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NC State Basketball

FRIDAY PORTAL UPDATE: A commitment, a BIG visitor coming to town, an old target enters the portal and whats up with Paul McNeil?

Lou Pascucci

Published

1 month ago

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There’s been a lot going on since the last Portal Update on Tuesday. First off, we have two new commitments since then.

6’10 C Kyle Evans, the nation’s top shot blocker, committed to NC State
Evans averaged 3.3 blocks per game last year, which was well above the 2.9 blocks averaged by 2nd place Ugonna Onyenso, who NC State fans know well thanks to his season-high 8 blocks he tallied in UVA’s win in March.

Evans is a premier piece for what the type of roster NC State is trying to build. We talk a lot more about that here in this scouting report.

6’8 F Eemeli Yalaho committed to NC State last night
This came out of nowhere. He wasn’t on our radar, and I’m not sure he was on anyone else’s either. But either way, this was a great get. Yalaho played two years of minimal action at Texas Tech before going to Washington State and averaging 10 points, 5.7 boards, and 1.7 assists. He profiles a lot like Darrion Williams did. But while Yalaho is taller and stronger, he lacks the vision and playmaking skills Williams had. But remember, Williams cost millions, and that’s not the case here. Yalaho is interesting because he’s been very good offensively. He shot 40% from long range. and can score inside and out, while also being a willing passer. His defense leaves a lot to be desired, as he’s not explosive, isn’t overly long, and had a negative Defensive Box +/- against Top 50 teams last season. That said, he wasn’t sharing a front court with the nation’s top shot blocker last year. Having Evans patrolling the paint is going to cover up a lot of flaws.

6’11 James Scott entered the portal, and we think NC State is going to be involved
Scott was on our radar the whole time. He is a guy who was underutilized at Ole Miss after almost signing on to play for Will Wade last season in Raleigh. Even though Wade is gone, we were keeping an eye on Scott, who is a Fayetteville, NC native and played with Paul McNeil Jr prior to college.

Last year didn’t go according to plan for the 6’10 rising senior. Ole Miss was a mess all season long, and Scott was only getting 17 minutes per game after getting over 23 at Louisville. This was interesting, as the metrics were pretty clear that Scott was a guy who profiled to break out with increased playing time.

Scott was playing limited minutes, and Ole Miss was one of the bigger disappointments in the nation, but they eventually found their footing in the SEC Tournament and made a nice run, losing in the semis to Arkansas after winning 3 games in 3 days.

So what was the difference?

James Scott suddenly started logging major minutes. Over that winning streak, he averaged 29 minutes, which coincided with him grabbing 41 rebounds over that span.

NC State has been public about their desire to have elite rim protection this season, and they’ve added Kyle Evans, but if they want to compete for the crown this season, they’ll need an option at the 4 who can clean up rebounds and help Evans erase shots at the rim. James Scott fits that mold perfectly and entered the portal just before the clock struck midnight on its closing night.

There was initially some question on whether he entered or not, with a few Ole Miss Insiders saying he was staying put, only to double-back and clear things up a day later that he in-fact entered the portal.

Those same insiders noted that they believe NC State will be the team to beat for his services. We’ll have to wait and see if they’re right.

Paul McNeil Jr still hasn’t gone public with his decision
Not much to say here, other than we thought this would be decided by now. However, the big thing here is that McNeil has not committed elsewhere, and multiple analysts believe NC State is leading his recruitment. But that all means nothing until a decision is made, and we just aren’t sure when that is happening. We have heard that LSU is a ‘very unlikely’ destination despite Wade’s willingness to (allegedly) pony up huge money to bring him along. We have also heard that NC State has big money waiting for him as well if he were to commit. They want him bad, and as you’ve seen, they’ve filled the 1 (Edmead), 2 (Hammond), 4 (Yalaho), and 5 (Evans), leaving that 3 position wide open for P2 if he wants it. We’ll keep watching and waiting, but if McNeil returns to Raleigh, it will be under his 3rd coach in 3 years. In an era where loyalty is all but dead, Paul could put Wolfpack Nation into a frenzy if he were to stay home. He’d immediately be granted legend status among Pack fans.

It seems like NC State is in the market for another center
They’re hosting 7’5 center from USC, Gabe Dynes, later today. He began his career at Youngstown State, where he made an immediate defensive impact. Dynes earned Horizon League All-Freshman Team honors and was named to the All-Defensive Team in back-to-back seasons. During that stretch, he led the conference in blocks both years, averaging 2.3 per game as a freshman and 3.1 per game as a sophomore.

In his second season with the Penguins, he also averaged 6.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in 21.8 minutes per game. After transferring to USC this past offseason, Dynes struggled to carve out a consistent role. He appeared in 30 games, making six starts, and averaged 11.9 minutes per game. His production dipped to 2.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.0 block per contest.

There’s a report out there that they’ve been in contact with Arkansas State transfer 7-footer Aly Tounkara who averaged 4.3pts and 5.5 rebounds last season.

It seems clear that NC State wants to have a very deep frontcourt with a few guys who can protect the rim and a few who are more versatile and can stretch the floor.

De’shayne Montgomery (visited NC State this week)  is now at Louisville for a visit and is trending towards a commitment there — > UPDATE: HE COMMITTED
NC State hosted Montgomery on campus this week, and we heard the visit went well. However, he left without committing and is now visiting Louisville, where insiders believe he’ll commit.

I don’t know for certain if this was the case, but it seemed as if they were looking at Montgomery (6’4, 13pts, 4 rebounds) as an option if McNeil were to go elsewhere. With McNeil still not committed and Montomery trending towards Louisville, it leaves a lot of questions to be answered. But we wont’ get ahead of ourselves. My guess is we’ll start to get a feel of whats going on later today or sometime this weekend.

UPDATE:

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