Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill (6’4″/185) has committed to NC State!
Hill took an Official Visit to NC State this past weekend.
This past season, Hill averaged 20.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game for the Falcons. 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 #81 overall player in the Transfer Portal, and the #11 Shooting Guard.
Even though 247Sports and ON3 consider Hill a Shooting Guard, NC State is recruiting him as a Point Guard.
Hill is the 4th player to transfer to NC State this offseason, joining Louisville’s Brandon Huntley-Hatfield & Mike James, and Georgetown’s Dontrez Styles.
With the addition of Hill, NC State now has 1 scholarship remaining for next season.
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.
At this point just fire his ass and let one of the assistants take over.
Nothing we could do. We had 8 players and when they got into foul trouble, you cant play physical defense anymore which messed up our whole defense. Now I totally agree with you on our offenseive problems. Anya had a mismatch down low all game but he only got it in there twice! We settle for jumpers too often and its really hurting us!
After the game Gott will blame it on not having Kapita and Yurt7.
This is why Gottfried has to be fired. He is a shit coach. We had more talent than Creighton but we straight up got out-coached and out-played. This is season 6 and nothing has changed. No defensive strategy, poor shot selection, and repeated plays for the hot hand of the moment. What a fool I was for thinking the talent level would cancel out poor coaching.
The only reason team isn’t top 25 is due to questions about Gottfried’s coaching. He has an opportunity tonight to silence the critics. This to me is a must-win game for Gottfried if he wants to change the perceptions of the critics and the fans. I never believed that he was a good coach but I still rooted for him to do well. No one can question his recruiting though; best since Jimmy V.
Also would like to see Newman get a few minutes at the 2 to improve our 3 point shooing. That would really open up the inside. The only problem with Newman is that he has shown to be below average on defense so far.
Spencer is out for the season. He fractured his foot and is in a boot and on crutches. Mav is out for this game still dealing with his concussion from the Ga Southern game. Add in that we’re unable to play Yurtseven and Kapita means we are on a thin rotation against a ranked team.
Newman out for the year with a broken foot.
Oh man, that sucks!
Want to see Shaun get some burn at the 3 in this game. Let’s see what he can bring on the defensive end and also look for him on offense as a mismatch.
Based on all the whistles in the 1st game it would benefit the Pack to attack the basket. Get to the line and win it from the line. This 3 guard lineup by Creighton tells me that Henderson and Mav should get limited minutes. They will be a liability on defense. Want to see more of Markell. Limit help D on the inside or we will get blasted from the 3. Anya and Abu will have to hold their own.