NC State targets that I watched:
Class of 2026:
Deron Rippey Jr.
Rippey is fresh off of playing with an Adidas team in Treviso, Italy, and he had plenty in the tank. He scored 28 points in a spirited battle against top 10 caliber senior shooting guard Dylan Mingo, who had 29 pointsin a win.
Rippey went 9 of 18 from the field, 3 of 8 on three-pointers and 7 of 10 at the free-throw line. He added seven assists, three rebounds and three steals and played 32 of 40 minutes. NC State just offered him, and the New York City native, who plays at Blair Academy in New Jersey, is similar in some ways to former Syracuse standout Jonny Flynn.
Cole Cloer
Cloer showed flashes en route to 11 points, but he didn’t shoot well from deep. He was 4 of 11 from the field and 1 of 6 on three-pointers. He has set up an official visit for Florida, and Tennessee is pushing him to attend the Georgia at UT football game in Sept. He added four steals and two rebounds. Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy could be a destination for his senior year.
Markus Kerr
The wing was a late addition to camp, and the Charlotte Chambers standout chipped in 11 points in 18 minutes. He went 3 of 6 from the field and 5 of 6 at the free-throw line. He’s young for his grade and some rumors have popped up of him going to an out of state private school and reclassing to 2027. In his second game, he had 13 points and went 4 of 8 from the field and 4 of 5 on at the line. He added four rebounds and a steal. Kerr hasn't been offered by NC State.
Tarris Bouie
Bouie showed flashes with 10 points and went 4 of 6 from the field and 2 of 3 at the free-throw line. Bouie, who went to Charlotte Chambers for three years, is now going to SPIRE Institute in Cleveland, Ohio. He’s a gifted athlete and a slender wing, who hasn't been offered by NC State yet.
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Class of 2027:
Joshua Leonard
NC State just offered Leonard and his calling card is to fill up the stat sheet across the board. He had six points and six rebounds and went 3 of 4 from the field. Leonard is a blender or glue guy who makes his teammates better.
L.J. Smith
Smith was relatively quiet, which was interesting because he never hesitates to create offense normally. He went 2 of 6 from the field and had six points and two assists.
King Gibson
Gibson played with Smith and took what the defense game him and had 11 points in 23 minutes. Gibson went 5 of 6 from the field and is fresh off of getting an NC State offer.
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Top six players that I saw:
• Deron Rippey Jr., see above.
• Dylan Mingo, the senior plays a complete all-around game en route to 29 points.
• Taylen Kinney, complete package at point guard in the class of 2026, and had 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
• J.J. Andrews (Arkansas commit), former NC State class of 2026 target can slash to the rim at small forward and had 32 points.
• Marcus Johnson (Ohio State commit), a senior scoring lead guard, who had 24 points in his second game, bouncing back from an average first contest.
• Abdul Aziz Olajuwan, who is Hakeem’s son in the class of 2026 and a smooth wing, who had 29 points and four three-pointers.
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News and notes
It looks like former NC State assistant coach Brett Nelson got hired as an assistant coach at VCU. I'm not sure if Louisville women's basketball has announced the hiring of NC State assistant coach Brittany Morris, but she has changed up her Twitter page.
I'll seen senior wing Qayden Samuels on Thursday, but he erupted for 32 points on Wednesday. He is the younger brother of new NC State wing Qaydence Samuels, who has transferred to the women's basketball program at NC State.
NCSU general manager Andrew Slater seemed to be the only Wolfpack representative at the event in Rock Hill, S.C. Making it easier for college coaches, for the first time the NBPA Camp will now be in Synergy, which is a video platform that hoops in every realm possible.
NC State senior power forward target Latrell Almond had a big game and finished with 24 points to start the camp. He was also on the adidas squad that played in Italy.
Former Wake Forest standout Josh Howard's son, senior wing Bryson Howard of Frisco (Texas) Heritage, is going to be a coveted recruit.
The NBPA Camp has gone from Princeton to University of Virginia to Disney Wold and now Rock Hill, S.C. For the future, they will need to figure out how to use the space better, with the coaches bunched up and standing off the court in a contained area. They didn't use the Arena court maybe in theory because coaches wanted to see two games at once. But day one was awkward on many levels.
