The Run Down The Run Down (Sept. 23)
- By Jacey Zembal
- Hands in the Dirt
- 11 Replies
1. Two NC State basketball targets are making their recruiting decisions Saturday, with one having some drama to it and the other likely won’t.
I’ll start with the one that seems most likely to be another college. NC State offered Santa Clarita (Calif.) Southern California Academy senior shooting guard Braelon Green on July 26, and he immediately talked about visiting NC State. The visit was supposed to happen last week, but the Michigan native canceled the trip. He still has come out with a final three of NC State, Arizona State and Nebraska.
Green, who Rivals.com has ranked No. 65 overall in the country, has only been to Arizona State. He also was at Dream City Christian in Glendale, Ariz., last year, which is the former school of ex-NC State signee Shawn Phillips, who ended up at LSU.
Now, the Davin Cosby recruitment has been a little bit more Wolfpack friendly. The Richmond, Va., native, who is now at Raleigh Word of God, is fresh off his NC State official visit. The Rivals.com No. 84-ranked prospect also has Alabama, Wake Forest and Virginia, in his Final Four.
There have been two major train of thoughts with Cosby, with one of them being he’s down to NC State and Alabama. The other thought process is that the decision was really Alabama or Tennessee, though one source knows the Volunteers weren’t overly in the mix anymore prior to his NC State official visit.
Either way, Alabama seems to be the main competition. That would mean two former Buffalo assistant coaches and co-worker would be going at it — Alabama head coach Nate Oats and NC State assistant coach Levi Watkins.
Two areas that Alabama could have the edge, the Crimson Tide were Cosby’s first high-major offer and have been aggressive at every opportunity since early July. Alabama also has the perception of having a good NIL situation for its basketball recruits.
In terms of Alabama’s roster, freshman Rylan Griffen, a former NC State target, well-traveled sophomore transfer Nimari Burnett and junior Darius Miles, are the three wings who have eligibility remaining.
What are NC State advantages? Wide-open playing time, closer to his hometown of Richmond and he likes Raleigh and the Wolfpack have been emphasizing to him look at the offensive freedom that wing Terquavion Smith received as a freshman. Another aspect is that Cosby played for Team Loaded VA, and NC State’s history with that adidas-sponsored traveling team program is extensive.
Going into Cosby’s 4 p.m. announcement, I’d give a slight edge to Alabama, but NC State insiders wouldn’t be shocked if made a surprise announcement. He’s very close to his family and both his older brothers played basketball — at Shaw and Virginia Union — but it’s been clear that Cosby calls the shots and he’s a terrific and polished communicator, with the gift of making every school feel good about things.
2. Lets talk about visits.
As mentioned before, Green didn’t go through with his visit, and that could be a good thing for NC State. Fresno, Calif., point guard target A.J. Johnson of Donda Academy in Simi Valley, Calif., who is ranked No. 9 overall in the country by Rivals.com in the class of 2023, has postponed his official visit this weekend.
You know how the NCAA has rules and then changes happen and coaches have to scramble for rules that kind of “aged out?” Colleges across the country are going through something like that in a low-key manner.
The rule is that college basketball teams get 28 official visits in a two-year span that ends Aug. 2023. That seems plenty right? Well, it did. Say you want to average 14 trips each year, that still seems plenty? Well it did.
Official visits are fun and it’s a big deal whenever the Wolfpack get a player on campus. It also stings when NC State doesn’t get a commitment because here is what is happening.
• NC State had official visitors just this past spring to get players in the transfer market. The four transfers committed, but then Cedric Henderson Jr. (Arizona), Desi Rodriguez (UNLV), Landers Nolley (Cincinnati) and Bryson Mozone (Georgetown).
• Freshman point guard L.J. Thomas never did take an official visit, and that is a good thing. Neither did power forward commit Mady Traore.
• Unsigned seniors Cosby, Dennis Parker and Silas Demary Jr. have both taken official visits this fall.
