The verbal commitment of Fayetteville (N.C.) Trinity Christian senior point guard Dennis Smith Jr. was a long time coming. The first time NC State (and The Wolfpacker) watched him play, he was an eighth grader on the varsity at Fayetteville (N.C.) Freedom. Assistant coach Rob Moxley arrived early in anticipation to watch shooting guard James Demery Jr. (St. Joseph sophomore) and Dante Buford (Oklahoma signee) play for Greenville (N.C.) Oakwood School against then Wolfpack target Anton Wilson (Detroit wing) of Red Springs (N.C.) Flora MacDonald in the annual Wilson (N.C.) Greenfield School holiday tournament in mid-December.
Freedom’s game went to overtime, and a The Wolfpacker subscriber came up and showed the roster, and Freedom had at least four eighth graders, including Kwe Parker. Smith showed flashes and became one to follow up with in the future, which we did the following year when he made the move to Trinity Christian.
The Wolfpack were checking out post player Tyrek Coger of Raleigh Word of God (who eventually landed with Ole Miss). NC State assistant coach Orlando Early was in the gym at that time. Smith had just two points in that game, but again showed some flashes.
Smith had a great NCISAA 1A title game in finishing runner-up to Word of God his freshman year, but he was still in the primitive stages of the recruiting process. He again showed flashes at his first Dave Telep Carolina Challenge, but was up and down.
Everything changed at the 2013 HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational when Smith poured in 29 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter. Instead of ups and downs and flashed, it became sustained and consistent success. NC State quickly offered and that is when it really started. He graduated to must-get recruit if NC State wanted to compete for the biggest of the big goals.
Smith’s recruitment was much easier in terms of what schools were on him. He made it clear from the start he liked NC State, Duke, Florida and eventually Louisville. UNC wanted Seventh Woods and it felt as if they had made their choice, though they circled back to recruit Smith. Wake Forest had to get somebody like a Harry Giles of Winston-Salem to commit in order to have any chance.
Duke obviously wanted Smith very, very bad for most of his junior year, until things got heated up with Derryck Thornton, who changed from the class of 2016 to 2015. There also was an underlying tension when Smith was cut from the under-17 USA squad. We’ve said in the past many times, that USA Basketball has changed everything for Duke hoops recruiting, but in that case, it hurt them. Arizona lost power forward T.J. Leaf in the class of 2016 in similar fashion when USA 19s coach Sean Miller had to cut him this past summer.
By mid-July this past summer, only NC State coach Mark Gottfried was the lone head coach to come watch Smith (and senior center Edrice Adebayo) play in Richmond, Va. We always say actions speak louder than words at times, and that was a loud action. One could easily conclude that the other schools gave up on recruiting Smith (and Adebayo) and tapped out.
Now, Smith may not have appreciated seeing the number of coaches dwindle in watching him, but that isn’t anything new. One of the famous stories when Duke was recruiting Tyus Jones (and Jahlil Okafor), that Jones’ mom got frustrated and started begging coaches to recruit her son. The coaches simply said, “Why? He’s going to Duke.” Baylor, Kansas and Kentucky, eventually accepted the challenge of trying to change Jones’ mind, but we see the final results of that. Smith had a little of that too by talking up certain schools in recruiting, like mentioning California as recruiting him the hardest at one point, or talking up being the next Terry Rozier at Louisville or being a package deal with Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles at Duke. Such actions worked a few times, causing much consternation at NC State, even when the rest of the recruiting world was predicting he was a Wolfpack lock. At the end of the day, schools weren’t doing in-home visits with him, showing up at Trinity this week or working hard to get an official visit this fall. Most telling, Smith never tweeted out future dates for in-home visits and official visits like most of the other recruits. Again, actions trump words.
The same seems to be true at High Point Christian with Adebayo too, where Florida came by, but the Gators were mostly in the area to check out High Point Wesleyan senior wing Jalen Johnson. There haven’t been any loud noises of Kentucky, North Carolina or whoever else that is perceived to be trying with Adebayo, just NC State. No tweets about future in-home visits or official visits.
