Recruit #4: Mason Resnick


Resnick is the gem of this class.  Resnick will start right away at SF and hopefully start all 4 years.  His crazy high potential attracted some attention from UNC, but when we made it clear Resnick was our #1 option, UNC went elsewhere.  Resnick is going to be an absolute stud, I can't wait until he fulfills his crazy potential. 



I really love this class, I think Petti, Toon, and Resnick will all be 1st or 2nd team all-conference by the time their careers are over.  

Well, this season SUCKED.  We missed the NT by virtue of a sub-500 record, then lost in the 2nd round of the PIT to a press team that we lost to the 1st game of the season.  We say goodbye to three underachieving seniors.  The freshmen that I brought in are not as good as I was hoping.  I feel somewhat stunted at NC State.  It's been all downhill since Zmich declared for the draft all those seasons ago.  I need a way to recapture the magic that we had.  

The bright side is we didn't have any EEs.  Roberts easily could have declared and I'm very glad he didn't.  Next year's line-up could end up being a really solid starting 5, although I'm not sure about how the bench will look.  

Right now, we're looking at a line-up of Roberts-Glaude-Resnick-Topper-Freshman C.

Toon is still a ways off, so he hopefully won't see much time this year, which means we'll need to get a solid starting C and perhaps another big or two off the bench.  
In terms of guards, Petti is going to be a solid guy of the bench for someone who is so young.  Kerstetter should be able to come in and shoot 3s.  Clinton Kline might get cut.  We will also need to recruit a backup SF.  

Recruit #1: Gabriel Somalski



Somalski is an alright prospect.  Unfortunately, his defense potential is low-high, so he'll never be an elite enough defender or athlete to be a pro prospect, but he should be a solid contributor off the bench.  He'll be fast, he'll be a great distributor, and with high-high in Per, he may even be a scorer.  He has great guards in front of him, so he'll RS this year.  I am optimistic about his future, as he'll be as good as backup PGs get when he gets a few seasons of development.  

Recruit #2: Leroy Cornelius



We really needed bigs as our only two returning bigs were Topper, who is graduating after this season, and Toon, a RS Frosh who isn't ready to play big minutes yet.  Cornelius will be a solid big, 80+ ath, 80+ reb, 95+ def, 75+ SB, and 75-80 LP.  I got him super cheap and he's a solid recruit for us.  He won't ever be a top scorer or all-conference player, but he'll be a really solid role player, something I haven't been focusing on too much in my past classes, and I think picking up a guy like Cornelius is getting back to my core recruiting strategy of solid players that will stay all 4 years.  

Recruit #3: John Washburn



Washburn is another solid player.  I took him away from Purdue, who also had to go 300+ miles into WV to try to get him.  He's not not going to be the most athletic big man, but he'll be an excellent rebounder, a good defender, and hopefully a good scorer.  His BH should get up pretty high, he'll have good Per, and he'll have great LP.  Another guy who is a solid, yet not spectacular recruit.  I'm feeling good about this class so far.  

Recruit #4: Albert Sheridan



Sheridan will be our starting C this year, as I promised him a start so I could reel him in cheap.  Like the bigs above, he'll be solid.  With 80+ ath, 85+ Reb, 80+ Def, 80+ SB, and 85-90 LP, Sheridan will be a contributor all 4 years.  Hopefully, his growth will be accelerated slightly with his starting and PT this year.  

Recruit #5: Brian Gentry



Gentry is my favorite recruit in the class.  With high-high potential in Ath and Def, he's going to have a good ath/spd combo, he'll be, at minimum, a passable defender, he'll be a knock-down shooter with top notch BH/P.  Plus, he'll be able to stay on the floor for a long time as he'll have 95+ stam.  He'll be a backup this year, hopefully provide a little shooting off the bench.  I'm really looking forward to his future.  

EDIT: I'm going to try to RS Gentry this year instead of Somalski.  He'll do more good in his 5th year than this year, as a 5th guard.  I figured I could use him this year, but I could probably get by with Somalski instead.  That didn't work.  

Summarizing this class- I'm very happy.  It's going to be a solid class to re-build this program upon.  While I've been able to bring in some top talent over the past couple of seasons with my A prestige, I didn't focus enough on bringing role players (read: I did not spend on mid-tier talent) and have been unable to really build a bench of any kind.  This also means I've been too reliant on a few top players and if/when they leave or don't pan out, my program really suffers.  By building a program on solid, 4 year players, I believe I'm getting back to how I recruited pre-Final Four trip.  With a base of solid players, if I'm able to occasionally bring in top talent or I hit on a high-potential guy, hopefully I'll have the ability to dominate my division again and be up there in contention for 1/2/3 seeds.  

I was decently pleased by how we did this year.  We went 18-8 during the regular season, beat Miami in the CT then lost to UNC by 1.  We ended up with a 9 seed taking on VMI in the first round.  We won that game only to face #1 Michigan State, who crushed us.  Still, this is the first 20 win season for NC State in 5 years, our first NT win in 5 years, and our first over .500 record in conference in 5 years.  While we're not at the point I'd like to be, this season is certainly a step in the right direction.  I am worried junior PG William Roberts will leave for the draft, but he certainly gave us all I could ask for this year.  He was 3rd Team All-American.  

No surprise, William Roberts has declared for the NBA draft.  He was great for us, 2nd and 3rd team all-conference, 3rd team All-American this year, 11th all-time leading scorer.  Sad to see him go, but it was expected.  Hopefully he goes high in the draft.  



EDIT: He went 10th overall in the draft.  Teammate Aaron Topper wet 57th.  

i let this slip a bit so I'll give a quick summary. 


I totally ****** up recruiting with 4 openings and signed one bad JUCO.  We then proceeded to go to the PIT and only win one game.  Mason Resnick declared for the draft and ended up going 2nd!  We somehow kept our A- prestige and the class of 4 are below.  

Recruit #1: Steven Alford



Alford will be our starting SF right away since we don't have one on the roster since Resnick left and I messed up recruiting so badly last year.  Alford will be a really good shooter, probably below average in the ath/spd department, but with high-high REB and high-high LP, he should be a good rebounder and scorer, so I think he'll end up being a really solid 4 year guy.  

Recruit #2: Edward Hale



Hale is going to be the backup SF for a while.  He'll be athletic and fast, a good defender, a decent rebounder, and hopefully a good shooter.  He's a career backup.  

Recruit #3: Nathaniel Atkins



I really like Atkins.  He was a local guy and I took him away from Kentucky early.  He's high-high in defense and perimeter, so he should end up being at least a very solid point guard.  At best, he's a 2nd round NBA pick and all-conference player.  

Recruit #4: John McCade



McCade is a very interesting recruit.  I poached him on the last cycle away from William & Mary.  He has high-high athleticism, LP, and Per.  His defense is a little low for my liking, but his other skills make up for it.  I'm not totally sure he'll ever become a solid low post scorer, but he'll at least be able to score a little with 70+ per.  He'll also be pretty fast and have good perimeter skills, so I think he will probably end up being a PF down the road.