Quote :

"Wouldn't it be nice if Rowan grew a couple inches and put on a few pounds,"

he's almost 20, he's not gonna grow a couple inches.

3/9/2016 9:22:21 AM

^ I thought he reclassified and enrolled early. Is he that old?

3/9/2016 9:25:00 AM

Hopefully Rowan will also understand that his playing time isn't really going to be cut, its gonna be the same as it would have been this year if Henderson hadn't gone down the first game of the season.

3/9/2016 9:27:19 AM

Quote :

" I thought he reclassified and enrolled early. Is he that old?"

both are true. guess he was just old for his grade...but he did reclassify

3/9/2016 9:35:19 AM

Quote :

"No offense to Cat, but you're talking about a guy who would be a lottery pick THIS YEAR if he could go straight out of high school."

Wouldn't be the first lottery pick that wasn't ready to carry the load as #1 guy on a major conference college team

Brandon Ingram might be 2 (or even 1) in draft and didn't make acc first team.

3/9/2016 10:45:34 AM

Here we are comparing those two things again

3/9/2016 11:32:30 AM

Eh, Ingram was always considered more of a project than immediate impact guy. He had a slow start but no doubt the 2nd half of the regular season he was one of the best players in the ACC. Think I read he put on like 30lbs before the season started, he'll continue to add muscle in the NBA and be solid.

Difference with Duke's team this year was that the "big name guys" weren't physically ready like last year's freshmen.

Smith is already practicing with the team and rehabbing, he was drawing comparisons to being the best HS PG since guys like John Wall. Like I said, if he's 100% healthy and confident in his knee, he's going to be the best player on our team next year, don't care if Cat is here or not. That's just how good he really is.

Cat could definitely benefit from coming back. He can definitely improve on his court-vision, passing, consistent 3pt shooting, etc. His scoring totals might take a dip, but his efficiency and assist stats might go up.

It's basically the same as the Lacey story this season. He had great stats last year, but just think if he came back and teams couldn't just key on him or double-team him when we had Cat playing beside him. Next year, teams couldn't just focus on stopping Cat when we have Smith, Dorn, and Henderson in the rotation. Would also probably help him not have to play 39-40 minutes every game and let him actually stay fresh and utilize his speed more, on offense and defense. Cat has a ton he could improve on if he came back next season.

3/9/2016 11:36:00 AM

^meh... but even if so. he can't improve his "stock"

all that stuff he potentially can improve on, he can do in the NBA too being a backup PG somewhere for a year or two. Go get paid my friend.

3/9/2016 11:48:47 AM

Im really interested in what Dorn does next year. I could see him having a good surprise everyone type of season.

3/9/2016 12:01:54 PM

Quote :

"^meh... but even if so. he can't improve his "stock" all that stuff he potentially can improve on, he can do in the NBA too being a backup PG somewhere for a year or two. Go get paid my friend. "

i agree.

of course we'd love to have him back...but realistically, those are things that he can improve on while on a roster next season in the NBA. i'm not sure he'd go from where he is now to a sure-fire 1st round/lottery pick next season.

3/9/2016 12:05:49 PM

It'll be interesting to see who declares early. Could be the difference in Cat being projected a late 1st rounder or 2nd rounder.

3/9/2016 12:29:56 PM

The only thing Cat could improve by coming back is showing that he's an even better shooter. While he looked like a great shooter during the 2nd third of the season (I think that makes sense), his efficiency has gone done recently. With DSJr, he would get some minutes playing off the ball and hopefully his percentages would go up and that would make him look even more attractive in the draft.

Cat's not the biggest PG and doesn't exactly jump out of the gym...he'll need to shoot better to get decent PT in the league. He might still be a first rounder, but if he's not projected there, it won't be the worst decision in the world to come back for his senior year.

