The storm with Anthony Barber, Caleb Martin and Cody Martin started brewing during last weekend, which was before they even had their end of the season interviews with coach Mark Gottfried, hence the chaotic manner this past week.
Barber announced he was going pro in his own way on Instagram, but was not completely clear about it. No one is quite sure if he’ll finish the semester academically, but the Wolfpack will try hard to make sure he does due to the APR rules.
Barber got linked to NFL agent Sunny Shah, but our sources say that was incorrect information from his mother. He hasn’t settled on an agent yet, and if he were shrewd, he would hold off until mid-May.
If Barber signs with an agent and suffered some sort of serious injury like an ACL, he’d be in a serious mess. NBA prospects learned that after Brandon Rush left Kansas in 2007, but didn’t sign with an agent and subsequently blew out his ACL. Under the old late-April NBA Draft deadline, those kinds of scenarios weren’t a factor. Rush returned to college and won the 2008 national title.
As we’ve probably said since last summer, there was no question what Barber’s “plan” was for this season. Truth be told, many were concerned he was going to bolt last year. NC State actively recruited some point guards for a few months just in case. However, coming back to his junior year proved to be the best thing that ever happened for his development.
Obviously, NC State came through with the perfect replacement with Dennis Smith getting signed and subsequently enrolled to rehab his knee. He should live up to all the hype next year by getting a consistent jumper and learning the lessons of playing against the best the ACC could offer.
The confusion came when people like ESPN television analyst Dick Vitale or Doris Burke started urging Barber to come back. Gottfried turned up the heat in press conferences about how Barber could follow in the path of other seniors like UNC’s Brice Johnson and Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield. The buzz grew on how Smith and Barber would be a terrific tandem next year — which in that scenario, Smith was going to be the point guard.
That well orchestrated media blitz did not seem to affect Barber because less than two weeks later he announced he was gone.
•••
The Martin twins committed in October of their junior years and grew up around the program. Few NC State players had more knowledge of what they were going to get themselves into than the Mocksville, N.C., natives.
Each went through some tough times freshman year. Cody Martin clearly wasn’t happy about not playing in half the games, but he put his head down and went to work to get better. Cody exceeded expectations this season and even became a starter.
Caleb Martin waited his turn as a freshman and had an off the bench role. He earned a starting spot and came out like gangbusters the first eight games, before going through a brutal slump. He picked himself off the mat down the stretch and proved that he was an ACC caliber shooting guard, ending the year with at least 16 points in five out of the last nine games.
Both Martin twins talked just a few weeks ago about next year, but then so did Trevor Lacey in similar interviews a year ago. We first heard the Martin twins could be gone this past Saturday. It made the college coaches rumor hotline and spread from there. However, Gottfried was in Turkey recruiting unsigned senior center Omer Yurtseven when that broke. Gottfried hadn’t had his end of the year interviews yet, so the hope was he could talk them out of that decision. For what it’s worth, it is not clear that Barber met either with the coaches when he made his decision.
The reality is that NC State has a crowded situation on the wing, and Gottfried usually goes no bigger than an eight-man rotation. The Martin twins could roll the dice, or just have a clean break and a year off to redshirt and work on their games to get that much-needed shooting consistency that will help them. Redshirting at NC State was not a realistic option.
The coaches have always felt Maverick Rowan and Terry Henderson are the top two wings, and Torin Dorn, the Charlotte transfer, will now be the jack of all trades at all three perimeter spots. If next year is Henderson’s last, then Dorn and Rowan will be the duo in 2017-2018, on paper, but then history hasn’t been kind to the “on paper” roster projections.
We’ll see if NC State tries to add another wing this season. Provided freshman Shaun Kirk returns that will give the Wolfpack four players, and that will cover the situation. NCSU just won’t be able to have Henderson or Rowan have any sort of
injuries like this past year.
Gottfried had his end of the year interview with sophomore power forward Abdul-Malik Abu on Thursday. He elected to test the NBA Draft waters, and some think he is more serious about this process than what people are anticipating. However, the NBA has yet to show Abu that kind of interest. Best case scenario is that Abu gets a clear-cut plan on what he needs to do this offseason to put himself in position to get drafted in the future.
