NC State Basketball
NC State adds Butler CG Jayden Taylor in Transfer Portal
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.
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Tennessee Guard Freddie Dilione V is Visiting NC State Tomorrow
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NC State lands combo guard DJ Horne from the portal
DJ Horne signed – grad out of ASU – 6’1″ 175.His stat line last season compares very favorably with Jarkel’s last season at Ole Miss. Same size as Joiner. Lower overall FG% on the same number of shots, a little higher 3PT% and took more 3PT shots per game, a little better rebounder, and about the same in assists. TO are exactly the same.
Reading up on DJ Horne’s senior season a little more. Looks pretty good.
14 games 4+ reb
13 games 3+ assists
10 games 2+ steals
4 games 20+ points
34 points career high
Horne seems like a solid addition and now we have a pretty full contingent of guards with a range of experience and a variety of sizes. A few more assists on his stat line would be nice, but otherwise I’m very excited.
Bigs situation remains cloudy.
Saw this posted online. This is one solution we have been hearing rumored for Dusan.
“NCAA NIL loophole being used by some college basketball programs, turn scholarship kids into walkons and then give those players NIL money to make up for lack of scholarship.”
So does that really mean a player could play 8 or 10 years of college ball? I mean Dusan is a good example since he has missed two season due to injuries and his medical cost alone could run $100k. Maybe what you say is not so different . Seemed like Wojo and Spanarkle both played about six years.
I think even walk ons are limited to 4 years of play (plus 1 covid year for some).
I think what you are asking is, does the player have his ‘5 to play 4’ scholarship and then the option to hang around and play more if we pay NIL money? I don’t know the rulebook that well, but I think we would have seen that happen if it were allowed and players wanted it, and I don’t think we have despite all of our jokes about opposing players being around a long time. And I’m not sure it would appeal to many players. So I suspect your real question is (and all of us want to know), could… Read more »
I don’t think there is anything that relegates a ‘walk on’ to not starting or to be a scout team only team member. Traditionally walk ons are not talented enough to earn scholarship positions and therefore don’t normally play, but the world is changing before our eyes.
The college basketball ‘calendar’ has stretched out a bit. As KK has said, it never really ends anymore. I was curious, so looked up some dates. They shift slightly every year, but this is generally what the calendar looks like. Sep 9 – Nov 6: Recruiting window Oct 15: Basketball practice official start Nov 7 – Apr 3: Basketball season Nov 9 – Nov 16: Early signing period (HS) Nov 11 – Mar 29: Recruiting window Mar 13 – May 11: Transfer notification window Apr 12 – 17: Regular signing period (HS) Apr 21 – 27: Recruiting May-June (ish): NBA… Read more »
Good info. Thanks.
To me the biggest thing at the moment is transfer notification window not ending till May 11. Lots of sheet can happen between now and then.
I see Cam Hayes has jumped back into the portal.
Wow! That pretty much confirms my opinion about his decision to leave State.
It kind of sucks for someone like Cam. The portal probably gives the false impression that just because you can and it’s easy, means you should and you’ll get more playing time. I suppose that may be the case for some players. Unless of course you just decide that you were playing out of your league and went to a different division.
I wonder how much it could be about NIL money. If you don’t see your NBA prospects as being very good, then why not stretch out college as long as possible and get as much NIL bucks as you can, even if that means a transfer and sitting out another year. Life as a serviceable college basketball player today is pretty darn good, better than it has ever been. On the other side, seeing teammates getting big NIL bucks while you are not getting similar could breed some resentment amongst teammates. And getting big NIL bucks to play could bring… Read more »
I never thought he’d be one of those guys that hops around. Of course, I expected him to be the second coming of Markel, so what do I know? They say the second transfer is not going to be automatic that you get immediate eligibility.
My memory is almost as good as my predictions. But I remember when Rice was a four maybe even five star prospect and a lock for State. He ended up going to one of those California not quite professional high schools didn’t he? Wasn’t he the one who also had personal/family issues? I really don’t want anyone with issues like Ian Steere and his dad. That $#it is bad for team chemistry.
I don’t remember Rice at all but that doesn’t mean anything. Maybe things have changed.
Rice may have some question marks, but as I”ve observed that during the season every kid actually showing up for KK has given it his all and has been a solid teammate even when things aren’t going well. I don’t expect any difference with future recruits or transfers.
MJ Rice just announced he will visit this weekend. He’s scheduling other visits as well, including Pitt, but it sounds like we are first. He’s from Durham. Played one year at Kansas but struggled with a back problem all season.