3/9/2016 12:30:03 PM

Quote :

" he's going to be the best player on our team next year, don't care if Cat is here or not"

as long as thats true, i'm fine, all i'm saying is dont crown his ass before he earns it


i'm prob the only one with this opinion, but as good as JJ Hickson was, i think it was really bad for the team for him to start day 1 over a team that had just made tourney final and returned basically everyone in the front court. We were bad that year but even worse with Hickson. Costner and Mccauley went from being emerging all-acc to crap as they lost their minutes and confidence. Also, JJ needed the ball fed to him in the post and couldnt handle the double teams better teams threw at him.

3/9/2016 9:16:45 PM

Hickson also had dogshit as his coach. DSJ will have.. something slightly better

3/9/2016 9:34:43 PM

Hickson wasn't the problem, it was the stars from our most improbable ACC Tournament Finals loss who couldn't deal with him

[Edited on March 9, 2016 at 11:08 PM. Reason : you seem to forget how boss JJ was]

3/9/2016 11:07:52 PM

It was that costner-quarter pounder meal connection that let us down

3/9/2016 11:09:26 PM

Look guys, when I'm not scouring the recruiting websites, I'm out there jock sniffing the high school boys basketball players, and I can tell you the reason for the chemistry issues with that team were

3/9/2016 11:13:11 PM

Quote :

"you seem to forget how boss JJ was"

Maybe I'm misremembering completely, but I thought he was boss against crap competition and MIA vs good teams, hence why Costner had better frosh stats. Costner also beat UNC, took us to improbable tourney finals and made 3rd team all acc.

3/9/2016 11:36:20 PM

There were a ton of rumors about friction between Hickson and Costner, for off-the-court issues involving a lady.

Smith Jr. is already on the team, working with the guys, building chemistry. He also seems a lot more out-going than Hickson was, so I think he's going to make an easy transition to playing with our team.

3/10/2016 8:40:35 AM

If DSJ is practicing, even to a limited degree, Cat has a good feel for what the team will look like next year. I suspect this comes down entirely to what the scouts say. I assume scouts blow smoke, but Im not sure what this new process will look like.

3/10/2016 8:58:36 AM

Any current or former nba player tell people all the time, if you have a chance at getting drafted, you go. 1st rd, 2nd rd whatever. Hodge has been saying it for over a month. It's the right move. Like Zo, the 2nd rd is probably his ceiling. Yea he can stay and make the fans happy, but will the fans donate money to him in a couple years if gets injured his senior year and is unable to play pro ball? "but but .....College degree" gtfo lol

3/10/2016 9:42:16 AM

I mean inevitably SOME scout out there last year was blowing smoke up Lacey's ass and he thought he'd be a 2nd round pick, ended up playing overseas.

Let's say Cat does come back, I mean barring some catastrophic injury(which could happen in the pros too), his worst case scenario is going to play internationally. Upside is he plays better than this year, shows improvements in a few areas, gets a ton of exposure playing next to Dennis Smith Jr, and goes late 1st round.

It's not crazy to think he could be a 1st rounder, he's being projected early 2nd round now, and those are all assuming several young guys go pro ahead of him. If those guys stay(like Grayson Allen might), then he'll move up to being a borderline 1st rounder this year.

There's a big difference in being a 1st round and a 2nd round pick. Guaranteed contracts are a big deal, and if he thinks he has a shot at one, it might be worth coming back for.

3/10/2016 9:59:44 AM

we worry about bigs for next year a lot... and I assume gottfried will always prefer the high post offense with 2 bigs before anything but... if we end up with only abu/anya and half of freeman next year... run small ball. I enjoyed when we only had one big in a couple times this season.

the small ball cavalry is coming remember. forgot which broadcaster said that. Patrick?

3/10/2016 10:23:26 AM

^one more???

3/10/2016 10:49:08 AM

^^^ most people have him on the back half of the 2nd rd. If he gets injured in the pros, he would have all of his stuff taken care of by the nba and also would be able to buy insurance to lock in some future income in the case of a career ending injury. NBA also offers retirement benefits. Getting injured in college you get none of that unless your school buys insurance for you but that doesn't happen in cbball for non-lottery picks

3/10/2016 11:26:18 AM

Do what everyone does and take out a policy in Europe somewhere where the NCAA will never know. Get hurt, make a million dollars.

