1. NC State is hosting Winthrop center D.J. Burns until either Saturday night or Sunday morning, depending on if his official visit technically started Friday or not. He did arrive into Raleigh on Thursday night.
Burns attended York Prep in Rock Hill, S.C., and was a stereotypical plan B kind of big man coming out of high school. He signed with Tennessee and redshirted his freshman year, but it fell apart and he transferred back home to Winthrop. He has been a consistent player for the Eagles, in that you know exactly what to expect at him on that level.
Burns has been a double-digit scorer all three years, never grabbed more than 4.5 rebounds a contest and has 47 career blocks in 90 games. He also has never averaged more than 20.9 minutes per game.
My understanding is that Burns has yet to be officially offered and that this weekend will be crucial in the “speed dating game.” Utah center transfer Dusan Mahorcic kind of went through the same process. The difference with Mahorcic is one source thought coach Kevin Keatts was able to get some time with his mentor from Serbia while at the adidas event in Spartanburg, S.C. Mahorcic’s mentor was in town and got to watch Andrej Stojakovic, the son of Peja Stojakovic.
I picked the Winthrop at South Carolina-Upstate game Jan. 26 to watch this week for a variety of reasons. Burns went 12 of 18 for 27 points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes during a 95-91 overtime win. It proved to be one of seven contests where he scored at least 20 points. It also featured South Carolina-Upstate senior small forward Bryson Mozone and freshman wing Jordan Gainey, the son of former NCSU point guard Justin Gainey, who is now a Tennessee assistant.
Burn didn’t start and came in with about 10-11 minutes left in the first half. After about four minutes, it was easy to see the concerns and the positives.
The positives are easy to spot — he’s got a great touch around the basic. He’s a bucket in the post against smaller undersized teams like the Eagles, whose post player looked to be about 6-7. From about 12 feet and in, he’s got great touch and understands offensive basketball. He can pass out of the double team and he has a 60 percent percentage from the field. For 5-10 minutes at a time, NC State could play inside-out and dump the ball inside to him on the block.
The question is do the positives outweigh the negatives, with no pun intended on the weight part. He’s listed at 6-foot-9 and 275 pounds and it great affects him on the defensive end. He doesn’t move well, isn’t a shot-blocker and he would have a tough time playing against teams that play an up-and-down game or have a skilled center like say P.J. Hall of Clemson. How would he hold up in pick-and-roll defense?
That means it would truly be center by committee with Mahorcic and Ebenezer Dowuona. Burns would be good against Boston College or Georgia Tech for instance.
NC State strength and conditioning coach Pat Murphy would have a challenge on his hands. He has been tasked with building up bodies the last few years with NC State’s post players coming in on the skinny side — Manny Bates, Dowuona, Jaylon Gibson and Ernest Ross for example.
They aren’t similar as players, but the two players who have battled weight issues like Burns has are BeeJay Anya and Richard Howell. Anya got over 350 pounds and never did win his battle of the bulk while at NC State. Howell went up to 270-plus pounds his sophomore year and former coach Mark Gottfried remarked that he wasn’t sure if Howell could make it through a practice after he arrived. Howell went home to the Atlanta area that summer and ended up losing at least 30 pounds and that proved to be a game-changer that summer.
If Burns ends up at a high-major college, getting in better shape will help him defensively, avoid fouls and be on the court longer. The longest stint he had last year was 27 minutes. He also had 12 games with at least four fouls and he fouled out in five contests.
Mozone has a big strong body at a listed 6-6 and 205 pounds, and his jumper wasn’t on that particularly game. The debate going on in my head was could he play small ball power forward at times? He’s not explosive or quick and that would hurt him trying to keep up with some wings, who are essentially playing the three.
Mozone averaged 15.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He grabbed at least seven rebounds in 10 games, which shows he could maybe play some small ball four. He shot 38.6 percent from three-point land. Mozone would likely be that off the bench guy who plays maybe 15 minutes a game.
It would somewhat similar role that Eric Lockett had after he arrived from Florida International in 2018-19, but the one difference between the two is Mozone is a superior outside shooter. Lockett played 20-plus minutes in seven of 25 games that season for the Wolfpack and averaged 15.5 minutes a contest.
Other portal names that have been bandied about but still in its infancy include Purdue shooting guard Eric Hunter and Holy Cross/Illinois small ball power forward Jacob Grandison. The latter has started 90 games and has averaged 9.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Hunter has started 73 games and played in 128, and has averaged 6.6 points per game in his career.
