NC State Basketball
After blowout loss to Clemson, is NC State still an NCAA Tournament Team
Most State fans figured that the big win over Virginia Tech would pretty much lock the Pack into the NCAA Tournament.
However, some may be second-guessing themselves after the 26-point beat down Clemson put on NC State in the 3rd round of the ACC Tournament.
So where does the Pack stand now?
Well, as disheartening as last night was, NC State is still going to be a tournament team according to ESPN’s Joe Lundardi.
As of 11:30am this morning here is what he’s got…
Lunardi has at least 8 teams behind the Pack that he thinks will get in. Meaning, some craziness would have to go down for the Wolfpack to be left out.
On top of that, you have both Pitt and Clemson right on the bubble. So if an ACC team is going to be left out, at this point he thinks it’ll be Clemson, however my bet would be Pittsburgh. That said, I believe they’ll end up all getting in.
Lunardi has NC State stuck at a 10 seed. So the loss to Clemson seems to have done nothing to their chances.
As for what happened last night?
State just doesn’t match up well at all with Clemson. They are the only team to have blown out the Wolfpack this season, and they did it twice.
In fact, Clemson is going to be a tough out if they get into the NCAA Tournament. With the emergence of 6’7 Ian Schieffelin, they have a physical and versatile frontcourt. Add in 6’8 Hunter Tyson, and 6’10 PJ Hall and you have what might be the toughest frontcourt to deal with in the nation.
Their guards are good defenders and they don’t do much reaching or biting on pump fakes. They are a lot like Virginia, but they actually have an explosive offense.
NC State with its current roster isn’t going to beat Clemson if they are knocking down shots, however, the good news is that there aren’t many teams in the nation like the Tigers.
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!
View this post on Instagram
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.
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I feel like we’re going to get snubbed.
And glad I’m wrong!
Wow! We clobber VT. Clemson clobbers us. Virginia clobbers Clemson. This Atlantic Clobber Conference Tournament has been an interesting one.
And VT had beaten UVA earlier to complete the circle. Insanity.
Yep.
Every team with a bye advantage won their first game.
Losing a game to a team with a bye should not negatively affect you very much.
I should hope not. We’ll find out tonight.
If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that we would lose our starting center for the entire season, lose our starting forward for over half the ACC season and have limited availability of his backup, I would have guessed we’d finish in bottom 4 teams in the league and laughed in your face if you suggested we’d have 23 wins.
Perfect. And don’t forget three extremely important Wolfpack success metrics. Beating UNC, Duke and Wake.
12 ACC wins is the most since David Thompson’s day. The asterisk is, we play more ACC games these days. But there aren’t any easy ACC games. A fine accomplishment.
A tourney loss to Clemson is not a loss that hurts much. We were a solid 10 or better going in and nothing should have changes.
Hall is like having Tom Gugliotta on your team, makes life miserable if you don’t match up well. I sure hope we don’t find a Clemson like team in the NCAAT. (What would be more cruel than us against them in a play in game?)