The Class of 2001 NC State recruiting class received the hype and produced, but they needed some help to help turn around the program.
NCSU had gone 13-16 the previous season and hadn’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 1991 under then coach Les Robinson. The drought was real, which was especially true for senior guards Archie Miller and Anthony Grundy.
Guard Julius Hodge of Bronx (N.Y.) St. Raymond’s, power forward Levi Watkins of Rockville (Md.) Montrose Christian, power forward Josh Powell of Riverdale (Ga.) High, center Jordan Collins of Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic and forward Ilian Evtimov of Kernersville (N.C.) Bishop McGuinness Catholic each talked about the leadership on the squad.
The players each talked about when they knew the team had meshed together on the court in this oral history to The Wolfpack Central.
Forty years of NC State basketball recruiting: 1980-85 | 1986-90 | 1991-95 | 1996-00 | 2001-2005 | 2006-2010 | 2011-2015 | 2016-2020
Oral history on NC State's class of 2001: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV
What older players helped you out?
Powell: “God bless my brother’s soul, Anthony Grundy, but he was someone I really took to early, him and Archie [Miller]. What they gave me and the things that they showed me, and just the transition, I was very grateful for the group of seniors like them. Just good guys. Guys like Scooter [Sherrill], Marcus [Melvin] and Mike Bell, it was just a really good group, and Cliff Crawford. Guys were competitive and we obviously learned about each other and got to know each other. All in all, we took care of what was needed to do on the court together.”
Collins: “The biggest impact [for me] was Marcus Melvin. We didn’t really realize just how good Marcus was. Marcus saw us and was working three times as hard because he knew there was a recruiting class coming in. He worked tremendously hard to maintain his spot and got better.”
Watkins: “I just remember any time we lost, Archie just always raised hell at the beck of the bus. We had Coach Sendek raising hell at the front of the bus and Archie raised hell in the back of the bus. Losing was not acceptable. With it being his last year [Miller], I got a great taste of what senior leadership should look like.
“Grundy was just fearless. He didn’t lift as much weights in the weight room and he wasn’t big like us, but his fearlessness and tenacity from offense to defense and IQ was great. He knew he needed us and taught us a lot. He just helped us grow up faster. He and Julius would just go at it. Julius would go at anybody, but he and Julius had some battles at practice. I think that helped Julius come further along. We had great senior leadership and were able to win a lot of games right away. That was the start of a run of going to four straight tournaments.”
Hodge: “When our class came in, we made some of the other guys become that way. So, now you see Marcus [Melvin] in the gym all the time. Scooter [Sherrill] always got his shots up. Archie Miller was always a worker. He was a great leader.
“I tell him this to this day and we still talk, the best captain I’ve ever had in my life was Scooter Sherrill. That dude exemplified leadership. Nobody would think that about Scoot. He was really quiet, into himself and did his work. He led by example. When he spoke up on something, and he wasn’t the most outgoing, but he was a funny guy. When he spoke on something, we knew we had to straighten this up. We had guys like that throughout our entire team.”
Evtimov: “I could relate to Marcus Melvin, who was a sophomore and not a senior. Archie and Grundy were all great leaders, but they were guards. I think probably with the seniors, it was Archie. He’d run the offense and call a play, and just look at me and make me understand what we needed to do. Since I was running the center from that offense, we started adapting and connecting.”
Did the younger players ever play the older players in the summer or practice? What do you remember as the first time thinking the team could be pretty good?
Powell: “I do remember that [Chavis League]. That was one of those things that was fun to be a part of. Those were definitely fun times. That was even as a pro, I looked forward to playing in when I got done in the league, was playing in Chavis or playing in Jerry Stackhouse’s league. Both were fun environments to be apart of. It was also the chance to show what you can do outside of a system. I always loved being in environments like that because people think you only play one way based on what they see [in college or NBA]. You have to let them know there is a lot more to this and not get it twisted.”
Watkins: “I think it was great. We were so cocky and knew it was going to happen, and for it to happen the way it did, with Archie and Grundy having a great senior year, and everybody had a pivotal part in it. I tore my ACL during the first ACC game, so I only played the non-conference. We won at Syracuse and won at Houston right before Christmas at the buzzer. We had some really good wins in the non-conference, and everything came together as the season happened. I watched it from the sidelines that first year, and it just all came together.
“Another moment that was special was my freshman year when we played UNC for the first time. That was during the [Matt] Doherty era and they weren’t great. I just remember the whole top of the Dean Dome was red. Every time we scored, there was roars. There was ‘Wolfpack’ chants. I remember thinking back then, ‘I don’t know how long this guy will last?’ When we got back to Reynolds, where we were still practicing, there was thousands and thousands of fans there to greet us. It was unbelievable as a freshman to win a big game and seeing all the people there. It really stood out.”
Hodge: “I knew that immediately [of a turn-around freshman year]. Was it a stretch of games? No. Going in, I knew we had the tools and good players returning. They just were on teams that weren’t winning yet. When you add our guys and our work ethic. When we went to the Carrier Dome my freshman year and won at Syracuse, and then we beat Virginia at their own place and were top 10 in the country.”
Evtimov: “The UVA game [Jan. 5, 2002] where we played on the road. It was the second ACC game and Levi had just gotten hurt against Maryland [on Dec. 30, 2001]. The chemistry of the team was settling in.
“On a personal note, I was getting less playing time, but I started playing more after Levi got injured and the door opened. We went to UVA that next game and I had a breakout game. I had four three-pointers [for 15 points] and they were ranked No. 4 in the country, and we beat them over there. That was the moment where the confidence of the team went to another level. We felt like we could beat anybody. If we could beat UVA on their court, with a loud and crazy gym, we can beat anybody.
“They didn’t have as good a season as that ranking was at that moment [Virginia finished 17-12 overall, 7-9 ACC], but that was the boost for us. It felt like the light went on.”
What was it like to reach the NCAA Tournament as freshmen, and then build upon that?
Powell: “For me personally, I look back with frustration. I know the things I experienced there in my two years there, which had led to me departing a little bit too. I am glad that things worked out for Herb. I don’t want to wish anything bad on anybody. I do wish things could be different. A lot of times college coaches have to understand that you are helping young men be men in that mentoring kind of role. A lot of times the way you move and how you coach should be predicated on that vs. other things. For me, it just seemed things for a lot of time was personal and it got personal from time-to-time.”
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