1. Now you see him and maybe now you don’t.
That seems to be the theme of Bronx (N.Y.) Our Saviour Lutheran senior point guard Ty-Laur Johnson. Everything seemingly went perfect with Johnson after he officially visited NC State on Oct. 7-9, but he also doesn’t do much media either.
What has emerged since then is that a crucial person in Johnson’s inner circle wants him to take a long hard look at Memphis. So, he’s officially visiting the Tigers this weekend, who have one senior wing commit.
Johnson played with the New York Rens, the same traveling team that former Wolfpack signee Jalen Lecque played for. The Rivals.com top 60 prospect is the ideal Kevin Keatts point guard — a score-first, ball dominant and pick-and-roll type.
Memphis had hired Andy Borman from the Rens on Sept. 6. Norman played at Duke and is former coach Mike Krzyzewski’s nephew — Borman’s mom is the sister of Mickie Krzyzewski.
Since Sept. 6, the question always looming was “Does Memphis want him?” Now, they seemingly do and that doesn’t bode well for NC State, Pittsburgh, Ole Miss or Fordham.
Where does NC State go from here at point guard? It looks like a waiting game unless a junior college target catches the staff’s eye. The portal loomed large anyway, and sophomore Breon Pass and freshman point guard L.J. Thomas have a season to prove themselves at the spot.
NC State will still try to battle for Johnson and hope that he has final say on his college decision, but the waiting game has begun.
2. NC State’s other main recruiting priority of the fall has been Dennis Parker of Richmond (N.C.) John Marshall.
Parker will announce Oct. 26, which will give his college choice plenty of time to try and convince him to sign in November. However, the current plan is to commit and then sign in April.
NC State, Georgetown and Oklahoma State are the three finalists. That would be three coaches with different backgrounds among Keatts, Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing and Oklahoma State’s Kenny Boynton.
Parker could fill the Torin Dorn role of being a combo forward who can do a little bit of everything, but his calling card would be defense. He’s athletic, solidly built at about 6-5, 6-6 and can finish in the open floor. His jumper needs work, but most players improve their shooting over time.
Parker’s prep coach, Ty White, runs Team Loaded, which has sent Thomas, Dorn, Dennis Smith Jr., Caleb Martin, Cody Martin and Tyler Lewis to NC State. Shaun Kirk and Braxton Beverly both played for Team Loaded for a short stretch, and so did Manny Bates and Shakeel Moore when they were younger.
3. Barring a surprise, it looks like Ty-Laur Johnson will be NC State’s last official visitor this fall in hoops recruiting.
NC State is going to need to be tight with official visits in the future, unless the NCAA changes the rules. It doesn’t look like either center Braden Pierce of Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy or point guard AJ Johnson of Simi Valley (Calif.) Donda Academy will be visiting this fall.
But there could be an unofficial visitor on the horizon — Treymane Parker. Nothing is set in stone with Parker, but NC State has home football games Oct. 27, Nov. 5 and Nov. 12. The only thing predictable about Parker is that he’s unpredictable.
As I’ve written many times in the past, don’t let the lack of offers or his lack of national ranking fool you on the pure talent. He just badly needs stability and coaching to bring it out.
The Fayetteville, N.C., native, who is the half-brother of former Tennessee/North Carolina A&T shooting guard Kwe Parker, has been bouncing around from school-to-school, and now is with Overtime Elite in Atlanta. Ten years ago, there’s probably little chance he qualifies academically, but the NCAA has severely lowered the standards post-COVID era.
