NC State Basketball
Who is the State Basketball G.O.A.T.?
Last week, ACC Network posed the question, “Who is the NC State Basketball G.O.A.T.”? We know, we know, ridiculous right? While number one seems unanimous, we wanted to give our definitive Top Five of All-Time.
See above for video and below to vote for your Top Wolfpack Basketball Player.
ACC Network’s nominees were David Thompson, Rodney Monroe, Chris Corchiani, and TJ Warren. With that, here’s our Top-Five.
#5 Ronnie Shavlik
We updated this after talking to Grandpa George. Ronnie owned the ACC in the 50’s. The guy averaged over a THREE YEAR CAREER 19 points and 17 rebounds a game. Yes, it was a two-point game back then, so numbers were inflated (ignore Ronnie’s FG% and FT%), but still solid numbers. 3x All-ACC Tournament, 2x Consensus All-American, 2x All-ACC and Player of the Year in 1955. The following year he went number four overall to the Knicks.
#4 Tommy Burleson
At number four Tommy Burleson. First off, just imagine having to deal with him inside and across the paint is David Thompson…Good Lawwwwwd. Don’t know if there is a steadier player out there for State basketball. In his three years, Burleson averaged 19 points and 13 rebounds. Just look at this postseason run to the 1974 title:
Against Providence – 16 Points / 24 Rebounds
Against Pitt – 26 Points / 12 Rebounds
Against UCLA (Going head-to-head with Bill Walton) – 20 Points / 14 Rebounds
Against Marquette in National Championship – 14 Points / 11 Rebounds / 7 Freaking Blocks
Thompson overshadowed Burleson’s greatness, but we’re showing our respects to the man here.
#3 Rodney Monroe
At number three, Mr. Rodney Monroe. Monroe is State’s all-time points getter at 2,551, thanks to three straight years averaging at least 21 points per game (and his freshman year, while he played every game, he didn’t have a single start). Three-time All-ACC and 1990-91 ACC Player of the Year. Just imagine if he had a big man to dish and rebound (hint, watch for an article soon about that)?
#2 TJ Warren
Uh oh…here comes some recency bias. TJ Warren comes in as number two because if you expand out what he did in two years over four, the numbers are astounding. 1300 points and would have been close to passing State point leader Monroe (2551) by end of junior year, if not beginning of senior year. Grabbed nearly 400 boards to go with over a hundred steals. The man single-handedly carried that 2013-14 State team deep into ACC Tournament and into the Big Dance, while picking up ACC POY win.
#1 David Thompson
Let’s face it, the answer is David Thompson. During his three-year stretch he filled the trophy case – 3x ACC Player of the Year, multiple Consensus All-American, All-ACC/NCAA Tournament Teams, NCAA Tournament Outstanding Player and Naismith Award, among another dozen-plus honors. In ACC history, only he and Ralph Sampson have won ACC POY awards three times. Scoring 2309 points with 694 boards, Thompson was the man.
Here’s Michael Jordan talking about Thompson,
“As I grew up in North Carolina, I was an anti-Carolina guy. I hated UNC,” Jordan said. “I was in love with David Thompson, not just for the game of basketball, but in terms of what he represented. We all go through our trials and tribulations, and he did, and I was inspired by him.”
Which, sidenote…WHY THE HELL DIDN’T MJ COME TO STATE?!?
Honorable Mention
-Chris Corchiani
Bettered only by Bobby f*cking Hurley in NCAA history for assists in a career. Thanks to Monroe, Corchiani was a transition wizard putting up a State record of 1038 assists in his career. All-ACC team nominations his final three seasons, he lead the ACC in steals all four years and assists in his final two seasons.
-Dereck Whittenburg
Whittenburg gets a shoutout just for his 1983 postseason run averaging 20 a game for the Pack. While we love him, his regular-season play was fine and overall the image heightened by that magical championship run.
-Thurl Bailey
Similar to Burleson, Bailey was steady during his Pack career. He got you points, he got you rebounds, he got you blocks.
-Tom Gugliotta
Googs senior season was awesome, averaging 23 points and 10 boards a game. Most definitely matured over his four years, but not enough to crack top-five.
-Julius Hodge
Every night he filled the score sheet in some way.
-CJ Leslie
All we’re going to say…imagine if he had the work ethic that some of these guys above had?
Who do you have as State’s G.O.A.T.?
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.
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.
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Don’t forget about Jules. Dude at least deserves mention.
Thurl may have been our most prolific player in terms of NBA career AND championships.