Winning isn't fun?

Hey Gavin Grant, shut your yap.

Did you see what North Carolina State’s sophomore basketball player told the Associated Press for a story that ran yesterday?

Commenting on new coach Sidney Lowe’s promise to run an uptempo offense, Grant said, “He told us he wanted us to be free and have fun. (Herb Sendek, former North Carolina State head coach) wasn't focused on having fun. He was more focused on we've got to win and it was this way or no way at all.”

So that’s the damning evidence against Herb Sendek? He was too focused on winning. Silly me, I thought that was the goal in college athletics. Really, isn’t that the goal in any level of athletics competition, perhaps with the exception of youth sports?

Sendek ran a style of the Princeton offense, designed to place the focus on passing and cutting as a team works for the easy basket. It’s the ultimate style devoted to teamwork.

More from Grant: “In the Princeton offense, I don’t think that offense fit me and a couple of other guys on the team as best we could. Now that we have a coach that understands where we’re coming from and played a little bit like some of us here, things should be a lot better around here.”

Better than what? Better than making it to the NCAA Tournament five years in a row? Better than a top-four finish in the ACC. Better than 22 wins?

Oh, I forgot – Grant wants to have fun. Apparently winning doesn’t qualify as fun for him.

I know there are those that think Sendek should have beaten Duke and North Carolina more often. But look around. How many ACC coaches are beating those two on a regular basis? As much as the other 10 schools don’t want to admit it, ACC basketball is Duke, North Carolina and everyone else.

Duke has owned the ACC Tournament and regular season for years now. And Carolina is the only team that has been able to compete with them. And there’s nothing to indicate that won’t be the case next season or seasons after that.

But teams can still make it to the NCAA Tournament and have a successful year without beating those two teams. Heck, Maryland has won a national title in the not to distant past. NC State won one also, although that was in the distant past. Georgia Tech went all the way to the championship game a few years ago.

As for Grant, enjoy running the uptempo offense. Enjoy playing individual basketball instead of team basketball. And enjoy the NIT, if you’re lucky, next year.

But, hey, at least you’ll have fun.

- Patrick Hite