They may be on the verge of returning to national prominence. A sneaky 10 win season. No one nationally really talked about them this season, but they continue to improve on both sides of the ball and finished the season playing at a high level.

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Nate McCollum stats

Is this good enough? I could live with it if we could break through and win the ACC Championship every now and then.
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Every time I watch Syracuse play it gives me bad flashbacks to our defense's inability to limit their pedestrian offense led by one of the worst starting P5 QB in the country. Shrader just wound up and chucked it with all he had and the ball barely traveled 40 yards, was severely underthrown and picked off. He has skipped numerous balls to the outside that should have been easy completions. The fact that Anae was able to scheme this offense with Shrader at QB to get 4 ACC wins says something. Either that the ACC was really bad or that he did a hell of a job with limited personnel. Maybe a little of both. He may not have been near the top of my wish list for OCs, but if he can get production out of that Syracuse offense, I am encouraged about what he might be able to do with our guys.

Hi,

Please let me know if you have between 2-7 tix available for sale for the Mayo bowl. I need 7. May be able to purchase 5 in 318 if anyone has an additional 2 in that section. Thanks and Go Pack!

and GTHC!!!!

Anyone watching? Nice 3 and out on first possession.

Main event: Lincolnton (N.C.) Combine Academy played Napa (Calif.) Prolific Prep in an impressive semifinal matchup at the John Wall Holiday Invitational at Raleigh (N.C.) Broughton High. Between the two teams, it was probably a combined 12 future Division I players.

For NC State purposes, it was another look at junior wing Rakease Passmore of Combine Academy. He grew up in Jacksonville, Fla., area, and then made his way to Asheville, N.C., and played at Reynolds High. To think that a little over a year ago, Reynolds had a home-and-home with Rutherfordton-Spindale Central High and then freshman post player Zymicah Wilkins, and that was about it for future Division I players he faced last year.

Passmore had a few good blocks, but didn’t get comfortable in the up-and-down game. Auburn-bound Aden Holloway and Xavier signee Trey Green form an impressive prep backcourt for Prolific Prep. Passmore got challenged defensively in ways he wouldn’t normally against most teams.

Passmore went 4 of 12 from the field and 2 of 7 on three-pointers en route to 10 points, plus five rebounds and three assists in a 81-69 loss. He got the shots he wanted, but he didn’t have the hot hand.

There has been speculation that prospects like Passmore and UNC commit Drake Powell of Pittsboro (N.C.) Northwood could end up as five-star prospects at other outlets. That seems a bit premature at this point. The wing position, much like wide receiver in the class of 2024 in football recruiting in the state, is super deep. Figuring out a pecking order has been an on-going process.

One of those wings, junior Paul McNeil started the year at Prolific Prep and you could see he was the missing piece in its lineup. He returned home to Rockingham (N.C.) Richmond County a few weeks ago.

Holloway ended up with 24 points, nine rebounds and four three-pointers, and Green had 15 points. Some think both players were casualties of NC State targeting Robert Dillingham at the guard spot. Neither got offered by NC State in the class of 2023 recruiting cycle.

After Dillingham’s decommit, the attention turned to Raleigh Word of God senior combo guard Freddie Dilione, who eventually signed with Tennessee, and then Silas Demary Jr. of Combine Academy. Demary, who signed with USC, had 21 points and showcased his old-school crafty game against Prolific Prep.

The Undercard: Dilione and Word of God ended up rallying from being down double digits in the second quarter to pull away from Winston-Salem (N.C.) Christian.

The game proved more difficult for the Holy Rams after Dilione possibly cramped up a few times in the second half. That has been a recurring issue for him this season. He finished with 15 points.

Reclassed sophomore wing Zion Collins of Word of God had seven points in 16:32 off the bench before fouling out.

Junior combo guard Isaiah Washington continued his quality season. He’s the third perimeter player with Passmore and McNeil on Garner Road traveling team. Washington, who is from Fayetteville, N.C., and reclassed to 2024, had 21 points. He’s tracking as a potential Atlantic 10-level type of recruit.