Abu should also get more offensive chances next year with Barber gone, but he also could be playing a lot of center.
•••
The NC State assistant coaching search has started to heat up a bit in recent days. Two assistant coaches have been bandied about this week, and one is rumored to check out NC State on Friday.
Another one has started to pick up some steam too, so it could be a two-horse race.
We still expect it to be a coach that has at some point coached with Mark Gottfried, Orlando Early or Bobby Lutz, in the past or is friends with them. Oklahoma State assistant coach Butch Pierre fits the bill as he and Lutz were assistant coaches at Charlotte in 1996-1997.
Pierre was part of coach Travis Ford’s staff that went to the NCAA Tournament five times in eight years. Ford still got fired and Stephen F. Austin coach Brad Underwood was hired this past week.
Pierre was at LSU under coach John Brady, and went to the Big Dance four times, including the 2006 Final Four. Rob Moxley worked for coach Kermit Davis at Middle Tennessee State, and Davis and Pierre, plus former Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall were together on Brady’s first staff at LSU.
Gottfried was at Alabama during that time at LSU, and the Crimson Tide and Tigers probably butted heads on the recruiting trail numerous times.
Pierre would bring a completely different recruiting area for the Wolfpack as the colleges he worked at recruited junior college players, and mostly landed prospects from Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. We aren’t saying Pierre recruited all of these players, but among those LSU signed were four stars or higher prospects Brandon Bass, Regis Koundjia, Tack Minor, Glen Davis, Tasmin Mitchell, Magnum Rolle and Anthony Randolph. Among those, Bass, Randolph and Davis made the NBA. So did Jabari Smith, Tyrus Thomas, Marcus Thornton, Garrett Temple and Chris Johnson.
During Pierre’s time at Oklahoma State, the Cowboys had former players Marcus Smart and Markel Brown have made the NBA. LeBryan Nash and Smart were five stars, and Roger Franklin, Karron Johnson, Raymond Penn, Michael Cobbins, Cezar Guerrero, Stevie Clark, Joe Burton, Mitchell Solomon, Jawun Evans, Lindy Waters III and Cameron McGriff were four-star prospects.
Barber announced he was going pro in his own way on Instagram, but was not completely clear about it. No one is quite sure if he’ll finish the semester academically, but the Wolfpack will try hard to make sure he does due to the APR rules.
Barber got linked to NFL agent Sunny Shah, but our sources say that was incorrect information from his mother. He hasn’t settled on an agent yet, and if he were shrewd, he would hold off until mid-May.
If Barber signs with an agent and suffered some sort of serious injury like an ACL, he’d be in a serious mess. NBA prospects learned that after Brandon Rush left Kansas in 2007, but didn’t sign with an agent and subsequently blew out his ACL. Under the old late-April NBA Draft deadline, those kinds of scenarios weren’t a factor. Rush returned to college and won the 2008 national title.
As we’ve probably said since last summer, there was no question what Barber’s “plan” was for this season. Truth be told, many were concerned he was going to bolt last year. NC State actively recruited some point guards for a few months just in case. However, coming back to his junior year proved to be the best thing that ever happened for his development.
Obviously, NC State came through with the perfect replacement with Dennis Smith getting signed and subsequently enrolled to rehab his knee. He should live up to all the hype next year by getting a consistent jumper and learning the lessons of playing against the best the ACC could offer.
The confusion came when people like ESPN television analyst Dick Vitale or Doris Burke started urging Barber to come back. Gottfried turned up the heat in press conferences about how Barber could follow in the path of other seniors like UNC’s Brice Johnson and Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield. The buzz grew on how Smith and Barber would be a terrific tandem next year — which in that scenario, Smith was going to be the point guard.
That well orchestrated media blitz did not seem to affect Barber because less than two weeks later he announced he was gone.
•••
The Martin twins committed in October of their junior years and grew up around the program. Few NC State players had more knowledge of what they were going to get themselves into than the Mocksville, N.C., natives.
Each went through some tough times freshman year. Cody Martin clearly wasn’t happy about not playing in half the games, but he put his head down and went to work to get better. Cody exceeded expectations this season and even became a starter.
