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Wolferetti: Size matters and Keatts has a big one (basketball team, that is)

Published

3 years ago

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You’ve all heard the phrase.

“Size doesn’t matter. It’s how you use what you’ve got.”

You know who says that? People with small things.

Now first off, get your minds out of the gutter, you 12 years olds. We’re talking about basketball here.

Keatts is coming into his 5th year as the head coach of NC State, and the whole time we kept hearing about how he wants a long, tall, athletic group of interchangeable athletes who can cause havoc on both ends of the floor. However, for the first 4 years we haven’t seen it materialize.

State has had size, but they’ve never been able to truly run out this type of lineup without seriously hurting themselves. They either would have to take a hit on ball-handling, shooting, or speed.

But not this year.

This is going to be the first year where you’ll be able to see basketball the way Kevin Keatts wants to play it. You’ll likely see a lineup of 6’3 and above most of the time. Cam Hayes (6’3), Casey Morsell (6’3), Terquavion Smith (6’4), Dereon Seabron (6’7), Jericole Hellems (6’7), Manny Bates (6’10), Ernest Ross (6’9), Greg Gantt (6’8).

So why does this matter? Well, the first four guys listed up there are guards. State is going to have 4 guards that are going to have a size advantage almost every night. And what that means is that suddenly, the high screen that nearly every ACC team is going to run is going to lose a lot of its effectiveness.

Look, we loved Braxton Beverly, but he was a defensive liability for this reason alone. Teams would run the high screen and create havoc. Either Beverly would be put into a mismatch, or they’d be scrambling to hedge and switch without giving up the edge.

What this means is that penetration into the lane is going to be tough for teams. They are going to have to beat their man off the dribble, and despite NC State’s size, these guards are also pretty darn quick.

This type of size will affect the game in a lot of ways. Point-to-point passes will be harder to throw around this type of length. There won’t be any ‘shooting over’ guys to get easy buckets, and hey, “You have to guard us to, pal.” (Moment of silence for Mark Gottfried)

Offensively, NC State is going to be able to play big on offense without clogging the lane with traditional lumbering bigs. They’ve worked all offseason in helping Manny Bates acquire a consistent jump shot (and *gulp* 3-point shot), but my guess is that you’ll likely see him play a lot like he played last year.

The difference will be that instead of Funderburk at the 4 (a great talent, but a guy defenders could sag off of a little bit on the wing) you’ll have Jericole Hellems, who is one of the Pack’s best shooters. This is going to cause problems for opposing teams. The 1-3 position will be guards, but again, they’ll be anywhere from 6’3 to 6’7 most of the time.

This NC State team is going to be able to fast while also playing big and that’s something Keatts has always wanted but never been able to do without a trade-off. This year there’s no trade-off. NC State’s best scorers are all big, and all guys who can score on multiple levels.

The big question is going to be whether or not they’re able to hit consistently from outside. Hellems, Hayes and Smith are all great shooters, and if Morsell and Seabron can keep defenders honest with their jumpers, this is going to be a potent team on both ends of the floor.

Of course, you still have Thomas Allen and Breon Pass, both of whom are around the 6-foot mark, and both can shoot it. So, NC State isn’t ALWAYS going to be playing big, however, when they want to or need to it’s a luxury they have at their disposal.

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A pasta eatin', Wolfpack lovin' loudmouth from Raleigh by way of New Jersey. Jimmy V and Chuck Amato fanboy. All opinions are my own and you're gonna hear'em.

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NC State Basketball

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

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15 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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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

Published

2 days ago

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July 24, 2024

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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

Published

4 days ago

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July 23, 2024

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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

Published

1 week ago

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July 18, 2024

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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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