NC State Forward Mohamed Diarra will not be returning to NC State for his final season of eligibility. Rather, he will give 100% of his focus to pursuing his professional career.
Diarra is declaring for the NBA Draft, and will explore that possibility as far as it goes, but the likelihood of him playing professionally in his home country of France are high.
Diarra was a significant player for NC State all season long, averaging 6.3 points and 7.8 rebounds (team high), but his impact in March was tremendous, recording 10+ rebounds in 7 of the Wolfpack’s 10 postseason games, and five of those performances were double-doubles.
Wolfpack fans will always remember the grit and mental toughness that Diarra put on display in the NCAA Tournament, playing game-after-game while fasting for Ramadan.
The Wolfpack’s frontcourt just got a little bit thinner. In the past two weeks, NC State has lost Diarra and Ernest Ross. Ben Middlebrooks is returning, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield transferred in from Louisville. Dontrez Styles transferred in from Georgetown, and while he is more of a Small Forward, in certain lineups, he could play the Small 4 position. With all that being said, I fully expect NC State to try to find another post player in the Transfer Portal with Diarra’s exodus now official.
With Diarra not returning in 2024, NC State now has 2 scholarships available for next season.
Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James (6’5″/200) has announced his commitment to NC State!
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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.
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.
He does have the ability to knock down a three, making 34.8% for his career.
James has 2 years of eligibility remaining. With James’ commitment, NC State currently has 1 scholarship available for next season.
Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill (6’4″/185) confirmed with me that he is currently on a visit at NC State.
Hill averaged 20.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game for the Falcons this season. He earned 1st Team All-MAC honors. Even though he was only at Bowling Green one season, he had one of the best seasons in school history, scoring 698 points, which ranks 5th all-time in program history for a single season.
For his first two years of collegiate ball, Hill played for Southern Union State College (JUCO) in Alabama. In 2022-23, Hill earned 3rd Team NJCAA All-American honors, and ranked as the #32 overall Junior College prospect.
247Sports ranks Hill as a 4-Star Transfer Prospect, and the #78 overall player in the Transfer Portal, and the #11 Shooting Guard.
According to a source, the NC State Coaching Staff is extremely high on Hill, and they are recruiting him as a Point Guard.
What did an ACC Title & Final Four mean to NC State Legend Dennis Smith Jr.? The man who won the ACC Rookie of the Year Award in 2017 gave me a statement.
It means a lot. It means a lot to the university, the state of North Carolina and a lot more to my dad, grandma, and myself. They have been NC State fans since forever, so their excitement level was though the roof when they saw BOTH of our basketball teams shining like that. It was a great feeling!
2017 was Smith Jr.’s only year of College ball, averaging 18.1 points, 6.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals. He earned 2nd Team All-ACC honors, and obviously, he earned a spot on the ACC All-Freshman Team.
DSJ was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks with the 9th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Smith Jr. just wrapped up his 7th season in the NBA. This was his 1st season with Brooklyn, playing in 56 games for the Nets. He averaged 6.6 points, 3.6 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game, averaging 18.9 minutes per contest.
wolfpack74 Wolfer96 I’m glad you mentioned that about the injuries and whatnot because that’s what a lot of people don’t get. You have to be extremely lucky to go an entire season without someone tearing an ACL/MCL, a high ankle sprain, pulling a groin muscle, getting suspended, etc. Which is why I was so freaking frustrated this season with the up and down play. This team avoided all of the pitfalls of a college BB season, had a really deep bench, had every position covered and still had to play their way into the tourney late. What will they do next… Read more »
Wolfer96 wolfpack74 I’m hoping that the staff didn’t have the same opinion as Packman70, where 9 was enough. I think it’s time to sit back and enjoy a beer while watch baseball. If Gott is good a recruiter as most people on this forum think, then he will provide enough players to put us back on the bubble. Last year we were relatively lucky with injuries and sickness. With seven or eight scholarship players. we will need the same luck again.
wolfpack74 Wolfer96 Suliamon… that would be funny if we got him. I think if you get kicked off of a team they can’t restrict your transfer right? Either that or he graduates as stated. The troubles aside, I think he could be a real asset. Tyler Harris is transferring again? Jeez. That’s an interesting list of players and many who are eligible right away. I feel like the coaching staff kinda just took a break from recruiting this season. A few months ago I checked the top 100 and I swear I don’t recall seeing one kid who listed the Wolfpack.… Read more »
Wolfer96 Everything is going to be okay. Gott is going to bring in a midget from UNC/Asheville to solve all our problems .
