Shaq Almost Went to NC State?!?!?!

Shaquille O’Neal was on the Dan Patrick show this week, and when he was asked if there were other schools he was considering coming out of high school besides LSU (where he eventually went), he said he visited UNC, NC State, Illinois and UNLV.

Patrick asked him if it was even close between LSU and that list of schools.

“North Carolina State . . . I really respected Jim Valvano, and as you know…they had the original Shaq…Charles Shackleford.  That’s where I got my name and my identity from.  So I was actually wanting to play behind him, but I said, “You know what?  I’m gonna be my own Shaq and I’m gonna just take it down to Baton Rouge. . . .”

“[Charles Shackleford was] The original Shaq.  I took his kneepads, I took, uh, everything.”

When Patrick pointed out that Shaq had a slightly better career than Shackleford…O’Neal responded with..

“Something like that.” 

Can you imagine what NC State basketball would have been like with Shaq playing in Reynolds Coliseum with Rodney Monroe, Chris Corchiani, and Tom Gugliotta????

(Start at the 4:00 mark)