We won’t beat around the bush with the first three items, all crucial decisions that affect NC State men’s basketball. We aren’t saying that Trevor Lacey won’t end up playing professional ball, but as of Friday morning, our best sources really don’t think he has turned in his NBA paper work yet, and after being back home for a bit, he was expected to take exams today (Friday).
It is a good example that even a player that was as beloved as Lacey was to the coaching staff, it’s still hard to get a read on what is exactly going on. So, there is some minor drama, at least, leading into Sunday evening or whenever is the deadline.
The staff obviously will be out in full force again this weekend for the second evaluation period.
Head coach Mark Gottfried and assistant coach Rob Moxley will likely spend the majority of their time in Indianapolis to be “seen” for adidas-sponsored recruits such as:
Junior point guard Dennis Smith Jr. and junior center Edrice Adebayo of Team Loaded NC.
Junior point guard Kobi Simmons and junior center James Banks of Atlanta Celtics.
Junior shooting guard Rawle Alkins (and possibly junior wing Mustapha Heron) of the New York Rens.
Junior small forward Maverick Rowan of Ohio Basketball Club.
Junior small forward Mario Keglar of MBA Hoops.
All but Kegler have been offered that we know of, and all are in the Rivals.com top 100 for the class of 2016. Dream Vision junior small forward Brendan Bailey, who is the son of Wolfpack legend Thurl Bailey, could also get a further evaluation.
We would have included Madison (Ala.) Academy junior wing Josh Langford of the Atlanta Celtics, but he might be injured and not playing this weekend in Indianapolis.
NC State assistant coach Orlando Early will be racking up the flying miles. He’ll see junior center Trevor Stanback of Pasadena (Calif.) Maranatha High, who unofficially visited NC State last June and is the son of a former UNC football player, Harry Stanback. Early will then spend Saturday and Sunday between adidas in Indianapolis and the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League in Lexington, Ky.
Assistant coach Bobby Lutz is likely to split time at Nike and also Under Armour in Louisville, Ky., which has junior shooting guard Markelle Fultz of Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic, among others.
These appear to be a good portion of the players the staff will “ride or die” with until the bitter end if possible, which is a good segue way to the next two key items.
One note about Smith, the Fayetteville (N.C.) Trinity Christian standout: other colleges are recruiting against NC State to prospective guards by saying, “You don’t want to go to NC State and be Smith’s backup.” Smith has to be to NC State what Jackson (Miss.) Callaway star combo guard Malik Newman will try to be at Mississippi State.
There wasn’t any drama this week with Newman’s decision to stay home and attend Mississippi State. The Bulldogs, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Kansas, all met with Newman in the last few weeks. His father Horatio Webster was a successful power forward for Mississippi State for two years, after arriving from junior college.
Newman would not have picked Mississippi State if former coach Rick Ray was still in charge. Ray is as classy as it gets according to many in the profession, but still only got three years to clean up the mess left behind from prior coach Rick Stansbury. Clearly, Ben Howland knew exactly what to do in a short period of time. (Although what Howland did will be debated for a longer period of time.)
Newman never made it to Raleigh for an unofficial or official visit the last three years, and that was why it was hard to think it was going to have a happy ending. The original hope was an official visit March 7 against Syracuse, but then Newman was playing in the Mississippi state tournament. He ended up not taking any official visits at all.
NC State hung in there for as long as they could. It’s just tough to finish near the top when he can easily unofficially visit the nearby programs such as Mississippi State, Ole Miss, LSU or even Kentucky. NC State held that same advantage with Kinston (N.C.) High senior small forward Brandon Ingram over Kentucky, Kansas and UCLA, on his list. Ingram has seen those programs once or maybe in the case of the Bruins twice. He has gone to NC State probably 20-plus times.
Ingram will announce his college choice at 6 p.m. Monday at Kinston High, and the wind seems to be blowing toward Duke. We figured ESPNU had been angling to air the announcement, but that apparently will not be the case. To say The Wolfpacker has been there every step of the way is an understatement. It wasn’t just with Brandon, but we also covered his older brother Bo Ingram’s recruitment, and maybe things would have been different if Bo Ingram had gotten his beloved NC State offer. The family dynamic has always been unique where Bo was a huge NC State fan, Brandon liked Duke and his father was a North Carolina follower.
People will speculate what NC State could have done differently, but at the end of the day, they worked it as hard as possible. The national perception was always that NC State was a few steps back, but that was more perception than reality. Part of that was not getting an official visit when every other school did. That was a make or break deal for Newman, but in Ingram’s case, he came to Raleigh close to 20 times over the last three years. The Wolfpack exhausted every evaluation they could on Ingram, whether going to see him in Kinston High jersey or Stackhouse Elite traveling team.
