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Pack on the Run: Can they keep it up vs. Jacksonville?

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9 years ago

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NC State vs. Jacksonville
7pm | PNC Arena | ESPN3

2 games into the season and its pretty evident that the Wolfpack are much more suited in the open court than the half-court. Our fast break offense has been fluid and efficient, with Cat spearheading the attack. He has made it a point of emphasis to race the ball up the court in order to keep pressure on opposing defenses. A trademark of Coach Gottfried’s teams is in their ability to score quickly. A simple teaching point that Coach Gottfried likes to instill into his player’s mind is to push the ball, whether off of a make or a miss.

I have been pretty impressed with our ability to score in the open court off of turnovers as well as makes. Teams will not be able to celebrate a made shot, as the Pack have looked to push the ball up the court and establish a quick offense to get a good look early in the clock. It is imperative that the Pack score early in the shot clock, as all too often our offense has ended with a contested jump shot as the shot clock creeps inside 10 seconds.

An area of improvement that the Pack can make to be even more efficient in the break is to hit the big men as they cross screen. A key action occurs in Gottfried’s fast break offense, and that is as the ball rotates from one wing to the other, our big men cross screen for each other. Cross screens in the break can be a nightmare to defend against as it creates mismatches, and causes confusion. However timing is vital. All to often this season our big men have been a fraction of a second late, which has made entry-passes difficult and tested our guards patients. We must improve upon this. We will improve on this. Once the timing works out, we will be even more deadly in the break.

This will also help Kyle, BeeJay, Lennar, and Abu gain confidence early. One reason I think our big men have struggled to score this season is because we are not executing our offense adequately enough for them to catch the ball in the sweet spots. In my opinion we are catching the ball too far off the elbow, and the block. This causes the help side defense to have more time to recover, which is why we have seen our big men get in-trouble as they make their post moves.

How can we fix these problems? It takes time and I know the coaches are working diligently with our guys to clean up some timing issues as well as build chemistry. In order for our guys to get the ball in the correct spots they must work hard off the ball. Everything in basketball is predicated on movement and angles! A technique that Coach Gottfried teaches our players is to beat your opponent with your feet. You must get you feet ahead of your defender to beat him to your spot. Once BeeJay prefects this skill he will be an absolute terror underneath. Can you imagine trying to stop him if he catches the ball inside the paint with his defender pinned on his back? The only way is to foul him or give up the easy flush.

Thus far I have liked what I have seen from our team. All of our guys are giving maximum effort and are bringing the energy on the defensive end. Another trait that I like is in their ability to be coached. Players have been responsive to criticism from the coaches and have had positive body language. This fact tells me that the guys have bought in! As we clean up some of the little details this team will undoubtedly exceed expectations and look to push their consecutive trips to the NCAA to 4.

We’ll see tonight if the Pack can continue to run over Jacksonville.

 

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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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4 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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