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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.

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wolfpack74
wolfpack74
9 years ago

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
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
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
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
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
WolfpackBack
9 years ago

Your comments are the cancer of this forum.

wolfpack74
wolfpack74
9 years ago

Wolfer96 Hopefully some of this good press will get us a good PG.

Wolfer96
Wolfer96
9 years ago

Preseason top 20 ranking is a curse for the Wolfpack. Take us off that list ESPN!

NC State Basketball

NC State Women’s Basketball Releases Their 2024-25 Non-Conference Schedule

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NC State Women’s Basketball team released their 2024-25 Non-Conference Schedule yesterday.

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RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State women’s basketball program has announced its non-conference slate for the 2024-25 season, as revealed on Thursday.

The Pack will play eight of its 11 games, in addition to a preseason exhibition, at Reynolds Coliseum. Coming off a historical 2023-24 season that was highlighted by the program’s first Final Four since 1998, second in program history, head coach Wes Moore is entering his 12th season at the helm. With a strong home court advantage, the Pack has accumulated a 117-15 (.886) record at home since the renovation of Reynolds Coliseum was completed in August 2016.

NC State will participate in the Pink Flamingo Championship at Baha Mar in Nassau, Bahamas on Monday, Nov. 25 and Wednesday, Nov. 27 against opponents that will be announced at a later date. As previously announced, NC State will play the defending NCAA Champion South Carolina at the Ally Tipoff at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte on Sunday, Nov. 10, as well as host Ole Miss for the SEC/ACC Challenge on Thursday, Dec. 5.

The Wolfpack will host Anderson (S.C.) for an exhibition on Tuesday, Oct. 29 before officially starting the season at home vs. ETSU on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Following the Ally Tipoff, NC State will return home to host Kent State on Thursday, Nov. 14.

NC State’s first true road game of the season is at TCU on Sunday, Nov. 17. The Pack will then play Coastal Carolina at home on Thursday, Nov. 21 before its trip to the Bahamas for two games (Nov. 25-27).

The Pack will close out the non-conference slate with four straight games at Reynolds Coliseum, starting with the SEC/ACC Challenge game vs. Ole Miss (Thursday, Dec. 5). NC State will then host Old Dominion (Sunday, Dec. 8), Davidson (Wednesday, Dec. 11) and James Madison (Thursday, Dec. 19) to wrap up non-conference play.

With NC State’s known non-conference opponents, six are coming off postseason tournament appearances. Three received NCAA Tournament bids (Kent State, Ole Miss and NCAA Champion South Carolina), two were invited to play in the WBIT (TCU and James Madison) and one played in the WNIT (Old Dominion).

NC State’s Atlantic Coast Conference schedule will be announced by the league office at a later date. NC State will play Wake Forest, Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Miami, Notre Dame, Pitt, Virginia and Virginia Tech at home. The Pack will take on Wake Forest, Cal, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina, SMU, Stanford and Syracuse on the road.

Season tickets are sold out for the 2024-25 season. Tip-off times and television designations will also be released at a later date.

2024-25 Non-Conference Schedule

Tuesday, Oct. 29 – Anderson (Exh.)

Tuesday, Nov. 5 – ETSU

Sunday, Nov. 10 – South Carolina $

Thursday, Nov. 14 – Kent State

Sunday, Nov. 17 – at TCU

Thursday, Nov. 21 – Coastal Carolina

Monday, Nov. 25 – Opponent TBD &

Wednesday, Nov. 27 – Opponent TBD &

Thursday, Dec. 5 – Ole Miss +

Sunday, Dec. 8 – Old Dominion

Wednesday, Dec. 11 – Davidson

Thursday, Dec. 19 – James Madison

$ – Ally Tipoff (Spectrum Center, Charlotte, N.C.)

& – Pink Flamingo Championship (Baha Mar, Nassau, Bahamas)

+ – SEC/ACC Challenge (Raleigh, N.C.)

 

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NC State Basketball

NC State Legend Julius Hodge Named Head Coach at Lincoln University

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NC State Legend Julius Hodge has been named the Head Coach at Lincoln University.

This marks Hodge’s first stint as a Head Coach.

Hodge has been in the Coaching world since 2015, when he served as Director of Player Development at the University of Buffalo under Bobby Hurley. Then, he spent 2016 and 2017 as an Assistant Coach under Herb Sendek at Santa Clara. From 2018-20, Hodge served as an Assistant Coach at San Jose State. Hodge has spent the past three seasons as an Assistant Coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

At NC State, Hodge earned 1st Team All-ACC honors in 2003 & 2004, and 2nd Team honors in 2005. Hodge was named the ACC Player of the Year in ’04. He earned the All-Freshman Team in 2002.

Hodge is 1 of 11 players in NC State history to earn 1st Team All-ACC honors more than once.

His 2,040 career points scored rank 3rd in NC State history. Hodge also ranks 1st in Free Throws Made, 14th in Rebounds, 7th in Offensive Rebounds, 6th in Assists and 7th in Steals.

Congrats Julius! You deserve this!

 

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NC State Basketball

WATCH: Getting to Know NC State’s Trey Parker

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NC State Men’s Basketball is releasing videos helping fans get to know the new players on the 2024-25 roster.

Below is the video of Freshman Trey Parker (6’1″/178), with a transcript underneath.

“My name is Trey Parker. I’m an incoming Freshman from Fayetteville, North Carolina.” 

“I was recently playing at Overtime Elite. It was a great experience. A whole lot of development and great energy.” 

“Coach Levi (Watkins) recruited me. As soon as I got to the campus, it was a great experience. They just gave me that big inspiration to feel like I’m home, and feel like a great student outside of basketball.”

“I knew I wanted to be a part of the Pack back in November of 2022. I just felt like it was a great fit for me.”

“Living in North Carolina, and now playing in North Carolina, is a big opportunity. There’s a lot of people from North Carolina looking up to me, and I want to give them what they want to see.” 

“Being close, allows for them to bring the whole city out. It just feels like I’m already at home.” 

“Y’all stay tuned. Showtime is coming this year.”

_______

Parker originally signed with NC State in November of 2022, as a member of the 2023 recruiting class. He decided to reclassify, making him a member of the 2024 class.

Parker is a consensus 3-Star prospect, though 247Sports’ Composite Rankings have him as a 4-Star prospect. 247 ranks him as the #135 overall player in the 2024 recruiting class, the #26 Shooting Guard, and the #13 player in the state of Georgia.

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NC State Basketball

Jersey Numbers for 2024-25 NC State Men’s Basketball Team Revealed

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The NC State Men’s Basketball team revealed the Jersey Numbers for their 2024-25 team yesterday.

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Numbers that are Staying the Same

Michael O’Connell – #12

Ben Middlebrooks – #34

Dennis Parker Jr. – #11

KJ Keatts – #13

Jordan Snell – #22

Numbers that have Changed

Jayden Taylor – #1 –> #8

Breon Pass – #10 –> #4

Numbers of New Players

Mike James – #0 (He wore #0 at Louisville last year)

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield – #1 (He wore #5 at Louisville last year)

Paul McNeil – #2 (He wore #2 in High School last year)

Dontrez Styles – #3 (He wore #0 at Georgetown last year)

Trey Parker – #5 (He wore #5 in High School last year)

Marcus Hill – #10 (He wore #0 at Bowling Green last year)

We don’t know what number Ismael Diouf will be wearing at NC State next year yet. 

 

 

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