Caleb Martin waited his turn as a freshman and had an off the bench role. He earned a starting spot and came out like gangbusters the first eight games, before going through a brutal slump. He picked himself off the mat down the stretch and proved that he was an ACC caliber shooting guard, ending the year with at least 16 points in five out of the last nine games.
Both Martin twins talked just a few weeks ago about next year, but then so did Trevor Lacey in similar interviews a year ago. We first heard the Martin twins could be gone this past Saturday. It made the college coaches rumor hotline and spread from there. However, Gottfried was in Turkey recruiting unsigned senior center Omer Yurtseven when that broke. Gottfried hadn’t had his end of the year interviews yet, so the hope was he could talk them out of that decision. For what it’s worth, it is not clear that Barber met either with the coaches when he made his decision.
The reality is that NC State has a crowded situation on the wing, and Gottfried usually goes no bigger than an eight-man rotation. The Martin twins could roll the dice, or just have a clean break and a year off to redshirt and work on their games to get that much-needed shooting consistency that will help them. Redshirting at NC State was not a realistic option.
The coaches have always felt Maverick Rowan and Terry Henderson are the top two wings, and Torin Dorn, the Charlotte transfer, will now be the jack of all trades at all three perimeter spots. If next year is Henderson’s last, then Dorn and Rowan will be the duo in 2017-2018, on paper, but then history hasn’t been kind to the “on paper” roster projections.
We’ll see if NC State tries to add another wing this season. Provided freshman Shaun Kirk returns that will give the Wolfpack four players, and that will cover the situation. NCSU just won’t be able to have Henderson or Rowan have any sort of
injuries like this past year.
Gottfried had his end of the year interview with sophomore power forward Abdul-Malik Abu on Thursday. He elected to test the NBA Draft waters, and some think he is more serious about this process than what people are anticipating. However, the NBA has yet to show Abu that kind of interest. Best case scenario is that Abu gets a clear-cut plan on what he needs to do this offseason to put himself in position to get drafted in the future.
Abu should also get more offensive chances next year with Barber gone, but he also could be playing a lot of center.
•••
The NC State assistant coaching search has started to heat up a bit in recent days. Two assistant coaches have been bandied about this week, and one is rumored to check out NC State on Friday.
Another one has started to pick up some steam too, so it could be a two-horse race.
We still expect it to be a coach that has at some point coached with Mark Gottfried, Orlando Early or Bobby Lutz, in the past or is friends with them. Oklahoma State assistant coach Butch Pierre fits the bill as he and Lutz were assistant coaches at Charlotte in 1996-1997.
Pierre was part of coach Travis Ford’s staff that went to the NCAA Tournament five times in eight years. Ford still got fired and Stephen F. Austin coach Brad Underwood was hired this past week.
Pierre was at LSU under coach John Brady, and went to the Big Dance four times, including the 2006 Final Four. Rob Moxley worked for coach Kermit Davis at Middle Tennessee State, and Davis and Pierre, plus former Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall were together on Brady’s first staff at LSU.
Gottfried was at Alabama during that time at LSU, and the Crimson Tide and Tigers probably butted heads on the recruiting trail numerous times.
Pierre would bring a completely different recruiting area for the Wolfpack as the colleges he worked at recruited junior college players, and mostly landed prospects from Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. We aren’t saying Pierre recruited all of these players, but among those LSU signed were four stars or higher prospects Brandon Bass, Regis Koundjia, Tack Minor, Glen Davis, Tasmin Mitchell, Magnum Rolle and Anthony Randolph. Among those, Bass, Randolph and Davis made the NBA. So did Jabari Smith, Tyrus Thomas, Marcus Thornton, Garrett Temple and Chris Johnson.
During Pierre’s time at Oklahoma State, the Cowboys had former players Marcus Smart and Markel Brown have made the NBA. LeBryan Nash and Smart were five stars, and Roger Franklin, Karron Johnson, Raymond Penn, Michael Cobbins, Cezar Guerrero, Stevie Clark, Joe Burton, Mitchell Solomon, Jawun Evans, Lindy Waters III and Cameron McGriff were four-star prospects.