Earlier in the day: I wasn’t in attendance, but Concord (N.C.) Cannon School jumped out to a 25-6 first-quarter lead against Wilson (N.C.) Greenfield School in a 85-51 win. Junior guard Austin Swartz had 16 points, 10 assists and went 4 of 5 on three-pointers in his march to add more high major offers.

Sophomore guard Isaiah Henry added 14 points and eight rebounds and made both of his three-pointers.

In the crowd: Former NC State star T.J. Warren was able to get back home to watch the John Wall Holiday Invitational. The Brooklyn Nets standout had just been to a NC State home game.

Warren first played in the then GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational his sophomore year with Durham Riverside High. The book on him at that point was that he was a jumbo small forward, who would get 15-18 points and could use a boost of assertiveness. The latter happened during the spring of his junior year playing for Word of God.

And the announcers said the majority of their players are back next season. They were pretty good this year and could be really good next year (assuming the announcers are right).

Red Raiders look pretty damn good against the Fight Lane. Up 20-7 and driving with 33 sec in the 1st half.

Main event: One of the sections of last week’s The Run Down was how Concord (N.C.) Cannon School junior guard Austin Swartz would do against a loaded Napa (Calif.) Prolific Prep.

NC State coach Kevin Keatts and assistant coaches Levi Watkins and Kareem Richardson also must have felt the same way. They came back to the John Wall Holiday Invitational for this particular game.

For one half, Swartz killed it with deep jumpers, a few drives and oodles of confidence. He had 19 points at halftime and kept Cannon School in the game.

Swartz cooled off in the second half to finish with 24 points. He needed 24 shots to do it, but it didn’t feel like he was shot-jacking in the 83-65 Prolific Prep win.

NC State never offered Charlotte guards Aden Holloway (Auburn signee) or Trey Green (Xavier), who form the backcourt for Prolific Prep. They are why it was big for Swartz and to a lessor extent sophomore guard Isaiah Henry to handle their business Wednesday. Green and Holloway combined for 40 points, 15 assists and eight three-pointers.

Should NC State throw the “O” for Swartz? Offering Swartz would be a good move. All those jumpers that current redshirt junior wing Casey Morsell is currently getting, Swartz would also knock down. He’s a gifted three-point shooter, and just needs to create space.

Henry also battled fiercely and had 22 points and nine rebounds. It’s the best I’ve seen him play. His recruitment will be interesting because he’s the younger brother of Clemson defensive end K.J. Henry and his father is a long-time college football assistant. Isaiah will probably have a text-book recruitment.

NC State’s top target in event plays well: Junior wing Rakease Passmore and Lincolnton (N.C.) Combine Academy rolled to an easy 81-42 win over Wilson (N.C.) Greenfield School.

Keatts, Watkins and Richardson arrived for that game, and then came back later to see Cannon School and Prolific Prep.

Passmore was efficient and didn’t try anything he wasn’t capable of doing. He shot the three-pointer well and had his one big dunk, which was an alley-oop. He finished 7 of 11 from the field and 2 of 4 on three-pointers for 16 points, plus five rebounds.

On the recruiting front, Passmore knows the Wolfpack were there from day one and he likes Keatts. However, his head is swimming with all these new schools and he wants to see as many as the “name” schools that he can. I think the Wolfpack are in good shape, as is Tennessee.

Like a lot of the games, this one featured ghosts of NC State recruiting past with senior point guard Silas Demary Jr. of Combine Academy, who picked NC State with VCU second and NC State third.

Turned free a bit: Raleigh Word of God reclassed sophomore wing Zion Collins didn’t get in when I watched the Holy Rams play in November.

The Durham, N.C., native who unofficially visited NC State this past summer, came off the bench for 19:05 and went 6 of 6 for 12 points in a 71-58 win over Raleigh Christian.

