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.
wormncsu Yeah but Henderson looked like crap out there before he got hurt. Looked like someone who has never been in a college game. I know it’s just one game but they looked so horrible in all facets of the game it’s hard to have much enthusiasm for this team. They got out-hustled for much of the game, out rebounded, didn’t know how to cover a switch, shots were mostly forced and not setup, turned the ball over. I could go on and on. There were very few bright spots. I thought coach gave the green light to Rowan and… Read more »
wolfpack74 You have to give credit to Caleb as well. He seemed to be the only one that came to play much of the game. Abu was okay but settled for too many long jumpers.
Wolfer96 If he doesn’t bring BAM BAM and Alkins, it won’t matter.
I told you guys how bad this team was going to be. Only Wolfer96 has a open mind. Barber sucks, big men can’t score (except Abu), everyone else playing roles that they are not accustom to playing. I never thought that I would say this this early. Bring on baseball.
It is discouraging but let’s not throw gott under the bus. Taking us to NCAA four straight years and two sweet 16. This team will have to find an identity and find it quickly. The team we played tonight was no push over the guys did not show up. Losing Henderson hurt as well.
This is the crap that Gott puts together year 5? I have now lost all faith. Guess I’ll have to wait another season for Dennis to come show us what a real PG can do.
How can 2 twins be so different? Caleb is doing it all out there and Cody is missing layups right under the basket.
If only Caleb can get the others to play like they care. He’s single handedly keeping this team in the game.
I hope someone took money to throw this game because it’s inexcusable otherwise. Cat Barber is the worst PG in the ACC at this moment.
What is Cat even doing out there? He’s getting beat by his man, not driving to the hoop, not hitting 3’s.
Caleb has the ugliest shot ever. Slowest release I’ve ever seen. He’s like the anti-StephCurry.
Cat looks worse than the 1st half of last season. Anya made no progress. Team still can’t play defense at all.
So far not so good. This is just embarrassing. These guys look like they never played together before.