The guards look decent so far, let’s work on the bigs
Is NC State going to increase the roster to 15 scholarship players?
- The House settlement has not yet happened, so for the moment we have a limit of 13 scholarships in men’s basketball.
- The thing the judge doesn’t like is the implementation of the ‘roster limits’. (as opposed to ‘scholarship limits’ as we have today) She wants to phase it in to lessen the chance of current scholarship players losing those scholarships or walk-ons being released. She has given them an ultimatum – make that change and she will approve the settlement, or don’t and it will go to trial. The NCAA will inevitably fold to get it approved and avoid trial, meaning that roster limits will be implemented more slowly than expected but the rest of the changes will go forward. We should expect to see the settlement approved sometime in May. The target for full implementation is currently July 1, but that could change depending on when it gets final approval.
- Once the settlement is approved, increasing the number of scholarship players will be optional. If we are being outbid for players today (Ex. Mgbako), it doesn’t make sense to spend any of our NIL resources on a 14th &/or 15th player that is unlikely to contribute. It’s unlikely to happen anytime soon.
Status: Back Court
The back court profile is excellent, Able will be in his first season, McNeil his second, and the other four will be in their fourth. (Breed will actually be in his fifth season, but he only played two games last season) The upperclassmen were all recruited to major conferences, the Big East (Breed – Providence/Cooley), ACC (Copeland – Syracuse/Boeheim), B1G (Holloman – Mich St/Izzo) and B12 (Arceneaux – Houston/Sampson). All are seasoned veterans who have each played 85+ games at the highest level of competition. And Breed and Copeland also played last season under Coach Wade, which should help with teaching his system to the others. A really good foundation for the team.
Additionally, there is talk of Trey Parker deciding to stay at NC State. Coach Wade encouraged Trey to see what his opportunities were by entering the portal, but he was also given the option to return. If he does, that might fill the guard portion of our shopping cart.
Status: Front Court
The front court is a work in progress. While Colt Langdon was a freshman at Butler last season, he never played. He and Zymicah Wilkins are starting from a similar point, although Langdon has been through one season of training, S&C, and practice.
Jerry Deng has two seasons under his belt (64 games – 13 starts), one season at Hampton and one at FSU. He is a very good outside shooter, but he might be a good defender as well. TBD This is an excerpt from an article on FSU from early last season that talks about Deng, his focus on defense, and his wingspan.
“Playing in our system at Florida State allows me to show my ability to guard every position on the court with my length,” said Deng. “Coach Ham and Coach Jones are such great teachers. They’ve taught me so many things, including how to contain the ball handler at 6’9 with a 7-foot wingspan by utilizing my length.” “The defensive system here at Florida State was definitely one of the main reasons I came here,” said Deng “
What other players are in play?
- James Scott: Sophomore forward, Louisville – 6’11” 220 – 4-star transfer
James Scott is a top priority for the Wolfpack. He is well known for the cool black mask he wore (3D printed by UofL engineering) during the season at Louisville to protect a fractured facial bone. Scott put his name in the transfer portal a couple of hours before it closed last week, and the Wolfpack staff contacted him immediately and has already reportedly made a seven figure offer. The staff hopes to get a visit this week. Scott played a season at Charleston and then came to Louisville with Coach Kelsey. As a Cardinal, he averaged 7.1 ppg and 6.1 rpg while shooting 75.5% from the floor. Scott and Trey Parker share an agent and are both from Fayetteville, there is talk of them being shopped as a ‘package deal’.
- Darrion Williams: Junior wing/forward, Texas Tech – 6’6” 225 – 5-star transfer
Darrion Williams played one season at Nevada, and the last two at Texas Tech. He has started 97 of those 100 games. He averaged 15.1 ppg / 5.5 rpg / 3.6 apg last season. He is an excellent outside shooter, averaging 37.9% for his career on 335 attempts. He is going to go through the NBA draft process. If he returns to college, the major players for him are currently Kansas, Ohio State and the Wolfpack.
- Vince Iwuchukwu: Junior center, St Johns – 7’1” 250 – 4-star high school prospect
Vince attended high school at Southern California Academy and played his first two seasons at USC before transferring to St John’s last season. He played in all 34 games last season, starting 1. He averaged 2.7 ppg / 1.7 rpg / 0.1 apg and shot 54.2% from the field.
- Federiko Federiko: Junior forward, Texas Tech – 6’11” 215
He played two seasons at Pitt and transferred to Texas Tech last season. He only started 6 of 35 games last season. He averaged 5.1 ppg / 4.5 rpg / 0.7 apg last season. He is a very worrisome 52.1% from the free throw line for his career.
- Mystery men – As we saw (or didn’t see) with Jerry Deng’s commitment, the Wolfpack staff is fully capable of finding and signing good players without our being aware until it’s done. For example, there is buzz about an unnamed international (“man of mystery”) big man that the Wolfpack is reportedly close to signing.
Always Be Recruiting!
NC State hosted class of 2026, high school junior, Toni Bryant this past weekend. Bryant is a 5-star, 6’9” forward ranked 10th by 247 who averaged 21 ppg / 11.8 rpg / 6.5 blocks last season. He’s from Florida. As you would expect, he has a long list of schools interested, including his local schools FSU & Florida, Kansas, Houston, Tennessee, and ACC teams Clemson, Louisville, Miami, BC, and Syracuse. This is the kind of player NC State has to be in the mix with in order to compete at the highest levels, so this is great to see the staff getting it done so early in their tenure.