5 star player, McDonald’s AA, 6’5″ 215, considered going to the G league out of HS. He is a SG, so he would have to play the 4 – he may not like that idea. We may not be a good fit, but he’d be an incredible pick up.
Rice would be nice. No pun intended.
Per one source, El Ellis is MJ Rice’ friend.
I heard that too, I can’t decide if that is good, bad or neither one, since neither has committed.
DJ Horne is visiting first and if he signs, we no longer want Ellis. Both are PG with one year remaining eligibility. I think Ellis is going through the NBA feedback process so it may be a while before he decides. My guess is, we won’t wait unless we have no choice.
Unless Rice wants to play forward in a 4 guard offense this season, I suspect he’ll look elsewhere so he can play the 2 or 3.
Yep. Unless MJ Rice commits, it means little. Even still, not sure how much it would even in El Ellis is his friend.
Adding to Papajohn … Miranda IS special. He was ranked in the top 30 of the 2023 class but of course his ranking fell after reclassifying and signing with the Pack 🤨. This kid will see plenty of playing time. On another note, Ben Middlebrooks would be great addition to a team desperate for a replacement for Dusan. I think he would definitely be an upgrade to Ebe. With his connection to Kareem Richardson the Rev prediction is 70% to NCSU. BTW the Rev is correct almost 2% of the time
“almost” 2% of the time. 😂
And there’s only a 10% chance of that.
Don’t go to Vegas this weekend.
Interesting to throw into the mix. If you read what many are saying online, both Parkers will be serious contributors next season. ‘Hard to keep on the bench’ people are saying, and it has been suggested that Trey might break into the starting lineup in the same way Terquavion did. A scorer. . Add to that, Miranda is special. He will play. I watched him in warmups every home game since he arrived at Christmas, and he’s going to be something. He considered going directly to the NBA. At 7’1″, a heck of an athlete. He has good hands, quickness,… Read more »
MUSTAPHA AMZIL from Dayton, why not?
.
Taylor will play the SG, his stats don’t indicate he’s much of a passer. However, just for grins, I just did a comparison of he and Joiner’s last seasons at their respective former schools (Ole Miss & Butler), and the numbers are very similar. Both leading scorers on P6 teams. (remember the Big East had Creighton and UConn this season) The biggest differences between the two being Taylor is 3 inches taller and 15 pounds heavier, and Joiner was a 4 year player. But with two years more years experience, Taylor could be the better player. That bodes well for… Read more »
Seems like a good fit for KK’s style, of course we need to see the rest of the pieces of the puzzle come together. I think its interesting that a teammate of Bates decides to come the NC State, its a sign the Bates isn’t out badmouthing the program or KK, and maybe even speaking highly of it. It seems these days you want to be a portal kids’ first visit and hopefully hook him before he gets a chance to see anything else. It would be really nice to know Dusan’s fate. Not just for us fans but for… Read more »
Similar thoughts about Dusan. Love the guy, what a great team player. Any delay doesn’t help anyone, and the NCAA is well aware of the chaos (that they caused) going on with the transfer portal right now. We need a decision. Unless we have strong medical reassurance that we can rely on him next season, I think we have to use his scholarship if given the opportunity to pick up a player of his quality. The worst that could happen is we wait, and either the NCAA refuses his medical redshirt or he can’t physically play if he does get… Read more »
Maybe if he gets cleared he could walk on and pay his tuition with NIL money.
Yep, that’s the rumor floating around
I don’t think he has any eligibility left without the NCAA approval.
Did we lose Dunn due to the money? I read an earlier article where he was very serious about accepting the position at State. Georgetown must have some real buck to share.
No idea, but that’s where my head goes every time we lose a player we expect to have a shot at. That 7’ kid that went to Florida still kills me.
We have five guards now counting Morsell and Parker, how about a couple of forwards. We have the Parker kid coming in, but we need someone with experience to help.
We have a 6’10” kid coming this weekend, Ben Middlebrooks, a transfer from Clemson. 2 years experience. Ironically, his career high game (10/7) was the first game against us this season. So KK & Co have seen a lot of him.
My guess is, he fits nicely into the Dusan slot. Same size, two years eligibility remaining.
I think NIL $ impact a lot of decisions, but I tend to think many kids in the portal are looking at competition for playing time. Dusan is a question mark and Burns, Ross, Miranda, and Parker almost certainly will play lots of minutes next year. We need an experienced, shot blocking bruiser who is not afraid to mix it up in practice or games.