A few players that NC State will give a good hard look at I'd think:

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Former NC State players Jaylon Gibson (UNCG) and Nick Farrar (UNC-Wilmington) are on the four schools plan.

Former North Carolina Central guard Justin Wright is back in the portal. He was at Loyola Marymount last year.

In the ACC, Syracuse lost sophomore Justin Taylor and the rumor is Quadir Copeland will join him, but he hasn't yet. Miami lost former NC State center target Michael Nwoka, sophomore power forward A.J. Casey and sophomore wing Christian Watson. Wake Forest lost small forward Damari Monsanto and guard Jao Ituka. Louisville lost freshmen Curtis Williams and Kaleb Glenn, plus a weird situation with Koron Davis.

My prediction is that even when the players are all entered in, that Michigan's Dug McDaniel and PSU's Kanye Clary will be among the top 7-8 point guards to go after. Both had discipline issues this season with McDaniel getting suspended due to academics and Clary got dismissed, possibly over a NIL dispute.

Some links of a national overview:

Top 12 players already in portal​

Top 10 players who entered portal March 18​

We obviously did a LOT of things much better than the regular season. As far as strategy, I thought the main difference was the ball pressure and not guarding past half court. I assume KK knew we couldn’t make it five games playing like that. It really cut down on the number of easy baskets we gave up and made teams work harder to score.

Anyone agree? Anything else you noticed?

Thursday:​

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Thursday-Friday:​

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Friday:​

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In Hubert Davis’ public press conference post-game, he made it his own point to state he thought there was too much emphasis on 5 games in 5 days, that players were conditioned and growing up they would play 3 games in a day.
Isn’t it a shame in entering the NCAA his team couldn’t entertain the opportunity to play 5 tournament games in 5 days. Wonder how he would feel about it then? He must have forgot the coaching protocol of.never diminishing the accomplishments of your opponent especially one that just convincingly whipped your teams ass. Dean Smuth would have never said that RW may. I haven’t thiught HD was a very good coach since he got the job at UNC .(no ACC championship) He inherited some really good players. Year before last when they went to the national championship game they had a very undervalued Brady Manek. He was the difference in their team 3 years ago and their team last year..
in the future if HD ever mentions the possibility of player fatigue or multiple games in few day, he needs to be reminded of this.
I saw a spirited , adrenaline filled State team that was well coached in managing their playing time defeat.a tiring frustrated UNC squad. Maybe HD was too!

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After last night, I have a strong feeling that things are finally coming together.
I'll say it--I think we go to Charlotte this year. Stars are lined up. Call me crazy.
(Didn't say win in Charlotte--said we'd get there).

The 2026 class ranking has been expanded from 100 players to a full Rivals250: https://n.rivals.com/prospect_rankings/rivals250/2026

Ten highest debuts: https://n.rivals.com/news/rivals-rankings-week-ten-highest-ranked-debuts-in-the-rivals250

Adam Gorney goes position-by-position: https://n.rivals.com/news/tuesdays-with-gorney-new-2026-rivals250-released

Strong is a introverted personality, so it may take some time, but NC State seems to be converging in getting the three-star standout.

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Bert Smith, Bill Covington and Lee Cassell the officials for NC State vs. UNC in the ACC Tournament title game.

Running box score and play-by-play.

With all the attention on basketball, I don't see anything on the Pack 9 at Georgia Tech.

It's 2-1 Wolfpack in the top of the 5th. 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd.

Give it up for S & C coach Pat Murphy!
5 games in 5 days I know coach Thunder gets well deserved credit, but you have be impressed on how the bb team stayed focused and played hard every game !!!
I am very proud of him !

The NCAA making so much money.
Joe Lunardi. Clothing, Toupee, fake algorithms
The overhyped Cinderella story.
Just a start. Add to it.

Is there any news on how the wide receiver room is developing? I can't remember when NC State has had, on paper, this much receiver talent. In addition to KC's return the portal and high school recruiting class has the potential that State can become Wide Receiver U.
Also, any new from the running back room, again, full of talent.

Several of my friends have been talking about how Wake Forest and NC State and how different individuals have viewed this season. Wake Forest had a devastating last-second loss to a overachieving Georgia Tech team, that despite not having a lot of talent, has managed to beat just about everybody in the ACC, though not NC State. Wake Forest is now 18-12 and 10-9 in the ACC but people generally think Wake Forest has had a nice year. Some of the losses in the non-conference didn't have center Efton Reid, but when they signed him, there was no guarantee Reid would play at all this season.

Obviously, NC State feels more gloomy with a 17-13 record and 9-10 in the ACC and the talk on whether coach Kevin Keatts will come back or not. Winning at Pittsburgh is not easy, even when the Panthers have sucked. Wake Forest is hosting Clemson and that isn't a gimme either. Maybe if Wake Forest has two games up on NC State after Saturday, the differences in vibes is justified.

I think both teams are more similar than anything and both are trying to do it through the portal, while wanting to play a fast style. It's easy to see how they split the season series and a third game in the ACC Tournament would be fun. But Wake Forest has people believing they are ascending, though that narrative might change if they end up in the NIT this season.

If star guard Hunter Sallis doesn't go pro, the Demon Deacons can run it all back this offseason. I believe power forward Andrew Carr has a COVID year, and they'd need to get maybe a center to push Reid and a shooter on the wing to rotate in.

Things that I ponder on a rain-soaked Wednesday in Raleigh.