Someone tell Gott to go to http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/jeff-goodman/insider/post/_/id/4899/top-10-transfers-and-complete-transfer-list
I didn’t see NCState listed besides anyone of these transfers.
We should get Suliamon for one year to spit Coach K. He can handle, dish, and shot.
What’s really concerning about Lacey’s departure is that we struggled often against the press this season with both Cat and Lacey on the court. What happens when Cat is the only ball handler on the court? Teams are going to press us like mad.
I wonder how good Henderson’s ball handling skills are? Hopefully the twins can work on their handles over the break.
wolfpack74 Wolfer96 joflo71 You definitely have to go after some big names. What would we have done over the years without the David Thompson’s, Rodney Monroe’s, Julius Hodge’s, and TJ Warren’s? But you’re right, we’re not in a place yet where we can load up on top 50 talent each season. That means for every Warren, we need a Freeman. For every Hodge, we need an Atsur. I just hope there is still time to find one additional back court player before next season. I want to believe in Anya if only based on his weight loss from year 1 to year… Read more »
Wolfer96 wolfpack74 joflo71 I agree about the constant flow of underclassmen. Why has Gott gone after the elite this and next year. State will not get those kids. We lost the entire Warren recruiting year and so far we have wasted this year. I know this year is not over yet , maybe we can grab someone to help. We should concentrate on the 40 to 70 position kids that might stay three or four years? West Virginia ( and I would say VCU) with their team full of three stars kick the crap out of us this year. It’s so… Read more »
wolfpack74 Wolfer96 joflo71 Arizona recruits almost at the level of kentucky. They never have a shortage of top recruits. I would imagine that vcu and wvu recruit at a level below NCSU? There are different ways to approach recruiting. You can try to go for the top kids which everybody wants or you can grab an occasional top recruit plus mainly 3 star types that stay for 4 years. I imagine a lot of mid majors succeed by building a team for the long haul. But that also means they have to have a constant flow of soph and juniors to replace… Read more »
Wolfer96 wolfpack74 joflo71 These kids that are not five stars need to take a look at the 2016 mock draft. The first round is primarily the top freshmen class of 2015. Not many other guys get any attention unless their teams do extremely well in the NCAA tournament. For example the two kids from Wisconsin are projected in the first round for 2015. At least one of them was only a three star out of high school. Most three and four star players should get a good education and stay in school. Most won’t be drafted in the NBA. Whom ever is… Read more »
wolfpack74 Wolfer96 joflo71 Yeah the scoring will be hard to replace. I say Anya’s foul troubles could be offset by additional weight loss. The lighter he is on his feet the less fouls he commits is my theory.
Gott’s definitely had his share of early exits and transfers but that seems to be the theme at a lot of schools now. Every kid thinks they can make the nba and no one wants to wait for minutes. It’s the times we live in. The coaches just need to do whatever they can to reload every year.
Let’s just hope that the trend will continue that the transfers Gottfried gets ending being way better than the ones who transfer out.
Wolfer96 wolfpack74 joflo71 The number of players look bad as well as 60% of our points are gone. Anya always gets in foul trouble. The new recruits out there are going to start looking at all the defects from Gotts program.
Something else is strange. We haven’t heard from packman70 today. He was always on my case about recruiting. Well we sure need some now don’t we?
wolfpack74 Wolfer96 Wow I hope that’s just a rumor.
wolfpack74 joflo71 Wolfer96 I think 3 front court players (Abu, Anya, Freeman) are enough but we are now down to 1 PG and 1 SG with 2 wings (twins). If we don’t pickup another guard from somewhere little Corch will get minutes whether he’s ready or not. I would feel comfortable with 8 scholarship players. 7 is pushing it. Foul trouble will definitely test this team at 7 players.
We only have seven scholarship players now that are not walk ons. We have just another to scrimmage each other. Let me reiterate what Wolfer96 has said:
Scholarships, we got scholarships
Wolfer96 He may be the last player left after this week. I hear Cat is thinking about trying the NBA as well.
joflo71 Wolfer96 Bring back Sendek. At least I didn’t have to learn the name of the players all over each year, like the Gott years.
joflo71 Wolfer96 We did have an embarrassment of riches in terms of depth this season. One that I have not seen in 25 years. Someone(s) was going to lose minutes. At mid-season that happened to be Kyle.
