The 2009-2010 basketball season is slowly drawing closer. Every Tuesday and Thursday this fall, Crazie Talk will preview each of the twelve ACC teams in order of conference standings – from the bottom up.

Today, we’ll take a look at the North Carolina State Wolfpack.

2008-2009 Record: 16-14 overall (6-10 ACC)

Postseason Record: (0-1 ACC Tournament, Did not qualify for NCAA Tournament)

Projected Starting Lineup: Javier Gonzalez (Jr.), Julius Mays (So.), Dennis Horner (Sr.), Tracy Smith (Jr.), Richard Howell (Fr.)

Returning:

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Departing:

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Incoming:

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The Good: Coach Sidney Lowe has a legitimate player returning in Tracy Smith. He performed well at the N.C. Pro-Am, and last year Smith managed to average 10 points and over 4 rebounds a game despite playing behind the more than serviceable frontcourt duo of Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley. With them gone, Smith has big shoes to fill; Lowe expects Smith to be the anchor of this Wolfpack team and says he even has the potential to be an All-ACC player.

The Bad: Inexperience and inconsistency. The Wolfpack’s three leading scorers from last season all left, and everyone on the team is going to have to step up to fill that gap. The five incoming freshmen will have to take on a lot of responsibility, especially key recruits Richard Howell and DeShawn Painter. The backcourt suffers from inconsistent play by Farnold Degand and Javier Gonzalez. Unless they can take control of the offense and improve their shooting, it’s unlikely they will be able to provide the outside game necessary for Tracy Smith to do some damage at the post.

The Crazie: Sophomore guard Julius Mays averaged only 15.1 minutes last year, but he took on an increasing role as the season progressed and scored 18 points in NC State’s ACC tournament loss to Maryland. If Mays can carry over his solid play from the end of last season, he could emerge as one of the team’s leaders and lend the Wolfpack some much-needed outside shooting.

We Love To Hate… Farnold Degand, because his name is Farnold. Need I say more?

The Bottom Line: It looks like a rebuilding year for NC State. After losing Costner and McCauley, there is little developed talent on the team outside of Tracy Smith. Head coach Sidney Lowe brought in a solid class of five freshmen, including former Florida commit DeShawn Painter. Lowe will likely give the rookies lots of minutes. But unless the play of Mays and the rest of the backcourt improved significantly from last year, the Wolfpack will probably be at the bottom of the ACC once again.

Crazie Talk’s ACC Rundowns:

Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland
Boston College | Clemson | Florida State | Wake Forest | North Carolina | Duke