Collins is an elite athlete and mercurial on the court. He’s the classic recruit who could look like a top 50 recruit at times.

College of Charleston senior signee Mayar Wol had arguably the dunk of the day in the win, and finished with 18 points. Former target Freddie Dilione was steady with 15 points and seven assists, but fellow former target Davin Crosby struggle with six points. Dilione picked Tennessee and Crosby selected Alabama.

Chatter from Morganton, N.C.: Morganton (N.C.) Freedom had a top sophomores Zymicah Wilkins of Rutherfordton-Spindale Central High in Rutherfordton, N.C., and Amore Connelly of Freedom High played tonight, but not against each other.

Wilkins had 44 points in his game against West Caldwell, and Connelly had 24 points in his contest against Enka.

Joel Justus in Columbia, S.C.: NC State assistant coach Joel Justus was watching junior power forward Jarin Stevenson of Pittsboro (N.C.) Seaforth. NC State, North Carolina and Virginia have clearly worked the Stevenson recruitment harder than any schools the last two years. Rivals.com ranks Stevenson No. 20 overall in the class of 2024.

Declaring for NFL Draft

These announcers are awful. Particularly the play by play lady. Who are they?

State is done wrestling until the new year. We are 8-0 in dual matches with wins over Big Ten teams, #14 Nebraska 23-10, # 26 Illinois 27-12, and good teams like #17 Northern Iowa 27-12 and #22 Lehigh 24-10. We are ranked 3rd in the country for duals and either 7th or 8th for tournaments .

We have two matches 1/6/23 against Binghamton and 1/13/23 against Army before getting into the ACC dual matches: We kick off with the big one at Virginia Tech on 1/20/23. They are ranked behind us in dual matches but in front of us in tournament ranking. We have one dual match a week then the ACC tournament and then two weeks to get ready for the NCAA.

We are at Reynolds against Duke 1/27/23
Visit Virginia on 2-3-23
We are at Reynolds against Pitt on 2-10-23
We finish at UNC on 2-17-23

Last year we were one of three teams to qualify all 10 weight classes for the NCAA tournament. To score in the top five we need four or five weights to finish on the metal round and for Hidlay and one other to score high. That is a tall order for us.

125: We were counting on Camacho who is ranked 11th but injured. So far, Jarrett Trombley who was formally a starter at 133 until losing his slot to Kai Orine has cut weight to replace Camacho. He got off to a slow 0-3 start but has won his last 4 matches and is current unranked with a 7-5 record. He should be very competitive in second half of the year with no opponents ranked in the top twenty of the 125lb weight class. Trombley should qualify for the NCAA but his seeding will make it difficult in the first round.

133: Kai Orine is ranked 26th with a 6-4 record. He has two top 10 wrestlers, #10 VT Sam Latona and #9 Pitts Mikey Phillippi. He is 0-2 against Phillippi and has not faced Latona who has moved up from 125 this year. I think the ACC will get 3 automatic bids in the NCAA so Orine should qualify for the NCAA but his seeding should make it difficult in the first round.

141: Ryan Jack is ranked 6th with a 13-1 record. His only loss is a tight 5-4 loss to #3 ranked Brock Hardy from Nebraska in the Cliff Keen tournament. He beat Hardy earlier in the year in the dual meet 9-7. Pitts Cole Matthews is currently ranked #1. Last year Jack wrestle him well in close losses. I think Jack will qualify and breakthrough to make the metal round especially if he gets a good seeding.

149: It looks like super freshman Jackson Arrington has won the position. He is currently ranked 13th and has a record of 13-5. His losses are #5 ranked Appalachian’s John Millner ( twice) and # 6 ranked ASU’s Kyle Parco and # #8 Thomas Yahya from Northwestern. He also just dropped a one-point decision tonight to # 14 Colin Realbuto. He has wrestled tough competition and should fare well in the rest of the year. He has a marquee match up against VT Freshman Caleb Henson who 12-2 and currently ranked # 5 with a signature win over #3 Sammy Sasso of Ohio State. Four years of these to going at will be fun. I think Arrington will qualify for the NCAA and score a few points.

