NC State took a really tough loss at Wake Forest last night. Fans are frustrated, players are frustrated and coaches are frustrated. Former third-string center Thomas DeThaey took to Twitter to vent his frustration: “That’s what happens when you’re a great recruiter but a terrible coach!” Now comes the juicy part. Current freshman TJ Warren retweeted DeThaey. Was it a slip of the thumb? Was he just passively retweeting the comment?
TJ Warren may want this retweet back.
Regardless, this doesn’t look good. Just to add insult to injury, Rick Lewis — NC State frosh Tyler Lewis‘ father — favorited the tweet. My guess is there’s going to be a penalty — whether “internal” (i.e., suicide sprints), or even a one-game suspension. The latter would really hurt the Wolfpack and Mark Gottfried, as their rotation isn’t deep especially if CJ Leslie or Richard Howell get into foul trouble.
What remains to be seen is how the team will react to a bad loss. NC State flirted with disaster against Boston College and Clemson, tasting a little at Maryland and against Oklahoma State. But this is the team’s first bad loss. This is the first time it’s totally collapsed, losing a 16-point lead to a truly inferior opponent. It’s the rare team that can turn a bad loss into a wake-up call (see: Duke’s loss to Georgetown in 2010, or Florida State’s beatdown at Clemson last season) instead of reason to panic. Usually teams that live and learn from bad losses are well-coached and experienced. This NC State team has experience, but it also has a lot of youth.
It’s on Richard Howell, Lorenzo Brown and CJ Leslie to right the ship. But we’ll also get a glimpse of Gottfried working in crisis mode. From here the schedule doesn’t get any easier with games against North Carolina, at Virginia, against Miami and at Duke looming. That’s a stretch where the Wolfpack could easily lose multiple games if their minds aren’t right. A contender buckles down and wins three. A pretender might lose three.
UPDATE: Just in case you thought DeThaey was referring to someone else, he’s sticking to his guns.
DeThaey isn’t backing down.
UPDATE: Warren has since deleted his retweet.