Former Boston College/Maryland/Western Kentucky small ball power forward Jairus Hamilton of Concord (N.C.) Cannon School is also still in the portal.
Burns attended York Prep in Rock Hill, S.C., and was a stereotypical plan B kind of big man coming out of high school. He signed with Tennessee and redshirted his freshman year, but it fell apart and he transferred back home to Winthrop. He has been a consistent player for the Eagles, in that you know exactly what to expect at him on that level.
Burns has been a double-digit scorer all three years, never grabbed more than 4.5 rebounds a contest and has 47 career blocks in 90 games. He also has never averaged more than 20.9 minutes per game.
My understanding is that Burns has yet to be officially offered and that this weekend will be crucial in the “speed dating game.” Utah center transfer Dusan Mahorcic kind of went through the same process. The difference with Mahorcic is one source thought coach Kevin Keatts was able to get some time with his mentor from Serbia while at the adidas event in Spartanburg, S.C. Mahorcic’s mentor was in town and got to watch Andrej Stojakovic, the son of Peja Stojakovic.
I picked the Winthrop at South Carolina-Upstate game Jan. 26 to watch this week for a variety of reasons. Burns went 12 of 18 for 27 points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes during a 95-91 overtime win. It proved to be one of seven contests where he scored at least 20 points. It also featured South Carolina-Upstate senior small forward Bryson Mozone and freshman wing Jordan Gainey, the son of former NCSU point guard Justin Gainey, who is now a Tennessee assistant.
Burn didn’t start and came in with about 10-11 minutes left in the first half. After about four minutes, it was easy to see the concerns and the positives.
The positives are easy to spot — he’s got a great touch around the basic. He’s a bucket in the post against smaller undersized teams like the Eagles, whose post player looked to be about 6-7. From about 12 feet and in, he’s got great touch and understands offensive basketball. He can pass out of the double team and he has a 60 percent percentage from the field. For 5-10 minutes at a time, NC State could play inside-out and dump the ball inside to him on the block.
The question is do the positives outweigh the negatives, with no pun intended on the weight part. He’s listed at 6-foot-9 and 275 pounds and it great affects him on the defensive end. He doesn’t move well, isn’t a shot-blocker and he would have a tough time playing against teams that play an up-and-down game or have a skilled center like say P.J. Hall of Clemson. How would he hold up in pick-and-roll defense?
That means it would truly be center by committee with Mahorcic and Ebenezer Dowuona. Burns would be good against Boston College or Georgia Tech for instance.
NC State strength and conditioning coach Pat Murphy would have a challenge on his hands. He has been tasked with building up bodies the last few years with NC State’s post players coming in on the skinny side — Manny Bates, Dowuona, Jaylon Gibson and Ernest Ross for example.
They aren’t similar as players, but the two players who have battled weight issues like Burns has are BeeJay Anya and Richard Howell. Anya got over 350 pounds and never did win his battle of the bulk while at NC State. Howell went up to 270-plus pounds his sophomore year and former coach Mark Gottfried remarked that he wasn’t sure if Howell could make it through a practice after he arrived. Howell went home to the Atlanta area that summer and ended up losing at least 30 pounds and that proved to be a game-changer that summer.
If Burns ends up at a high-major college, getting in better shape will help him defensively, avoid fouls and be on the court longer. The longest stint he had last year was 27 minutes. He also had 12 games with at least four fouls and he fouled out in five contests.
Mozone has a big strong body at a listed 6-6 and 205 pounds, and his jumper wasn’t on that particularly game. The debate going on in my head was could he play small ball power forward at times? He’s not explosive or quick and that would hurt him trying to keep up with some wings, who are essentially playing the three.
Mozone averaged 15.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He grabbed at least seven rebounds in 10 games, which shows he could maybe play some small ball four. He shot 38.6 percent from three-point land. Mozone would likely be that off the bench guy who plays maybe 15 minutes a game.
It would somewhat similar role that Eric Lockett had after he arrived from Florida International in 2018-19, but the one difference between the two is Mozone is a superior outside shooter. Lockett played 20-plus minutes in seven of 25 games that season for the Wolfpack and averaged 15.5 minutes a contest.
Other portal names that have been bandied about but still in its infancy include Purdue shooting guard Eric Hunter and Holy Cross/Illinois small ball power forward Jacob Grandison. The latter has started 90 games and has averaged 9.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Hunter has started 73 games and played in 128, and has averaged 6.6 points per game in his career.
Former Boston College/Maryland/Western Kentucky small ball power forward Jairus Hamilton of Concord (N.C.) Cannon School is also still in the portal.
