Regardless of the outcome of the Thursday night matchup between Duke and N.C. State — it's hard to find anyone who's serious about picking the Wolfpack to win in Durham — the pairing brings to mind a big-picture question.

What signs are there, if any, that State coach Sidney Lowe is doing the things he needs to do in order to narrow the canyon-sized gap between his program and Duke, led by the legendary Mike Krzyzewski?

Along those lines, here are three things worth watching:

1. Recruiting.

There's no need to guess what Krzyzewski would have done with inadequate talent while trying to build his program, because it actually happened. Like everyone else with grossly inferior players, Coach K lost — and lost a lot. His first three Duke teams finished 17-13, 10-17 and 11-17 from 1981-83, never finishing higher than sixth in the eight-team ACC and never reaching the .500 mark within the conference.

Only when Krzyzewski started to recruit well did his fortunes take a dramatic turn for the better. Showing both an eye for talent and the ability to sign prep All-Americans — even at a time when Duke was not a popular destination of the top high school prospects — Coach K secured a landmark class (led by Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie, David Henderson and Jay Bilas) for the 1982-83 season. As freshmen in 1983, that group suffered through an 11-17 campaign that ended with an embarrassing 109-66 loss to Virginia in the first round of the ACC Tournament. As seniors in 1986, they won the ACC title and went on to play for the national championship.

So began the Duke dynasty under Krzyzewski. The Blue Devils' on-court success made it much easier to recruit, which made it much easier to win, which again improved the recruiting pitch, which again kept the all-stars and victories coming. That cycle continues in Durham to this day, 25 years after it started.

Lowe is in only his second season at N.C. State, but already he has signed one prep All-American (freshman center J.J. Hickson). Looking ahead, Lowe already has a commitment from local forward C.J. Leslie, one of the top 25 prospects in the high school sophomore class.

It's only a start for Lowe, but there are plenty of ACC coaches who come and go without signing anyone of that caliber, so it's a good start.

2. Fingerprints.

Think of an extremely successful coach. Close your eyes. Picture his team. It's easy, right? Regardless of the year, and regardless of the talent on hand at the time, that highly successful coach's teams will have some obvious, important things in common.

Krzyzewski has assembled his empire, in large part, on the building blocks of consistently intense effort and toughness — home or away, regardless of the opponent — and aggressive, in-your-face defense. Lots of other things change from year to year, but those things stay pretty consistent. Dean Smith's long-term foundation at UNC included a selfless approach, efficient post production and the Four Corners. Other great coaches have had other signatures.

There's no single path to success, but Lowe must find his unique fingerprint, and leave it on each of his teams.

3. Improvement.

No coach bats 100 percent in this regard, but the best ones pull it off far more often than not. Their teams are markedly better at the end of the season than they were at the beginning, and their players are noticeably better at the ends of their careers than they were at the beginning.

Would Duke's Chris Carrawell, a good talent but not a great one, have developed into the ACC player of the year at another school? Would J.J. Redick have leveled off as an All-ACC shooting specialist rather than becoming a two-time consensus All-American? Would Shelden Williams have become more than a shotblocker and rebounder, as he did late in his Duke career but as many other talented big men never do?

In terms of team development, Lowe is one-for-one at N.C. State. Last year's Wolfpack came close to winning the ACC Tournament after going 5-11 in the ACC during the regular season. Injuries were a factor along the way, but so was a group of kids who believed in their coaching staff, kept working hard and never lost hope, despite a significant amount of adversity.

This year's Duke-State games will tell everyone a little bit about Lowe and the 2008 Wolfpack.

But only the bigger picture — including the recruiting, "fingerprints" and improvement angles — will tell a lot about Lowe and his long-term future with the Pack.