Lowe's return a 'homecoming'

College basketball is as much a part of North Carolina culture and heritage as sweet tea, barbecue and the Wright Brothers Memorial. And so it's a huge deal when one of the Big Four schools has to go out and find a coach.

Sidney Lowe, the on-the-court captain of N.C. State's 1983 "Cardiac Pack" National Championship team, is returning to his alma mater to coach the Wolfpack.

Yes, Lowe wasn't State's first (or second, third, fourth or fifth) pick. Yes, he has no college coaching or recruiting experience. But what Lowe lacks in those departments he more than makes up in one other:

He's "one of us."

Sidney Lowe understands the culture of college basketball in N.C. He knows that it's important that State beat Duke and North Carolina (just like Roy Williams knows he must beat Duke and State, and Mike Krzyzewski must beat UNC and State). That counts for a lot.

Lenox Rawlings, for my money the state's best sports columnist, put it better in the Winston-Salem Journal than I could:

"Sidney Lowe means homecoming. Sidney Lowe puts a smiling face on the swaying basketball program, and he puts an orderly mind inside the locker room. State fans know this intuitively, either from personally witnessing Lowe's college career or from watching videotapes of the 1983 title game against Houston.

"He played smart, supplying proper pace to Coach Jim Valvano's deliberate offense and directing the traffic flow. The Wolfpack clinched the 54-52 upset when Dereck Whittenburg fired a 30-foot airball that Lorenzo Charles snagged behind wandering Hakeem Olajuwon. Charles slipped in a buzzer-beating dunk, and the 'Cardiac Pack' slipped into the NCAA history books.

"Lowe played every minute that Albuquerque night. He made 4 of 9 shots, drawing enough defensive respect to create jumper space for Whittenburg (6 for 17, 14 points), Thurl Bailey (7 for 16, 15 points) and Terry Gannon (3 for 4, seven points). State made 23 baskets, and Lowe assisted on eight of them. He scored eight points. He never committed a turnover. Never. ...

"Can he stand the recruiting grind that he avoided so long, for cause? Can he tolerate the backbiting, back-slapping schizophrenia of State's impatient fans? Other than short-term wealth, can he derive personal profit from swapping the predictable, luxurious pro lifestyle for the exhausting, perpetual pursuit of Duke and Carolina?

"The hard questions multiply, but at homecoming people ask soft questions and remember good times and hope that good times will return somewhere down the road.

"This is homecoming, and the road begins here, with a toast and a smile."