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NC State Basketball Update 5/7

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10 years ago

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Dereck Whittenburg Takes Home an Emmy
Dereck Whittenburg is not only the senior assistant to Mark Gottfried on the NC State staff, he’s also an Emmy award winning filmmaker. Yesterday Whitt took home the hardware for his work on ‘Survive and Advance,’ a documentary about the Wolfpack’s 1983 championship run. The film was easily one of the best ’30 for 30′ documentaries that has been produced and a lot of that credit goes to award winning producer Jonathan Hock of Hock Films. Congrats Dereck, on a well deserved accolade.

Corchiani Jr. Walking on
Chris Corchiani Jr, the son of legendary NC State PG Chris Corchiani, decided this past weekend to forego his chance of a small school scholarship and walk-on with the Wolfpack. This is exciting news for Pack fans who remember watching his father play over 20 years ago. Corch Jr. played at Broughton before transferring to Ravenscroft in Raleigh. He is a 5’11 lead guard who plays tough, changes speeds well and has very good vision. While he might not be ACC ready at the moment, he will surely get his opportunities if he plays well in practice. NC State recently missed out on 2014 PG Devonte Graham. With Tyler Lewis transferring to Butler and Cat Barber the only true point guard on the roster, Corchiani walks into a situation with some promise. I’ve had the chance to play pick-up with Chris quite a bit during high school career and he is certainly a talented kid with a great head on his shoulders. He’s coachable, respectful and just the type of guy you want walking on to your basketball team. We’ll be looking to catch up with him soon and get the full story.

“>Here is a story we ran on Chris Jr. this past season…and here is some video.

 
Wolfpack Will Take on Purdue Next Season
Another part of the schedule was unveiled this past week when it was announced that the Pack will take on Purdue in the ACC/BigTen challenge. It will be an away game for NC State on Dec 2nd. The Boilermakers were 15-17 last season, but look to build on that with returning star AJ Hammons.

Abdul-Malik Abu Senior Mixtape
The kid is a dunking machine and will be yet another factor in NC State’s front court. He’ll slot in at the PF for State and share time with Lennard Freeman and Kyle Washington. With Beejay Anya at center, it seems as if they’ll be a log jam down there, but this gives State a lot of versatility with their bigs. They can run out a smaller lineup without Anya or a big lineup with Washington at the 3, Abu/Freeman at the 4 and Anya at the 5. For the first time in a long time State has a very, very dangerous bench this coming season.

 

 

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NC State Basketball

Boston Transfer Center Caitlin Weimar Commits to NC State

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1 day ago

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April 26, 2024

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Boston Transfer Center Caitlin Weimar (6’4″) has verbally committed to NC State for her final year.

Weimar took an Official Visit to NC State a little over a week ago.

She is the reigning Patriot League Player of the Year, and has been named Defensive Player of the Year the past two years. She has earned 1st Team Patriot League Honors the past two seasons.

This year, Weimar averaged 18.7 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.8 blocks. As a Junior, she averaged 15.5 points and 10.0 rebounds. She shot 55.5% this year, and 59.7% last year.

With the exodus of River Baldwin, picking up a commitment from Weimar is massive.

With the addition of Weimar, NC State now has 2 scholarships available heading into the 2024-25 season.

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NC State Basketball

Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill Commits to NC State!

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2 days ago

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April 25, 2024

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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.

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NC State Basketball

NC State’s Mohamed Diarra Will Not Return to NC State for Final Season

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3 days ago

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April 24, 2024

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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.

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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.

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NC State Basketball

Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James Commits to NC State!

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5 days ago

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April 23, 2024

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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.

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