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.
NC State’s DJ Horne played in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament this weekend, and he was named to the All-Tournament Team.
In 3 games, Horne averaged 14.3 points, shooting 41.5% from the field, and 30% from three.
Horne’s Portsmouth Partnership team made it to the finals, but lost to Jani-King 68-75.
The Portsmouth Invitational is an annual pre-draft camp that has been showcasing College Seniors to professional scouts since 1953.
This is a horrible idea. A team that cannot defend in the half court, mostly because of lack of effort, isn’t going to be a team that figures out how to run a press effectively.
Effort is an issue which is why a press could work. Pressing makes a team have effort. Also the turnovers forced by pressing fuels teams. If a team forces a turnover and it results in an easy dunk they are even more intense the next possession. Half court hasn’t worked so why not see if they would give effort in a different look?
Pressing take a concerted effort by 5 players or else it gives the other team consistently open 3’s and layups. Pressing takes much more effort than a zone or half court man to man. To think a way to improve a teams effort is to give them more work does not make more sense to me.
A common theme you hear among players is missing assignments, I just find it hard to believe that this would not be the case in a press and that we would not pay more dearly for these mistakes. I do however believe that in instances like the Pitt game, using a press against a team without great ball handlers in spots is a great idea.
Are you kidding? Do you want the other team to shooting 75% from the floor? No one on the team can cover man to man. Teach a good zone and stop the 3’s.
Dribble-drive is going to be the only way this team can be successful. Having TH3 or SWJr run the baseline every time down the floor just isn’t going to work. State has been doing that play for 5 years now and the other ACC teams know how to defend it. There is absolutely no movement on the offensive end, it’s pathetic.
That said, an effective full court press requires 5 athletes. You can’t have one big lug that has trouble getting up and down the court. So if we’re going to do that from time to time, I’d think Abu and Kapita would be the best two bigs to have in the game, along with whichever three guards are freshest.
I’d like to see Coach stretch the perimeter defense a bit, but that means our bigs need to be much more focused and ready to defend the basket and they just aren’t right now. Anya’s the only big playing with any passion right now, and he’s too heavy to be effective more than occassionally. Abu and Yurt have to be more active and play tougher on both ends of the court.
Yurtseven’s play has been a microcosm of NC State’s problems. He’s soft, hesitant and lacking confidence. He’s only a few games into college career, so you don’t want to dump blame on him, but if State is going to change course, Yurtseven is going to need to start to play with a little more nasty and a lot more confidence.
Agree, but I’d rate Abu the even bigger example. Upper classman, should be wrecking opponents, but instead playing soft and with uncertainty. He should be a 20-10 guy, and instead he’s 12-7 and passes it to the wrong jersey 3 or 4 times a game. Plenty of blame to go around though.