Half of you are going to be pretty excited about the news that NC State is going to be starting next basketball season ranked in the top 20 (17 to be exact). The other half, well, they’re going to be mad that ESPN just jinxed us. Either way, the point is that people are starting to really take note of this basketball team.
Here is whate ESPN had to say:
17. NC State Wolfpack
The Wolfpack revealed their true talent in March, upending No. 1 seed Villanova on the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. A week later, they pushed Louisville — whom NC State beat on the road in February, just before losing to Boston College, which pretty much sums it up — to the brink. Now the fun really begins. Ralston Turner is the only significant departure to account for. Everyone else is back. The biggest name involved is Trevor Lacey, who would be a nightmare to guard even if he weren’t playing alongside the insanely fast, appropriately nicknamed Anthony “Cat” Barber. Freshman forward Abdul-Malik Abu’s bullying performance against Villanova prefaced greater things to come; fellow big man Beejay Anya is one of the nation’s best shot-blockers. If these guys can just guard consistently — something Mark Gottfried’s teams almost never do — they’re scary-good. Just ask Villanova.
You have to fell like this is a pretty spot on blurb. It highlights the fact that this team has all the pieces but also hints that they really need to figure out how to put them together if they want to be elite. I don’t know how Gottfried is going to do it, but he needs to turn this team into a real defensive monster. They have the athletes, the length and the deep bench to make this happen. It’s now just a matter of motivation and focus on that part of the game. To be honest, the loss of Ralston, while it may hurt the offense at times, will improve the overall defense. Turner struggled keeping his man in front of him and too often lost his man when he was trying to get in position to help. We’ll have to see how transfer Terry Henderson slots in to this spot. If he can use his athleticism to defend then he’ll be a great addition, but if he suffers the same shortcoming as Turner, then you might see Caleb Martin getting a lot of those minutes. Meanwhile, if Martin wants to lock down that 3 spot he needs to improve his scoring ability and shot selection next season.
packman70 The term “cancer” was mean spirited, therefore I retaliated using the term “idiot”. So what? I’m saving my retaliation of you for a later date.
packman70
9 years ago
Wow, you really are obtuse. Mean spirited as in calling someone else an idiot because you didn’t explain yourself correctly. Get it?
wolfpack74
9 years ago
packman70 What the hell is mean spirited wanting a backup PG? We need another point guard. We have two guards for the two position. You never know when you might need one. Maybe one of the Martin twins can rotate with the guiards, but I think Gott is thinking the same way since he is talking with Mitchell whom is transferring from Vanderbilt. Gott must be mean spirited as well. I am a firm believer in that you need good backups at every position. That means 10 four or five star players every year on each team. Only way to… Read more »
packman70
9 years ago
He probably misunderstood what you meant because you didn’t type what you meant.
But, yeah, he’s the idiot.
You’re much better than I will ever be at illustrating how mean spirited and ignorant you are.
Carry on.
wolfpack74
9 years ago
WolfpackBack Thank you for your comments. You probably misunderstood what I meant. I mean another good PG as in a 2015 recruit for backup. This forum doesn’t have cancer, it has idiots like you that reply too often.
WolfpackBack
9 years ago
Your comments are the cancer of this forum.
wolfpack74
9 years ago
Wolfer96 Hopefully some of this good press will get us a good PG.
Wolfer96
9 years ago
Preseason top 20 ranking is a curse for the Wolfpack. Take us off that list ESPN!
Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James (6’5″/200) is on a visit to NC State currently, according to a source.
Indiana State Transfer Ryan Conwell was on campus last week, but he just committed to Xavier.
From what I hear, the staff preferred James over Connell anyway. A plus with James is he has 2 years of eligibility, whereas Conwell has 1.
News broke about James entering the Transfer Portal back on March 25th, and NC State was quick to reach out. Kevin Keatts and his staff recruited the former 4-star prospect out of high school heavily, but he ultimately chose the Cardinals.
Rivals ranked James as the #71 overall player in the 2021 recruiting class, and ESPN ranked him as the #7 prospect in the state of Florida.
After redshirting his first year in Louisville due to torn achilles, James has been a starter for the Cardinals the past two years. This year, he averaged 12.6 points and 5 rebounds.
For a more extensive look at James’ game, click here.
Rivals ranks James as the #77 overall player in the Transfer Portal.
Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James (6’5″/200) is a priority for NC State, according to a source.
News broke about James entering the Transfer Portal back on March 25th, and NC State was quick to reach out. Kevin Keatts and his staff recruited the former 4-star prospect out of high school heavily, but he ultimately chose the Cardinals.
After redshirting his first year in Louisville due to torn achilles, James has been a starter for the Cardinals the past two years.
This past year, James averaged 12.6 points per game (3rd on the team) and 5 rebounds. He’s extremely physical and aggressive, taking 47% of his field goal attempts at the rim (making 46%). As a result, he draws a lot of fouls, ranking 10th in the ACC in Fouls Drawn, and 4th in Free Throw Rate. James made opponents pay this year when they put him on the line, making 81.8% from the charity stripe, which ranked 15th in the ACC.
James shot the ball better as a Redshirt Freshman, than he did this past season. His Effective Field Goal Percentage in 2022-23 was 55.8%, which ranked 19th in the ACC, and his True Shooting Percentage of 59.6% ranked 14th.
He does have the ability to knock down a three, making 34.8% for his career.
Prior to this season, the record for most games started in a single season in NC State history was 37, with three Wolfpack players doing so: Lorenzo Brown, Richard Howell, CJ Williams.
Morsell now sits atop the list, and a fellow teammate, DJ Burns ranks second, with 40 games started this season.
Styles was the 2nd leading scorer for Georgetown this season, averaging 12.8 points per game, while grabbing 5.8 boards. He shot 36.8% from three.
Originally, Sytles was a consensus 4-Star prospect in UNC’s 2021 recruiting class. 247Sports ranked him as the #62 overall player nationally, and the #2 player in the state of North Carolina, playing for Kinston High School.
After two seasons with the Tar Heels, Styles entered the Portal, and took an Official Visit to NC State and Georgetown, and ultimately chose the Hoyas.
ON3 ranks Styles as the #104 overall player in the Portal.
With his final year of eligibility, Styles’ made the right choice this time.
NC State now has 2 scholarships remaining after Styles’ commitment.
packman70 The term “cancer” was mean spirited, therefore I retaliated using the term “idiot”. So what? I’m saving my retaliation of you for a later date.
Wow, you really are obtuse. Mean spirited as in calling someone else an idiot because you didn’t explain yourself correctly. Get it?
packman70 What the hell is mean spirited wanting a backup PG? We need another point guard. We have two guards for the two position. You never know when you might need one. Maybe one of the Martin twins can rotate with the guiards, but I think Gott is thinking the same way since he is talking with Mitchell whom is transferring from Vanderbilt. Gott must be mean spirited as well. I am a firm believer in that you need good backups at every position. That means 10 four or five star players every year on each team. Only way to… Read more »
He probably misunderstood what you meant because you didn’t type what you meant.
But, yeah, he’s the idiot.
You’re much better than I will ever be at illustrating how mean spirited and ignorant you are.
Carry on.
WolfpackBack Thank you for your comments. You probably misunderstood what I meant. I mean another good PG as in a 2015 recruit for backup. This forum doesn’t have cancer, it has idiots like you that reply too often.
Your comments are the cancer of this forum.
Wolfer96 Hopefully some of this good press will get us a good PG.
Preseason top 20 ranking is a curse for the Wolfpack. Take us off that list ESPN!