NC State Basketball
CBS includes NC State in their latest NCAA Tourney Bracket
For some reason, the debate over ‘is NC State in or out of NCAA tournament.’ is raging today on social media.
Maybe it’s because NC State’s hometown paper, the N&O led their Monday sports page with an article titled “NC State isn’t yet a lock for the NCAA Tournament” and went on to explain how their strength of schedule could keep them out. Or maybe it was Andy Katz claiming that barring a complete collapse, NC State will be in.
Either way, we’re only halfway through the ACC season and NC State is well ahead of where anyone believed they’d be coming into this season. Not one person believed Kevin Keatts would have a clean sweep of Tobacco Road in his first go-round (Wake, #2 Duke, #10 UNC). No one thought this team could hang with #2 Arizona on a neutral floor or beat a #19 ranked Clemson team.
But here they are, and the people are starting to take note.
Today, Jerry Palm (Bracketologist from CBS) has moved the Pack into his field of 64, as a “Last 4 In” (12 seed).
They don’t really go into specifics here and Palm doesn’t offer up and reasoning as to why State is a “Last 4 in,” but if you ask me, the assumption is that people aren’t sold on the Pack yet.
This isn’t an “If the season ended today, who would be in” bracketology. Watching the videos, you hear Palm explain a few of his picks by addressing future schedule and ‘paths’ to a certain seed. He’s looking at the future schedule and making predictions based on prior play.
If you think NC State got lucky against Arizona, Duke, Clemson and UNC, and you believe that they’ll just revert into the team that lost to UNCG or the one that let Notre Dame thump them by 30, then yeah, NC State will, at best, squeeze into the tournament by the skin of their teeth.
But if you really believe that, then what have you been watching?
NC State is becoming a very good basketball team. In fact, it seems as if this is a team that is just starting to realize their true potential. Don’t just look at the big wins. Look at the play of this team over the past few weeks. They haven’t always been perfect, but they’ve found ways to win. If Al Freeman continues to play the way he has over the past 3 games and Markell Johnson steps up a bit more as a scorer, then this is a dangerous team and one that with one more good run of wins could put themselves squarely in the field of 65.
NC State Basketball
NC State Makes Top-4 for Georgia Transfer Center Frank Anselem-Ibe, Decision Coming Tuesday
This past week, NC State hosted Georgia Center Transfer Frank Anselem-Ibe (6’10″/215) for an Official Visit. According to Jeff Borzello, Anselem-Ibe is down to NC State, Georgia Tech, Louisville and Wisconsin, and he will be announcing his decision on Tuesday.
Georgia transfer Frank Anselem-Ibe is down to Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State and Wisconsin, sources told ESPN. He’ll announce his decision on Tuesday. Began his career at Syracuse.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) May 10, 2024
Anselem-Ibe was at Georgia the past two seasons, and was at Syracuse the two before that.
Back in 2020, Anselem-Ibe was a 4-Star prospect out of Prolific Prep in Georgia. 247Sports ranked him as the #18 player in the state of Georgia.
Anselem-Ibe hit the Portal on April 30th.
NC State has one scholarship available.
Former NC State Forward Ernest Ross has committed to UTSA for his final year of eligibility.
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Ross played in 14 games this year, averaging 3.4 minutes per contest. After playing in 34 games last season, averaging 11.4 minutes per contest, Ross saw his participation dip to a career low this season, but that didn’t for a second break his infectious personality. On the sideline, you could count on Ross every single game to be the heart and soul of the Wolfpack on the bench. To watch a player who played as little as he did, care as much as he did, makes me super proud that this young man represented NC State so well.
Ross was a consensus 4-star player in the 2021 recruiting class, with 247Sports ranking him as the #60 overall player nationally. ESPN ranked him as the #5 overall player in the state of Florida.
Georgia Transfer Center Frank Anselem-Ibe (6’10″/215) was in for a visit to NC State yesterday, according to a source.
Anselm-Ibe was at Georgia the past two seasons, and was at Syracuse the two before that.
Back in 2020, Anselm-Ibe was a 4-Star prospect out of Prolific Prep in Georgia. 247Sports ranked him as the #18 player in the state of Georgia.
Anselm-Ibe hit the Portal on April 30th.
ECU Power Forward Transfer Ezra Ausar took an Official Visit to NC State a little over a week ago, and while things were looking good at first, at this point, it seems like things have reached a point of radio silence. From what I’m hearing, NC State would definitely take Ausar, but they aren’t going to wait for him either.
NC State Basketball
NC State Women’s Basketball Ranks 8th in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early 2024-25 Preseason Top-25