So simply since last April, the Wolfpack have had 11 official visitors, with the hopes of bringing in Johnson and Bradenton (Fla.) IMG post-graduate center Braden Pierce in the future. Add in Robert Dillingham (Kentucky), Jett Howard (Michigan) and the aforementioned Phillips, and the visits start to add up.
Now, will Johnson ever get on campus? One source close to Johnson called Texas and Louisville the co-leaders, with LSU third and the G-League looming.
So why is the rule antiquated now? When the 28-visit rule was created, the transfer portal and junior official visits weren’t a factor like it is now.
The reality is that NC State will need plenty of official visits this spring. At the moment, the Wolfpack have at least five scholarships to use, but that includes Terquavion Smith, Jack Clark and D.J. Burns all returning, plus no other attrition.
Having 8-10 official visits this spring appears to be pretty pertinent at the moment. Those visits could be so needed that it might be a reality that only one super special class of 2024 prospect (perhaps Paul McNeil) could end up getting invited for an official visit. That bears watching coming up too.
3. The Wolfpack Central’s working theory is that Demary has been hunting for new options, and a big one came this week.
Indiana assistant coach Kenya Hunter watched Demary at Lincolnton (N.C.) Combine Academy this week, and the Hoosiers offered him. Hunter is NC State’s former director of operations. Alabama is his other new scholarship offer.
Demary has also signed with agent Nathan Conley of The Familie sports agency, and Conley is the agent is the agent who signed former NC State signee Josh Hall, who bypassed college. Now, Demary, who is draft eligible, but doesn’t have that type of preps to pros upside, so that is not a worry.
However, it does create an interesting subplot where Keatts and Conley have an interesting past history due to Hall, and now will be navigating the Demary recruitment.
Another interesting aspect of Demary’s past week was that Kansas came to Combine Academy and offered junior wing Rakease Passmore and haven’t offered Demary yet.
Parker does not seem to be in add offers mode, but an opportunity did spring up this week. He’ll be at Missouri this weekend, which is a mild surprise. The Tigers had never really been mentioned before.
Locking in Demary and Parker by say late January or earlier takes on even more importance because it takes the pressure off from revamping the majority of the roster next April.
I’ll start with the one that seems most likely to be another college. NC State offered Santa Clarita (Calif.) Southern California Academy senior shooting guard Braelon Green on July 26, and he immediately talked about visiting NC State. The visit was supposed to happen last week, but the Michigan native canceled the trip. He still has come out with a final three of NC State, Arizona State and Nebraska.
Green, who Rivals.com has ranked No. 65 overall in the country, has only been to Arizona State. He also was at Dream City Christian in Glendale, Ariz., last year, which is the former school of ex-NC State signee Shawn Phillips, who ended up at LSU.
Now, the Davin Cosby recruitment has been a little bit more Wolfpack friendly. The Richmond, Va., native, who is now at Raleigh Word of God, is fresh off his NC State official visit. The Rivals.com No. 84-ranked prospect also has Alabama, Wake Forest and Virginia, in his Final Four.
There have been two major train of thoughts with Cosby, with one of them being he’s down to NC State and Alabama. The other thought process is that the decision was really Alabama or Tennessee, though one source knows the Volunteers weren’t overly in the mix anymore prior to his NC State official visit.
Either way, Alabama seems to be the main competition. That would mean two former Buffalo assistant coaches and co-worker would be going at it — Alabama head coach Nate Oats and NC State assistant coach Levi Watkins.
Two areas that Alabama could have the edge, the Crimson Tide were Cosby’s first high-major offer and have been aggressive at every opportunity since early July. Alabama also has the perception of having a good NIL situation for its basketball recruits.
In terms of Alabama’s roster, freshman Rylan Griffen, a former NC State target, well-traveled sophomore transfer Nimari Burnett and junior Darius Miles, are the three wings who have eligibility remaining.
What are NC State advantages? Wide-open playing time, closer to his hometown of Richmond and he likes Raleigh and the Wolfpack have been emphasizing to him look at the offensive freedom that wing Terquavion Smith received as a freshman. Another aspect is that Cosby played for Team Loaded VA, and NC State’s history with that adidas-sponsored traveling team program is extensive.