Some have wondered if there was a small window where NC State could have gone in and gotten it done with a verbal commitment, but once Duke, Kentucky and Kansas, joined the fray, it became a marathon recruitment. We’ve said in past War Rooms there was two different recruitments — before he became a national recruit and then after. Few figured Ingram as having the type of personality to enjoy all the attention, but he’s grown up a lot over the last few years. He simply plays and looks different now. He even has new tattoos on both arms.
Duke is the odds-on favorite Monday, and that isn’t a surprise. We’ve been steadfast about that for probably the last 7-8 months. People can spin the UNC scandal any way they want with Ingram, but we’ve always thought Ingram would likely stay in-state, and Duke was NC State’s main competition, not North Carolina. The scandal is what it is, but even as far back as last July, there were rumblings that UNC was slipping out in this recruitment. We never believed for the simple aspect that they kept going to his games, and he kept unofficially visiting Chapel Hill. However, UNC had the hat trick of the scandal, Justin Jackson back at small forward and Ingram grew up a Duke fan.
Duke had its own hat trick of sorts with winning another national title, having small forward Justise Winslow go to the NBA and he can do what he wanted to do by staying in-state. That was the edge the Blue Devils needed against the out of state programs. It also didn’t hurt when Duke assistant coach Jeff Capel didn’t get a head coaching job.
One well-placed source even said Ingram’s “look” this year has been a dead giveaway in his recruitment. We didn’t really think about it until mentioned yesterday, but guys in basketball circles are saying the kids really love the Duke hairstyles of Justise Winslow, Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook. Whose hair is now identical to them? Ingram.
Some have wondered why did NC State hang in to the bitter end? That is in the coaches DNA.
Ingram started off as a Rivals.com four-star prospect, checked in at No. 41 when initially ranked and is now No. 4 in the country in the class of 2015. There does not appear to be an in-state prospect in the class of 2017 or 2018 who will evoke such a long-term recruiting battle, so it’s going to be all about juniors Smith and Adebayo on in-state players.
***
The prep community has been in mourning the last week about a player few knew now, but would have down the road. Freshman forward Armoni Sexton and three of his friends were struck in a drive-by shooting at 8:37 p.m. last Saturday night in Paterson, N.J. The 15-year-old, who was 6-6 and oozing athleticism, was murdered, but his three friends have survived.
Sexton lived with his father in Charlotte until late December, and then went back to New Jersey to live with his mother. He played with the Playaz Basketball Club, but also had recently joined Team Felton. One person thought he was exactly the type of player that NC State would one day recruit. The Wolfpacker watched him last August at the CP3 Rising Stars Camp, and there was no question he was going to play college basketball.
The police have caught the alleged murderer, who is just 20 years old himself. The police believe two gangs have been battling for territory and influence.
It is a good example that even a player that was as beloved as Lacey was to the coaching staff, it’s still hard to get a read on what is exactly going on. So, there is some minor drama, at least, leading into Sunday evening or whenever is the deadline.
***
The staff obviously will be out in full force again this weekend for the second evaluation period.
Head coach Mark Gottfried and assistant coach Rob Moxley will likely spend the majority of their time in Indianapolis to be “seen” for adidas-sponsored recruits such as:
Junior point guard Dennis Smith Jr. and junior center Edrice Adebayo of Team Loaded NC.
Junior point guard Kobi Simmons and junior center James Banks of Atlanta Celtics.
Junior shooting guard Rawle Alkins (and possibly junior wing Mustapha Heron) of the New York Rens.
Junior small forward Maverick Rowan of Ohio Basketball Club.
Junior small forward Mario Keglar of MBA Hoops.
All but Kegler have been offered that we know of, and all are in the Rivals.com top 100 for the class of 2016. Dream Vision junior small forward Brendan Bailey, who is the son of Wolfpack legend Thurl Bailey, could also get a further evaluation.
We would have included Madison (Ala.) Academy junior wing Josh Langford of the Atlanta Celtics, but he might be injured and not playing this weekend in Indianapolis.
NC State assistant coach Orlando Early will be racking up the flying miles. He’ll see junior center Trevor Stanback of Pasadena (Calif.) Maranatha High, who unofficially visited NC State last June and is the son of a former UNC football player, Harry Stanback. Early will then spend Saturday and Sunday between adidas in Indianapolis and the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League in Lexington, Ky.
Assistant coach Bobby Lutz is likely to split time at Nike and also Under Armour in Louisville, Ky., which has junior shooting guard Markelle Fultz of Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic, among others.
These appear to be a good portion of the players the staff will “ride or die” with until the bitter end if possible, which is a good segue way to the next two key items.
One note about Smith, the Fayetteville (N.C.) Trinity Christian standout: other colleges are recruiting against NC State to prospective guards by saying, “You don’t want to go to NC State and be Smith’s backup.” Smith has to be to NC State what Jackson (Miss.) Callaway star combo guard Malik Newman will try to be at Mississippi State.
