Afternoon Delight

OK, I was a little slow in getting to my blogging duties this morning. So, the Morning Edition has become the Afternoon Delight today. Sorry for the delay.

Sidney Lowe is officially the North Carolina State basketball coach. Well, almost. He was officially named the coach yesterday, although he won't officially be the coach until July 1. Follow that?

One of his first jobs will be to get Cedric Simmons to come back for another year. As for the players who we know will be back, they seem relieved that State now has a coach.

State fans are excited because Lowe is one of their own, having played for Jim Valvano and the Wolfpack team that won a national title in 1983. And Frank Dascenzo says State fans should brace for changes. Whether he means good changes or not is anyone's guess.

May I editorialize just a little here? In his press conference yesterday Lowe said he was back "to restore this thing." Am I missing something? Didn't this team win 22 games this past season? Hasn't State gone to five-straight NCAA Tournaments? What exactly needs restoring? It's not like the mess Herb Sendek inherited. Sendek is the one that restored "this thing" and he gets no credit for doing so.

Oh well, I'm now off my soapbox.

Because of the coaching change at State, Chris Wright, one of the nation's top point guards, backed out of his verbal commitment to attend NC State. According to the Daily Progress, Virginia is now on the list of schools that might land Wright. Wake Forest and Maryland are other ACC schools with a chance to get him also. There's no word if the arrival of Lowe to Raleigh might convince Wright to still play for the Wolfpack.

You gotta love lacrosse. The ACC Tournament was last week, but some teams are still playing regular-season games. Maryland beat Penn State in Joe Walters' final regular-season home game.

Florida State beat Wake Forest in a 20-inning game. The game came up three innings short of tying an NCAA record.

Frank Beamer was the honorary starter at last night's NASCAR race in Richmond.