Going into Cosby’s 4 p.m. announcement, I’d give a slight edge to Alabama, but NC State insiders wouldn’t be shocked if made a surprise announcement. He’s very close to his family and both his older brothers played basketball — at Shaw and Virginia Union — but it’s been clear that Cosby calls the shots and he’s a terrific and polished communicator, with the gift of making every school feel good about things.
2. Lets talk about visits.
As mentioned before, Green didn’t go through with his visit, and that could be a good thing for NC State. Fresno, Calif., point guard target A.J. Johnson of Donda Academy in Simi Valley, Calif., who is ranked No. 9 overall in the country by Rivals.com in the class of 2023, has postponed his official visit this weekend.
You know how the NCAA has rules and then changes happen and coaches have to scramble for rules that kind of “aged out?” Colleges across the country are going through something like that in a low-key manner.
The rule is that college basketball teams get 28 official visits in a two-year span that ends Aug. 2023. That seems plenty right? Well, it did. Say you want to average 14 trips each year, that still seems plenty? Well it did.
Official visits are fun and it’s a big deal whenever the Wolfpack get a player on campus. It also stings when NC State doesn’t get a commitment because here is what is happening.
• NC State had official visitors just this past spring to get players in the transfer market. The four transfers committed, but then Cedric Henderson Jr. (Arizona), Desi Rodriguez (UNLV), Landers Nolley (Cincinnati) and Bryson Mozone (Georgetown).
• Freshman point guard L.J. Thomas never did take an official visit, and that is a good thing. Neither did power forward commit Mady Traore.
• Unsigned seniors Cosby, Dennis Parker and Silas Demary Jr. have both taken official visits this fall.
So simply since last April, the Wolfpack have had 11 official visitors, with the hopes of bringing in Johnson and Bradenton (Fla.) IMG post-graduate center Braden Pierce in the future. Add in Robert Dillingham (Kentucky), Jett Howard (Michigan) and the aforementioned Phillips, and the visits start to add up.
Now, will Johnson ever get on campus? One source close to Johnson called Texas and Louisville the co-leaders, with LSU third and the G-League looming.
So why is the rule antiquated now? When the 28-visit rule was created, the transfer portal and junior official visits weren’t a factor like it is now.
The reality is that NC State will need plenty of official visits this spring. At the moment, the Wolfpack have at least five scholarships to use, but that includes Terquavion Smith, Jack Clark and D.J. Burns all returning, plus no other attrition.
Having 8-10 official visits this spring appears to be pretty pertinent at the moment. Those visits could be so needed that it might be a reality that only one super special class of 2024 prospect (perhaps Paul McNeil) could end up getting invited for an official visit. That bears watching coming up too.
3. The Wolfpack Central’s working theory is that Demary has been hunting for new options, and a big one came this week.
Indiana assistant coach Kenya Hunter watched Demary at Lincolnton (N.C.) Combine Academy this week, and the Hoosiers offered him. Hunter is NC State’s former director of operations. Alabama is his other new scholarship offer.
Demary has also signed with agent Nathan Conley of The Familie sports agency, and Conley is the agent is the agent who signed former NC State signee Josh Hall, who bypassed college. Now, Demary, who is draft eligible, but doesn’t have that type of preps to pros upside, so that is not a worry.
However, it does create an interesting subplot where Keatts and Conley have an interesting past history due to Hall, and now will be navigating the Demary recruitment.
Another interesting aspect of Demary’s past week was that Kansas came to Combine Academy and offered junior wing Rakease Passmore and haven’t offered Demary yet.
Parker does not seem to be in add offers mode, but an opportunity did spring up this week. He’ll be at Missouri this weekend, which is a mild surprise. The Tigers had never really been mentioned before.
Locking in Demary and Parker by say late January or earlier takes on even more importance because it takes the pressure off from revamping the majority of the roster next April.