The timing of Smith’s commitment created a sense of relief and it was an unselfish move. The relief is that it’s over and there won’t be any massive meltdown if he ended up somewhere else. The unselfishness is that he could have done a lot of “look at me, look at me” moments over the next few months, or all the way up to April. Instead, he picked a college, and can now try to get other players to join him if possible (besides Adebayo). The hastily arranged way of announcing his commitment showed it was more spur of the moment than something planned out over weeks.
Smith has always been the leader and Adebayo has typically followed. Now, it’s easier for Adebayo to pull the trigger. Obviously, people really want it to happen soon, but all indications are that it will keep going for a little while. One trusted source has Adebayo coming to the Louisville at NC State football game Oct. 3. It is still to be determined if that will turn into a official or unofficial visit. Smith still has an official visit to use and he could easily plan to do it when Adebayo does (unless Adebayo also elects to commit without officially visiting).
NC State obviously had scheduled an in-home visit with Udoka Azubuike of Jacksonville (Fla.) Potter’s House over three weeks ago, and some mistakenly tried to spin the Azubuike visit as only happening because Smith committed earlier in the day. That makes for a good Tweet, but completely inaccurate.
NC State also has in-home visit with Katy (Texas) Cypress Lakes senior point guard De’Aaron Fox on Sept. 16, which was also set up prior to Smith committing. We’ll see if Smith helps or hurts the Pack’s chances by securing an official visit. The Louisiana native had LSU on Wednesday, and Kansas tonight for in-home visits. Arizona, NC State and Kentucky are coming up. The Rivals.com No. 5-ranked player announced official visits for LSU (Sept. 19), Louisville (Sept. 26), Kansas (Oct. 9) and Kentucky (Oct. 16).
Both Fox and Azubuike have gone through the adidas Nations program, but played for Nike Elite Youth Basketball League power house programs. Fox played with the Houston Hoops, and was part of the 2014 adidas Nations program. Azubuike helped the Georgia Stars win the EYBL title at Peach Jam, and took part in adidas Nations this past year.
Some college coaches have wondered if NC State leads for Azubuike because he simply doesn’t have a lot of recruiting events lined up. That would be amazingly remarkable considering NC State first fell in love with his game at the aforementioned Nike Peach Jam, and then just offered Aug. 8. He has no other in-home visits and only has scheduled an official visit to Kansas. NCSU left Thursday’s in-home visit without being able to line up an official visit. The Clemson football game weekend on Halloween is a natural, and as we’ve mentioned before, Louisville and Clemson weekends are the only football home games between today and Nov. 21. The other option is a yet to be announced midnight madness type of event. Last year, that was Throwback With The Pack. In the case of Fox, he could officially visit NC State during the weekends of Oct. 3, Oct. 24 or Oct. 31.
Azubuike, who is Rivals.com No. 27-ranked player and originally from Africa, might be simply just doing things at his own pace. As a player, Azubuike gets it and dunks it over and over again like a video game. That can work in high school, and it might in the ACC in some ways, but becoming more skilled is crucial for him to reach his full pro potential. He’s a big 6-9, 260-plus body with explosiveness. He also has showed a good work ethic by going from a horrific free throw shooter to a below average one, with newfound potential to get where he needs to be at the line. For a player who is all business near the basket, he will get fouled a lot in college.
NC State hoops isn’t expecting any key unofficial visitors for the football game Saturday, but have been busy with numerous younger targets.
NC State assistant coach Rob Moxley checked out the contingent of talent at Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy, such as junior point guard Matt Coleman of Norfolk, Va., junior combo guard Devontae Shuler of Columbia, S.C., and junior shooting guard Ty-Shon Alexander of Concord, N.C.