157: Ed Scott is currently ranked 9th with a 10-4 record, four by fall and three by Major decision. He has wrestled great competition losing to # 1 Peyton Rob and # 4 Josh Humphries. He has a signature win over # 10 Will Lewan from Michigan and was upset 4-1 early in the year by unranked Corbyn Munson of Central Michigan. The ACC is stacked at this weight class with VT # 2 ranked Bryce Antonian and # 3 former national champ UNC’s Auston O’Conner. Scott will qualify for the NCAA and is capable of making the metal round and if he catches fire finish high. If he wins the ACC they he will get a great seed in the tournament if he gets the third bid he will get a more difficult seed to get to the metal round..

165: matt Singleton just dropped down to this weight and is currently 1-1. He got a 10-1 decision over an unranked wrestler and then lost 5-2 to #13 ranked Austin Yank from Northern Iowa. 165 has two top twenty wrestlers at this weight class, # 11 Justin Mccoy from VA and # 20 Brady O’Connor. Connor has faced great competition so far this years, #1, # 2 and # 5 and kept the matches close. McCoy lost to the 32 ranked wrestler by decision. It is very hard to predict this weight, however the ACC is not strong at this weight. Singleton has very little Mat experience at 165 to predict however he looks good enough to one of the ACC automatic bids at this weight. To soon to tell how he should do

174: Alex Faison is 10-4 but not ranked in the top twenty. The ACC has former NCAA Champ Mekhi Lewis and # 9 Clay Lautt from UNC in this weight class. He is clearly the 3rd best in the ACC at this weight. If the ACC gets three automatic bids then he should make it to the NCAA but his seeding should make it tough in the first round. He will have to score some points in the wrestle back.


184: Trent Hidlay is 12-1 and ranked # 2 but just suffered a loss to # Parker Keckeisen who is ranked 3rd. He already has signature wins this year over #3 Keckeisen, # 5 OSU Romero, # 11 Michigan Finesilver, ( formally of Duke). The ACC has # 4 ranked Hunter Bolen from VT and # #16 Gavin Kane in his weigh class. Hidlay has eight wins by fall and 1 by MD. He should get an automatic bid and contend for the Championship.


197: Isaac Trumble is 12-1 and ranked 8th. He only loss is to Michael Beard from Northern Iowa who is ranked # 2. He has no signature wins but 5 wins by fall and 3 wins by MD. He will battle # 9 ranked Pitts Nino Bonaccorsi for the ACC. Bonaccorsi is 6-0 this year with a signature win of over # 2 Michael Beard of Northern Iowa who beat Trumble. Trumble is capable of beating anyone and is capable of losing to someone ranked below him. For us to finish high we need him to not only get into the metal round but finish high.

285: Owen Trephan is wrestling well 13-3 and is currently ranked 9th. He has wrestled stiff competition losing to # 1 Mason Paris of Michigan, # 8 Yaraslau Slavikouski of Harvard ( twice) and has two signature wins against # 7 Colton Schultz from ASU and # 15 Tyrell Gordon of Northern Iowa. He will be the favorite to win in the ACC. He is also capable of making the metal round especially if he gets a solid seed

The ACC will come down between us and VT: Here is a current preview:

VT will be heavily favored at 174 and we will heavily favored at 197

We will be favored at 141, 184 and 285 and they will be favored at 133. If we come out of these six matches 4-2 then the other four matches are really interesting and this match could go either way.

125 and 165 are toss ups. We might have the edge at 125 and they may have an edge at 167 which might change if Singleton continues to develop.

149 and 157 are Marquee matchups. 149 is our super Freshman Jackson currently ranked 13th against their higher ranked # 4 super Freshman Caleb Henson. Ed Scott is wrestling Bryce Andonian who moved up from 149 last year. Tarig Wilson beat Andonian several times last year but in 2021 Andonian decisioned Scott 9-5.

