NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — NC State’s pursuit of guards continue with another high-end prospect setting his official visit to the Wolfpack.
NC State offered La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere senior guard Darius Adams on June 10, and about five weeks later have locked in an official visit. The 6-foot-4, 185-pound Adams will officially visit Raleigh on Sept. 6-8, which is the weekend of the Tennessee and NCSU football game in Charlotte, N.C. It is also the first of six planned visits Adams wants to take, though history shows few recruits take that many. He also plans to see in September and early October the following colleges — Tennessee, Michigan State, Alabama, Connecticut and Notre Dame, so a few heavy hitters mixed in. It was clear at the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League in Westfield, Ind., that the Spartans had made him a top priority with coach Tom Izzo and staff following him with PSA Cardinals, which is a New York City-based program.
Adams first got on the scene at the CP3 Rising Stars Camp in the Triad area. It was the summer going into his freshman year, and a recruiting guru mentioned how he was really impressed by him. I then watched him and he did very little, as happens sometimes, but I kept his name in my head for the future. College offered him in the spring of 2022, so he’s been at the recruiting game a while, but none of the schools that offered him before July 9, 2023 (10 of them), are still on his list, so it isn’t always where you start.
Adams started off at Manasquan High in New Jersey his first two years, and he’s always been with PSA Cardinals. His older sister is Destiny Adams, who was a McDonald’s All-American and went to North Carolina before transferring to Rutgers. Destiny Adams is really good friends with NC State sophomore point guard Zoe Brooks. The Adams’ father helped start the Jersey Warriors traveling team program.
What Adams does well is shoot the basketball. He’s smart, efficient and can shoot spotting up or off of screens. He’s not what I call a “combine type” meaning he wouldn’t wow in the 40-yard dash or the vertical jump to borrow a football analogy, which is why his current ranking of No. 15 in the country by Rivals.com could end up lower as other players with higher upsides pass him by. However, his outside shooting makes him different than other senior guards such as Bryce Heard, Isaiah Denis or Davion Hannah. Senior wing commit Ricardo Greer Jr. can also shoot the basketball. Senior point guard or combo guard Kaden Magwood is in a category of his own because of his electricity.
I was able to film Adams twice with PSA Cardinals, including at Peach Jam. He went 7 of 12 for 17 points and two assists in a 68-52 loss to the New York Rens. He went 1 of 4 on three-pointers.
In mid-May, I watched him against Oklahoma-based Team Griffin and he went 4 of 9 from the field, 2 of 6 on three-pointers and had 12 points in a 90-50 win. Solid numbers, but maybe not five-star worthy numbers.
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I’ve seen a lot of Zymicah Wilkins over the years in traveling team basketball, camps and prep games.
Thursday is the last time I’ll see him in a Team United jersey and it looked like he was going to have a big game, but he ran into a buzz saw of a team in Expressions Elite of Massachusetts.
Wilkins started the game with two quick baskets, and then it got hard. He had trouble against he length and athleticism of Expressions Elite and was missing shots inside. Typically it would go like this … get the shot off, miss, get it back and then miss again. So it led to him going 4 of 14 from the field, he missed both 3-point attempts and went 1 of 5 from the free-throw line for nine points in a 78-61 loss. He added six rebounds and two assists. Syracuse-bound senior power forward Sadiq White had 17 points and was the lone Team United player in double figures. White is expected to attend IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
The star of the game was senior wing Dwayne Aristode, who had 18 points, six rebounds and three three-pointers in the win. He attends Brewster Academy, which NC State has a past history with, and is a terrific 6-6 athletic wing. Expressions Elite has three high-level wings and Marquette-bound point guard Nigel James, and are one of the better teams in the EYBL.
NC State hasn’t targeted many prep big men, so that makes Wilkins a premium target. He keeps picking up offers and has been stated in the past, he has only unofficially visited NC State. Most players embrace the recruiting process but Wilkins is a little different. It will be interesting to see what schools he officially visits because for him, that really will be everything.
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Team United 15s also had a tough loss Thursday, in a close one to Team Final, who had a pair of terrific class of 2027 guards. In particular, Tyler Sutton of The George School in Newtown, Pa., is everything coach Kevin Keatts would want in a point guard.
Team United 15s is loaded on paper, but something just isn’t clicking for them. They lost to Team Final 62-60, and also lost this Friday morning to a quality WhyNot squad 54-51.
The big three of sophomore shooting guard King Gibson, sophomore forward Clarence Rosser Jr. and sophomore center Charles Pur, didn’t mesh. Gibson has just joined his old team and went 5 of 14 from the field and 0 of 5 on three-pointers for 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.
One NBA scout told me Rosser could be No. 1 in the class of 2027, but he wasn’t assertive and went 2 of 6 for six points and one rebound. Pur is an upside guy and had eight points and nine rebounds and his teammates could look for the 6-9 native of France more.
Sutton had 25 points and went 3 of 4 on three-pointers, and fellow sophomore guard Mekhi Robertson had 20 points and three three-pointers and that was the difference.
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For a followup on NC State’s offer to talented junior J.J. Andrews of Little Rock, Ark., NC State assistant coach Dwayne Dixon apparently knows Andrews’ grandfather well, who lives in Salisbury, N.C. Andrews’ dad and uncle were both NFL offensive lineman, but J.J. Andrews is a sleek small forward prospect, who is ranked No. 21 by Rivals.com in the class of 2026.
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Some of the faces in the crowd at Nike Peach Jam included Ja Morant, Paul George, Theo Pinson and Carmelo Anthony. Anthony’s son Kiyan is a talented senior guard for Team Melo, and George has a California-based traveling team.
Some other NBA tie-ins…
PSA Cardinals 16s has junior power forwards Adonis Ratliff and Darius Ratliff, the twin sons of ex-NBA center Theo Ratliff. They also have junior power forward Julius Avent, whose father is Anthony Avent. Add in Jayden Hodge, who father Odell Hodge didn’t make the NBA but was a star at Old Dominion and played overseas, and the Cardinals are in contention to win the title.
On the football side, if NC State offered Cornelius Ingram II of Hawthorne (Fla.) High at small forward, that would be a no-brainer. Ingram was slated to be a two-sport star just like his dad, but has now decided to just concentrate on basketball and he looks like a top 50-75 player. His father was a gifted quarterback/wing in the class of 2004, went to Florida and switched to tight end and made the NFL. UF had Chris Leak, Tim Tebow and Cam Newton at quarterback during his time with the Gators, hence the position switch.
Former NBA players Matt Barnes and Eddie House both have twin sons coming up that are guards. Barnes is coaching his sons on Paul George 16s.
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Some of the games will be on NBA TV this weekend and some will be on the NBA app.
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