Speaking of Concord, NCSU assistant coach Bobby Lutz went to see Concord Robinson junior point guard Lavar Batts and Concord High sophomore guard Rechon Black. The Wolfpack will also be returning to Concord to see star frosh wing Wendell Moore Jr. of Cox Mill High. Batts and Black are both being evaluated, but one source indicated that Batts has smoothed out his jumper, which could have been the main hold up in offering him.
Freedom’s game went to overtime, and a The Wolfpacker subscriber came up and showed the roster, and Freedom had at least four eighth graders, including Kwe Parker. Smith showed flashes and became one to follow up with in the future, which we did the following year when he made the move to Trinity Christian.
The Wolfpack were checking out post player Tyrek Coger of Raleigh Word of God (who eventually landed with Ole Miss). NC State assistant coach Orlando Early was in the gym at that time. Smith had just two points in that game, but again showed some flashes.
Smith had a great NCISAA 1A title game in finishing runner-up to Word of God his freshman year, but he was still in the primitive stages of the recruiting process. He again showed flashes at his first Dave Telep Carolina Challenge, but was up and down.
Everything changed at the 2013 HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational when Smith poured in 29 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter. Instead of ups and downs and flashed, it became sustained and consistent success. NC State quickly offered and that is when it really started. He graduated to must-get recruit if NC State wanted to compete for the biggest of the big goals.
Smith’s recruitment was much easier in terms of what schools were on him. He made it clear from the start he liked NC State, Duke, Florida and eventually Louisville. UNC wanted Seventh Woods and it felt as if they had made their choice, though they circled back to recruit Smith. Wake Forest had to get somebody like a Harry Giles of Winston-Salem to commit in order to have any chance.
Duke obviously wanted Smith very, very bad for most of his junior year, until things got heated up with Derryck Thornton, who changed from the class of 2016 to 2015. There also was an underlying tension when Smith was cut from the under-17 USA squad. We’ve said in the past many times, that USA Basketball has changed everything for Duke hoops recruiting, but in that case, it hurt them. Arizona lost power forward T.J. Leaf in the class of 2016 in similar fashion when USA 19s coach Sean Miller had to cut him this past summer.
By mid-July this past summer, only NC State coach Mark Gottfried was the lone head coach to come watch Smith (and senior center Edrice Adebayo) play in Richmond, Va. We always say actions speak louder than words at times, and that was a loud action. One could easily conclude that the other schools gave up on recruiting Smith (and Adebayo) and tapped out.
Now, Smith may not have appreciated seeing the number of coaches dwindle in watching him, but that isn’t anything new. One of the famous stories when Duke was recruiting Tyus Jones (and Jahlil Okafor), that Jones’ mom got frustrated and started begging coaches to recruit her son. The coaches simply said, “Why? He’s going to Duke.” Baylor, Kansas and Kentucky, eventually accepted the challenge of trying to change Jones’ mind, but we see the final results of that. Smith had a little of that too by talking up certain schools in recruiting, like mentioning California as recruiting him the hardest at one point, or talking up being the next Terry Rozier at Louisville or being a package deal with Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles at Duke. Such actions worked a few times, causing much consternation at NC State, even when the rest of the recruiting world was predicting he was a Wolfpack lock. At the end of the day, schools weren’t doing in-home visits with him, showing up at Trinity this week or working hard to get an official visit this fall. Most telling, Smith never tweeted out future dates for in-home visits and official visits like most of the other recruits. Again, actions trump words.
The same seems to be true at High Point Christian with Adebayo too, where Florida came by, but the Gators were mostly in the area to check out High Point Wesleyan senior wing Jalen Johnson. There haven’t been any loud noises of Kentucky, North Carolina or whoever else that is perceived to be trying with Adebayo, just NC State. No tweets about future in-home visits or official visits.