I’m sad that we lose Kyle but it may be necessary just to dole out enough minutes to our front court players which we still have 3 remaining.
joflo71 wolfpack74 Either way he would be young for the BYU team. They had a couple of players at 26.
Wolfer96 Why can the coach keep these guys from transferring???
wolfpack74 joflo71 ok
Well Kyle Washington transfer seems official according to twitter.
joflo71 For the record he was born on October 13, 1991. He will be 24 this year.
I think its a good decision,a lot of you forgot he will be 25yrs old this year. He would be an old college player. He have a good jump shot. I wish him well in the NBA. GO WOLFPACK!!!!!!!!!!!
wormncsu We all have been lead to believe it is his age that is having the biggest influence on his decision. He is no way ready for the NBA. Most of the NBA draft experts do not expect him to be drafted. I would guess that he could make money in Europe somewhere. It’s a pity. College basketball needs to adopt the rules they use for baseball and football (three years removed from high school).
wormncsu It’s hard to say. I know he works out with these kids. Correct me if I’,m wrong but didn’t he make the same statements about TJ and Purvis coming to State before they officially commited?
As for the Hodge tweet I would not read much into that. He makes crazy statements about us getting recruits often. I don’t think he knows as much about the inner workings of state basketball as he would like us to believe. Love the guy and he was a great one but just saying.
Time for little Corch to shine 🙂
Lacey should look at cj, Lorenzo, and even tj left early and where are they now. Even tj barely sees playing time and has spent most of his time in the d league. I see d league or Europe in his future. Who ever gets in these guys ears and says oh yea you are ready needs to think again.
wolfpack74 Wolfer96 I wish the coach scheduled better but I am excited to see this FB team build on last season’s success. That unc beatdown was classic.
Wolfer96 wolfpack74 Can’t wait for football.
gdtann wolfpack74 ThatWiggaJigga That’s why I asked on another article if Lacey had a family. Someone said no, so I thought he might stay. Seems I thought wrong.
wolfpack74 Wolfer96 What can you do in this situation? Either cry about it or laugh about it.
Wolfer96 More comic relief?
wolfpack74 gdtann ThatWiggaJigga yes he has one child
Shouting… “we got scholarships, we got scholarships here”
gdtann wolfpack74 ThatWiggaJigga Does he have kids?
wolfpack74 DanielHargreaves I don’t consider NCAAT bid as falling apart. Especially after Lowe era.
wolfpack74 ThatWiggaJigga gdtann At this point, why not. He has mouths to feed.
ThatWiggaJigga gdtann wolfpack74 So explain to me how does UNC manage to keep important guys like Paige or JMM from going pro too early. They don’t care about losing Tokoto. PJ only left early cause of his incident. Nope, when UNC needs players to stay, they stay. Often it can hurt the player’s draft stock. Roy keeps his guys and builds, thats how you win. At State we always seem to have players leave a year too early. I’m not mad at them for leaving, it just is what it is and part of the coaches job is to keep the team… Read more »
ThatWiggaJigga gdtann wolfpack74 With that logic, Cat Barbert should declare as well. He showed a lot of improvement the latter part of the year.
gdtann ThatWiggaJigga wolfpack74 Lacey Declaring for the draft is not a knock on Gottfried. As a coach, first and foremost you respect the kids decision, you can give him all the advice you want but he has to back what the player feels is best for him. This could be a case of needing the money earlier rather than next year. Maybe he knows he won’t increase his stock too too much next year, so who can blame him for taking the money as soon as he can get it. This is these guys livelyhoods here.
Wolfer96 Henderson will have to make up for both Lacey and Turner in terms of scoring.
wolfpack74 hard to say exactly what he means but I hope it means we’re landing some unsigned recruits. I know this year broke some record for the highest number of top 100 late signees.
*whispering* “2015 unsigned top recruits” like seeing a program putting guys in the NBA. I’m telling you something strong. be cool 😉
What does this Julius Hodge tweet mean?
wolfpack74 Wolfer96 ha
Wolfer96 Back to the bottom half of the ACC.
Wolfer96 Maybe Wallace will reconsider. Just joking. Comic relief and such.
The rumors about Kyle transferring have been floating around for a while so that’s not a huge surprise but I really thought Lacey would be back for his senior year.
DanielHargreaves I don’t agree with his decision but you’re right he’s a grown man and he’s made his decision. Lacey truly was a special player in the 1 season that he played for the Pack.