***
There wasn’t any drama this week with Newman’s decision to stay home and attend Mississippi State. The Bulldogs, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Kansas, all met with Newman in the last few weeks. His father Horatio Webster was a successful power forward for Mississippi State for two years, after arriving from junior college.
Newman would not have picked Mississippi State if former coach Rick Ray was still in charge. Ray is as classy as it gets according to many in the profession, but still only got three years to clean up the mess left behind from prior coach Rick Stansbury. Clearly, Ben Howland knew exactly what to do in a short period of time. (Although what Howland did will be debated for a longer period of time.)
Newman never made it to Raleigh for an unofficial or official visit the last three years, and that was why it was hard to think it was going to have a happy ending. The original hope was an official visit March 7 against Syracuse, but then Newman was playing in the Mississippi state tournament. He ended up not taking any official visits at all.
NC State hung in there for as long as they could. It’s just tough to finish near the top when he can easily unofficially visit the nearby programs such as Mississippi State, Ole Miss, LSU or even Kentucky. NC State held that same advantage with Kinston (N.C.) High senior small forward Brandon Ingram over Kentucky, Kansas and UCLA, on his list. Ingram has seen those programs once or maybe in the case of the Bruins twice. He has gone to NC State probably 20-plus times.
***
Ingram will announce his college choice at 6 p.m. Monday at Kinston High, and the wind seems to be blowing toward Duke. We figured ESPNU had been angling to air the announcement, but that apparently will not be the case. To say The Wolfpacker has been there every step of the way is an understatement. It wasn’t just with Brandon, but we also covered his older brother Bo Ingram’s recruitment, and maybe things would have been different if Bo Ingram had gotten his beloved NC State offer. The family dynamic has always been unique where Bo was a huge NC State fan, Brandon liked Duke and his father was a North Carolina follower.
People will speculate what NC State could have done differently, but at the end of the day, they worked it as hard as possible. The national perception was always that NC State was a few steps back, but that was more perception than reality. Part of that was not getting an official visit when every other school did. That was a make or break deal for Newman, but in Ingram’s case, he came to Raleigh close to 20 times over the last three years. The Wolfpack exhausted every evaluation they could on Ingram, whether going to see him in Kinston High jersey or Stackhouse Elite traveling team.
Some have wondered if there was a small window where NC State could have gone in and gotten it done with a verbal commitment, but once Duke, Kentucky and Kansas, joined the fray, it became a marathon recruitment. We’ve said in past War Rooms there was two different recruitments — before he became a national recruit and then after. Few figured Ingram as having the type of personality to enjoy all the attention, but he’s grown up a lot over the last few years. He simply plays and looks different now. He even has new tattoos on both arms.
Duke is the odds-on favorite Monday, and that isn’t a surprise. We’ve been steadfast about that for probably the last 7-8 months. People can spin the UNC scandal any way they want with Ingram, but we’ve always thought Ingram would likely stay in-state, and Duke was NC State’s main competition, not North Carolina. The scandal is what it is, but even as far back as last July, there were rumblings that UNC was slipping out in this recruitment. We never believed for the simple aspect that they kept going to his games, and he kept unofficially visiting Chapel Hill. However, UNC had the hat trick of the scandal, Justin Jackson back at small forward and Ingram grew up a Duke fan.
Duke had its own hat trick of sorts with winning another national title, having small forward Justise Winslow go to the NBA and he can do what he wanted to do by staying in-state. That was the edge the Blue Devils needed against the out of state programs. It also didn’t hurt when Duke assistant coach Jeff Capel didn’t get a head coaching job.
One well-placed source even said Ingram’s “look” this year has been a dead giveaway in his recruitment. We didn’t really think about it until mentioned yesterday, but guys in basketball circles are saying the kids really love the Duke hairstyles of Justise Winslow, Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook. Whose hair is now identical to them? Ingram.
Some have wondered why did NC State hang in to the bitter end? That is in the coaches DNA.
Ingram started off as a Rivals.com four-star prospect, checked in at No. 41 when initially ranked and is now No. 4 in the country in the class of 2015. There does not appear to be an in-state prospect in the class of 2017 or 2018 who will evoke such a long-term recruiting battle, so it’s going to be all about juniors Smith and Adebayo on in-state players.
***
The prep community has been in mourning the last week about a player few knew now, but would have down the road. Freshman forward Armoni Sexton and three of his friends were struck in a drive-by shooting at 8:37 p.m. last Saturday night in Paterson, N.J. The 15-year-old, who was 6-6 and oozing athleticism, was murdered, but his three friends have survived.
Sexton lived with his father in Charlotte until late December, and then went back to New Jersey to live with his mother. He played with the Playaz Basketball Club, but also had recently joined Team Felton. One person thought he was exactly the type of player that NC State would one day recruit. The Wolfpacker watched him last August at the CP3 Rising Stars Camp, and there was no question he was going to play college basketball.
The police have caught the alleged murderer, who is just 20 years old himself. The police believe two gangs have been battling for territory and influence.
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