The timing of Smith’s commitment created a sense of relief and it was an unselfish move. The relief is that it’s over and there won’t be any massive meltdown if he ended up somewhere else. The unselfishness is that he could have done a lot of “look at me, look at me” moments over the next few months, or all the way up to April. Instead, he picked a college, and can now try to get other players to join him if possible (besides Adebayo). The hastily arranged way of announcing his commitment showed it was more spur of the moment than something planned out over weeks.
Smith has always been the leader and Adebayo has typically followed. Now, it’s easier for Adebayo to pull the trigger. Obviously, people really want it to happen soon, but all indications are that it will keep going for a little while. One trusted source has Adebayo coming to the Louisville at NC State football game Oct. 3. It is still to be determined if that will turn into a official or unofficial visit. Smith still has an official visit to use and he could easily plan to do it when Adebayo does (unless Adebayo also elects to commit without officially visiting).
***
NC State obviously had scheduled an in-home visit with Udoka Azubuike of Jacksonville (Fla.) Potter’s House over three weeks ago, and some mistakenly tried to spin the Azubuike visit as only happening because Smith committed earlier in the day. That makes for a good Tweet, but completely inaccurate.
NC State also has in-home visit with Katy (Texas) Cypress Lakes senior point guard De’Aaron Fox on Sept. 16, which was also set up prior to Smith committing. We’ll see if Smith helps or hurts the Pack’s chances by securing an official visit. The Louisiana native had LSU on Wednesday, and Kansas tonight for in-home visits. Arizona, NC State and Kentucky are coming up. The Rivals.com No. 5-ranked player announced official visits for LSU (Sept. 19), Louisville (Sept. 26), Kansas (Oct. 9) and Kentucky (Oct. 16).
Both Fox and Azubuike have gone through the adidas Nations program, but played for Nike Elite Youth Basketball League power house programs. Fox played with the Houston Hoops, and was part of the 2014 adidas Nations program. Azubuike helped the Georgia Stars win the EYBL title at Peach Jam, and took part in adidas Nations this past year.
Some college coaches have wondered if NC State leads for Azubuike because he simply doesn’t have a lot of recruiting events lined up. That would be amazingly remarkable considering NC State first fell in love with his game at the aforementioned Nike Peach Jam, and then just offered Aug. 8. He has no other in-home visits and only has scheduled an official visit to Kansas. NCSU left Thursday’s in-home visit without being able to line up an official visit. The Clemson football game weekend on Halloween is a natural, and as we’ve mentioned before, Louisville and Clemson weekends are the only football home games between today and Nov. 21. The other option is a yet to be announced midnight madness type of event. Last year, that was Throwback With The Pack. In the case of Fox, he could officially visit NC State during the weekends of Oct. 3, Oct. 24 or Oct. 31.
Azubuike, who is Rivals.com No. 27-ranked player and originally from Africa, might be simply just doing things at his own pace. As a player, Azubuike gets it and dunks it over and over again like a video game. That can work in high school, and it might in the ACC in some ways, but becoming more skilled is crucial for him to reach his full pro potential. He’s a big 6-9, 260-plus body with explosiveness. He also has showed a good work ethic by going from a horrific free throw shooter to a below average one, with newfound potential to get where he needs to be at the line. For a player who is all business near the basket, he will get fouled a lot in college.
***
NC State hoops isn’t expecting any key unofficial visitors for the football game Saturday, but have been busy with numerous younger targets.
NC State assistant coach Rob Moxley checked out the contingent of talent at Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy, such as junior point guard Matt Coleman of Norfolk, Va., junior combo guard Devontae Shuler of Columbia, S.C., and junior shooting guard Ty-Shon Alexander of Concord, N.C.
Speaking of Concord, NCSU assistant coach Bobby Lutz went to see Concord Robinson junior point guard Lavar Batts and Concord High sophomore guard Rechon Black. The Wolfpack will also be returning to Concord to see star frosh wing Wendell Moore Jr. of Cox Mill High. Batts and Black are both being evaluated, but one source indicated that Batts has smoothed out his jumper, which could have been the main hold up in offering him.
