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.
cebner I wouldn’t base my opinions on a few fans that don’t know anything about college sports outside of a few powerhouse programs. There is no knowledgeable fan of college sports anywhere that doesn’t know about NC State. The only one living in a bubble is you and a few casual fans around the country that have stumbled across your big S.
@ccebner I look at it differently. Look at what Tony Bennett has done at UVA. UVA does not have the history of State nor do they have any recent success prior to Bennett. All it takes is one good coach to turn a program around. Really what State needs is a systems coach. One that emphasizes defense and ball movement. There are many paths a program can take to get to where they want to be. Recruiting is only one. There are some solid mid majors out there that win every year in the tourney with guys no one ever… Read more »
I love nc state and want nothing more than to see us win but our rich history in basketball happened WAY too long ago to help us in recruiting. Our football program is and has been a train wreck since Rivers graduated. No big name coach will want to take our job as we are too insignificant of a program. These are major challenges for us but constantly firing coaches is not a good idea. Give both coaches plenty of breathing room and long term contracts. It took Bill Cowherd (nc state grad) over a decade to get the Steelers… Read more »
Folks….as an NC State grad and die hard we must realize who we are. We stink at the two major sports in basketball and football and we have stunk for a long, long time. Coach G got us to a couple of sweet sixteens in the last few years….we should make a giant bronze statue of him on campus as far as I am concerned. We are not a national program like we once we’re in the 70’s and 80’s. We are essentially a regional entity with little recognition outside of the Carolinas. I have lived in the south, north… Read more »
FromTheClassOf1975 Aside from all the transfers what do you think about his coaching? Sure he is better than the guy he replaced but that was a pretty “lowe” bar to begin with (yes I pun). In my opinion based on the 5 seasons I’ve witnessed, Gott is horrible at in-game adjustments, his offenses are generally one-dimensional (get the ball to: CJL, Wood, TJ, Cat), and his defenses are the worst. I don’t think you can blame 5 seasons of lackluster defense on the players alone. This past season should have been one of State’s best defenses ever. I mean they… Read more »
No, we should not fire Gott, we don’t have enough information to draw any substantial conclusions. It’s all circumstantial. It would be nice to get more than 140 characters from Abu, if he has a legit complaint. Coach Gott stood with us when no one else would, at any price. It would seem to me that we should stand by him until we are sure he doesn’t deserve our loyalty. He has much better results than previous coaching with less than stellar talent. I don’t recall any of the transfers getting drafted recently… We all wear red because we love… Read more »
Thank God we still have the two Chris’s. We will be the laughing stock of North Carolina if we keep Gottfried.
I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes so I won’t speculate. Abu trying to transfer as a rising junior is a seriously foolish move. The NBA is like a dirty old man, it doesn’t like 22/23 year olds. It likes 18/19 year olds with high upsides. Let’s say Abu transfers and has to sit out next season. The following year even if he improves upon his numbers at a new school marginally, now he is 22 years old entering the draft and his upside is non-existent. That drops him down to late 2nd round or worse and most… Read more »
Why Abu would leave/transfer is beyond me. The twins played hard and tough but seemed to always to be looking out for themselves so I don’t mind them leaving. Cat will be another Jeff Teague so his move made sense. Gottfried needs to do whatever he needs to do to keep Abu. If he transfers then something not good has got to be going on behind the scenes. He won’t get drafted so we don’t have to worry about that happening. One thing for sure is, you never know what to expect in the off season with NCSU basketball.