I think this will be televised on the ACC network.

Main event: NC State coach Kevin Keatts and assistant coach Kareem Richardson and Levi Watkins made sure to attend the Southern Durham (N.C.) High vs. Raleigh Millbrook High in the John Wall Holiday Invitational at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Raleigh Broughton High.

Sophomores Jackson Keith of Southern Durham and Colt Langdon of Millbrook have both unofficially visited NC State, and loom as potential class of 2025 priorities. They played together for Team Loaded VA 15s and won titles in Rock Hill, S.C., and the Los Angeles area last July. Both players are very different from each other with Keith more of a small forward and Langdon could be a small forward, but has the look of a stretch four in college.

Langdon came out hot during the first five minutes or so of the game, and Millbrook led 25-5. That was not expected. Keith was just so-so in the first half and had seven points at halftime.

Keith came out in the second half and was fired up. He started out posting smaller guards and got to the free-throw line with regularity after halftime. I knew he had a big third quarter, but he ended up with 25 of his 32 points in the second half. Keith is a solid athlete, but he beats opponents by being efficient and getting to his spots. I liked seeing him be so aggressive.

Langdon ended up with 16 points, and with him it really comes down to how well he’s shooting his lefty jumper. My guess is that Keith will end up being ranked higher than Langdon in the rankings down the road.

Nice touch: Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I liked that Keatts stayed to watch the Cary (N.C.) Panther Creek vs. Camden (N.J.) High game to close out the evening. Maybe he wanted a look at Camden junior wing Billy Richmond, who has some nice high-major offers, but I think Keatts just wanted to watch the game with Richardson, whose son Amari is a senior point guard for Panther Creek.

Amari Richardson will end up getting a scholarship somewhere I predict, but if he eded up at NC State, he’d be a solid super emergency backup point guard one day. He’s got some moxie to him and doesn’t make many mistakes.

Huge crowds: Broughton High was jam-packed by 6 p.m. and the crowd definitely wanted a look at Camden High, who put on quite a dunk show. It’s interesting how senior guard Dajuan Wagner Jr. has always had the target of being a top three player in the class of 2023, but it might be 7-foot teammate Aaron Bradshaw, who ends up being the higher future NBA Draft choice. Both are going to Kentucky and are ranked in probably everyone’s top 10, but Bradshaw showed a ton of down the road potential. Bradshaw finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds in a 67-48 win over Panther Creek.

Ladies first: The first game of the day was Bethel (N.C.) North Pitt High vs. Apex (N.C.) Friendship High at Cary Academy.

North Pitt features ESPN HoopGurlz No. 11-ranked junior point guard Zamareya Jones. NC State had offered her Aug. 3, 2021. Recruiting info on Jones has been scant, but it’s clear she likes NC State, Baylor, Clemson and a few others.

Jones basically had two games in one against Apex Friendship. She struggled in the first three quarters and was frustrated. Then in the fourth quarter she came alive and was relentless getting to the basket, mixing in some superb passes and she hit three three-pointers. Jones scored 19 of her 25 points in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore guard Jasmine Nivar had 20 points for Apex Friendship. If that last name is familiar, her older sister Indya Nivar picked Stanford over NC State in the class of 2022. She is averaging 3.3 points in 10.7 minutes per game with the Cardinal.

It’s too early to tell if Jasmine Nivar will be as good as her older sister, but she’s definitely a future Division I player.

Division I prospects galore: Winston-Salem (N.C.) Christian has at least five Division I players and The Burlington (N.C.) School features junior guard Zion Walker, who is definitely improved since last year.

The highest ranked player for W-S Christian is junior power forward Kany Tchanda, who arrived about 16-17 months ago from the Congo. He’ll be a solid developmental post player, who can run the floor well and is athletic. His body hasn’t changed much and he hasn’t expanded his perimeter game this season, so he’s still a work in progress.