Connect with us

NC State Basketball

The Connections are Plentiful for the NC State Women’s Basketball Team Heading into the NCAA Tourney

Published

on

The connections are plentiful for the NC State Women’s Basketball team heading into the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Tomorrow night, #3 seed Wolfpack will host #14 Chattanooga in the 1st Round, and NC State is 27.5-point favorite.

Chattanooga happens to be the school current Wolfpack Head Coach Wes Moore coached at before arriving in Raleigh. Moore was exceptional in his first stop as a College Basketball Head Coach, leading Chattanooga to a 358-113 record, 9 SoCon Tournament titles and 12 Regular Season titles. Moore was the SoCon Coach of the Year on 6 occasions as the Head Coach at Chattanooga.

If NC State handles business as they should tomorrow night, they could easily face #6 seed Tennessee in the 2nd round, who is coached by Kellie Harper, who was Kay Yow’s successor at NC State. Harper was the Head Coach for the Wolfpack for 4 seasons, where she compiled a 70-64 record overall, and 23-39 record in ACC play. Harper led NC State to the NCAA Tournament in her 1st season, but failed to do so the next three seasons.

After leaving Raleigh, Harper went on to be the Head Coach at Missouri St. for 6 seasons. She helped lead the Bears to 2 Missouri Valley Conference Championships in that span. In her 2 appearances in the NCAA Tourney at Missouri St., she led the Bears to the Sweet 16 on 1 occasion.

Harper has really soared at her most recent stint as the Head Coach of Tennessee, where she has led the Volunteers to an overall record of 107-51, and an SEC record of 53-24. She has led Tennessee to the NCAA Tournament in every season since she has been there, and they have made the Sweet 16 in 2 of the 3 trips to the Dance.

 

Matthew is Co-Owner of Pack Insider. He writes for all sports, with a focus on football and recruiting, and is in charge of business strategy. He is an NC State alum who majored in business. Matthew is also the lead pastor of The Point Church in Cary, NC.

1 Comment
Subscribe
Notify of
1 Comment
newest
oldest most Upvoted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
wolfpack74
wolfpack74
1 month ago

What is wrong with the women’s team? They can’t shot well at home. Tennessee will take this team to the woodshed for a good ole ass kicking.

NC State Basketball

Boston Transfer Center Caitlin Weimar Commits to NC State

Published

on

Boston Transfer Center Caitlin Weimar (6’4″) has verbally committed to NC State for her final year.

Weimar took an Official Visit to NC State a little over a week ago.

She is the reigning Patriot League Player of the Year, and has been named Defensive Player of the Year the past two years. She has earned 1st Team Patriot League Honors the past two seasons.

This year, Weimar averaged 18.7 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.8 blocks. As a Junior, she averaged 15.5 points and 10.0 rebounds. She shot 55.5% this year, and 59.7% last year.

With the exodus of River Baldwin, picking up a commitment from Weimar is massive.

With the addition of Weimar, NC State now has 2 scholarships available heading into the 2024-25 season.

Continue Reading

NC State Basketball

Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill Commits to NC State!

Published

on

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.

Continue Reading

NC State Basketball

NC State’s Mohamed Diarra Will Not Return to NC State for Final Season

Published

on

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.

Image

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.

Continue Reading

NC State Basketball

Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James Commits to NC State!

Published

on

Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James (6’5″/200) has announced his commitment to NC State!

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Tipton Edits (@tiptonedits)

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.

Continue Reading