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!
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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.
Yes we are in the mix and we just got flushed.
wolfpack74 Wolfer96 wulfpacker This late in the game all of the 3 & 4 stars are gone. A few 5 stars are all that are left and honestly even if you land one they’re probably going to be prima donnas so you have to deal with that. Then there is the market for transfers, graduate transfers, and hidden international gems. It’s going to be tough finding quality players at this stage is my guess. Obviously we’re not the only ones looking after mass defections at other programs. What I would like to see is Gott and company recruit the 3 star guys… Read more »
Wolfer96 wolfpack74 wulfpacker I agree, but the question was whom I would like to see walking the NC State sideline. If Ingram goes to UNC or Duke, you can forget about whatever Gott comes up with.
wolfpack74 Wolfer96 wulfpacker Smart – already turned us down once and we can’t match Texas $$$. We’ll have to wait and see what he does at Texas but I always thought he was overrated. Miller – is the king of the PAC12 so don’t see that happening. His brother on the other hand is more likely to take an offer. Brad Stevens – hard to say. His team did make the playoffs but that’s in a very weak Eastern conference and they will likely get swept in 1st round. Would be my #1 choice if he was interested. I think Vinny’s a… Read more »
Wolfer96 Does anyone think that Ingram is coming to State? I surely don’t. But Gott’s on the case.
Wolfer96 wolfpack74 wulfpacker Given the right amount of money, all would come.
Newman is off the board. Committed to Miss St.
wolfpack74 wulfpacker Now name the ones that would actually come to State 🙂
wulfpacker wolfpack74 1. Smart from Texas. 2. Miller from Arizona. 3. McMillan from the NBA 4. Barnes from Tennessee. 5. Brad Stevens from NBA. 6. Vinny Del Negro from TV.
7. Manning from Wake Forest. 8. Alford from UCLA. 9. Thad Matta from Ohio State. 10. Huggins from West Virginia.
wolfpack74 Who would you want on the sidelines? Give me your realistic candidates that you would like to replace Gottfried with.
It’s a good thing that Gott is on the case. BS. He hasn’t signed a freshman in 19 months.
“Will not be signing a LOI”? What the hell. Commitment issues? Sounds like another CJ Leslie.
Newman is a combo guard and would spend most of his time at the 2 position with some time backing up cat at PG… Basically taking over the role that Trevor had. He would not play the 4. Ingram is a 3, and might play the 4 onoccasion if we go “small”…. Ingram would be a huge surprise for us, but we have a legit shot at Newman
I know its a long shot but getting one of these guys would be huge for State. Both look like they could either run at the 3 and the 4 which for State would be perfect. You would be able to play big with Freeman and Anya at the 4 and 5 or spread out the floor with one of these 2 at the 4 and one of the Martin’s at the 3. Alright enough dreaming. Freeman will be running full time at the 4 and the Martins full time at the 3