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!
View this post on Instagram
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.
WolfpackBack I will promise you this, if this 2015 team go to the sweet sixteen then I will never comment on this site again. That’s a promise to you WolfpackButt.
Wolfer96 AdamWiggins Finally, a voice of reason. We still need another big just in case foul trouble or injuries happen. Also, where is that backup pg?
AdamWiggins I think we should just play wait and see. Losing Lacey is almost like losing Warren. Both players were keys on offense. Luckily Lacey was able to fill some of the void when TJ left but we’d have to be pretty damned lucky for that to happen again with Henderson. Not saying Henderson can’t be a stud but I’ve yet to see him on the floor so at this point he’s more mystery than anything else. Cat will score 15ppg and 4-5 apg. That means the other 4 on the court have to put up at least 60 ppg… Read more »
papajallen What is 30/30? 30 points and 30 rebounds? If we get 30/30 out of those guys, we’ll be in the final four.
blow000 Please enlighten me. Why does anyone think next year team will be worth a damn?
Negative Nancy wolfpack74 says next year will be bad. Didn’t see that coming. Yawn.
Please, no one wants to hear your pessimistic dribble anymore. Do everyone a favor and be a lurker.
AdamWiggins What have you been smoking? Good is not the word I would use.
Go small, get zoned, and get beat. Wake up people. Next year will be bad. Our only hope is to get Bam Bam and Jr. in 2016.
Small ball? The difference for us will be whether a big or a wing is playing the four. My guess is that by necessity (rather than coaching genius), we’ll see “small ball” every game due to foul trouble or, heaven forbid, injury.
I think our strength next year will have to be balanced scoring. Cat and Terry will do their part, the three bigs need to give us 30/30 minimally every game. And then the wing(s) is (are) the icing.
Can’t wait to see how version 5 of the Gott era plays out.
ncsu_kappa I can see you hesitation. Lacey was a stud but Henderson could be a welcome addition who can step right in and contribute. He is more athletic than Lacey and a little taller. He doesn’t have t he same build but should be able to average double figures.
Its hard to say we will be better without the best isolation scorer in the country, and if not the best the most depended on which is more of a reflection of us than it is him. One of my buddies has always said that whenever we have an unexpected departure somebody always steps up. More than likely I see that coming from Cat or Terry than anyone but I’m not sold that Abu, Freeman, or Anya as much as like what they bring defensively, can help us bridge the scoring gap much. Thus if we see any kind of… Read more »
Good Article. I like the idea of small ball. We should be really good next year.