McGuire's first team, Belmont Abbey, and Mark Gottfried pulled a move we never considered and had Richard Howell come off the bench.
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The Pack opted for rookie TJ Warren in his place.
Gottfried said he felt it was important to try it but it may not be a long term move. Still interesting. Didn't matter much; Howell played 20 minutes and shot 9-11 and grabbed nine boards.
Warren nearly matched him with 19 points and seven boards.
Lorenzo Brown led the way with 21 points and also grabbed nine boards, while CJ Leslie chipped in 18 points and, yes, nine rebounds.
Rookie Rodney Purvis shot 4-9 and scored 10 in his debut. He broke even on turnovers and assists with four each.
Scott Wood didn't have a great game but he also took a shot to the privates which may have cut into his productivity.
In the all-important foul category for Howell and Leslie, Leslie picked up two while Howell got just one.
Speaking of State, here's a piece from the New York Times about the program's resurrection.
Also, here's the Asheville paper on State's new status.
The ACC in general is much better and several teams could make a move this year. Among those is certainly Miami. The Hurricanes are solid and deep and have a shot at being very good indeed.
The Fayetteville Observer has "Four burning questions" for the Big Four. They also have a list of 12 under-the-radar players, one from each conference team (Duke's is Alex Murphy)
We missed this the other day, but Wake had an exhibition with Rollins and narrowly won, 73-66. But it is a young team and growing pains may be expected.
Clemson's hopes, to a large extent, ride on seniors Devin Booker and Milton Jennings, two guys who have never quite become the players hoped for.