3/10/2016 11:29:54 AM

We really need that Wake transfer or some other big man pickup that can immediately contribute.

A lineup of DSJ, Dorin, Rowan, Henderson and Abu with Anya and the twins on the bench...not a bad two deep if we get a big man transfer.

That's a very good team...It will surprise a lot of people.

3/10/2016 12:46:32 PM

Anya should not be starting until he can consistently provide 20+ minutes of good defense and rebounding. He is too much of an offensive liability to be playing more than that. It's really pathetic the way he got pushed around by Plumlee yesterday. Missing out on Bam will probably cost us an ACC championship.

3/10/2016 1:37:43 PM

I'd go down on Cat faster than a youth pastor at an all boys church retreat if he plays another year.

3/10/2016 9:46:35 PM

^Gross

3/10/2016 10:05:25 PM

No offense.

3/10/2016 10:27:17 PM

^what is, things the anti-Gottfried coaches in practice?

3/10/2016 10:53:34 PM

YOU SON OF A BITCH

3/10/2016 10:55:02 PM

Gott coaches offense. He just doesn't coach defense.

Swing and a miss.

3/11/2016 7:48:04 AM

^So if Gott coaches offense then the anti-gott would coach no offense........

[Edited on March 11, 2016 at 8:41 AM. Reason : "I misunderstood the joke, therefore it's bad" ]

3/11/2016 8:40:19 AM

I need one of those One More shirts. I assume it's related to alcohol consumption during NC State sporting events.

3/11/2016 12:46:06 PM

Need to get Rick Barry's son from College of Charleston. Grad student who can play immediately. Shoots granny fts like his old man.

3/14/2016 11:02:49 PM

Agree, we desperately need a wing player

3/15/2016 10:08:23 AM

Sarcasm?

We have Dorn, Henderson, Martin 1, Martin 2, Mav, and Kirk on the wing next year. I think we'll be just fine.

We really need a big who can shoot.

3/15/2016 10:59:57 AM

i think the sarcasm was obvious.

3/15/2016 11:14:10 AM

Half kidding, but do we know if any of our wings are actually good? The answer is no.

3/15/2016 4:52:03 PM

I think you can say that all of them are at least pretty good.

Henderson averaged 12 pts on 38/44/85% as a freshmen at a major conference school.

Dorn averaged 12pts on 34/51/66% and was freshmen of the year at Charlotte.

Caleb averaged 12 and 5 last year while shooting 36% from behind the arc.

Cody didn't have a ton of offense, but he still shot well overall and does a ton of other things.

Rowan averaged 13 and 3 as a freshmen without summer workouts and practice. He was hot and cold all year, but was only a few % points behind Scott Wood's freshmen shooting numbers and had a better freshmen free throw percentage.

I think our wings for next year are extremely solid with the potential for several of them to get to the All-ACC level in the next year or two (second/third team most likely).

3/15/2016 5:05:53 PM

^
Fair enough. Pretty good at our strongest position aint cutting though.

[Edited on March 15, 2016 at 5:09 PM. Reason : a]

3/15/2016 5:09:06 PM

If Kirk transferred, would anyone notice?

3/15/2016 5:40:20 PM

id miss watching him dribble it off of his foot and then jack a 3 as soon as he touched the ball in his 1.2 mpg.

Hes really athletic and at 6'8, with that athleticism, he was worth the shot. Cal at Kentucky wanted to do the same thing. Just hope he stays and tries to develop. Maybe he could be usable by his junior and senior seasons...kinda like vandy.

3/15/2016 7:14:01 PM

i'd miss any non-walk on who transferred. depth has been an issue for us every year.

3/15/2016 7:44:24 PM

^^ who was that guy we had.. Josh.. Something. Went to like Tulane maybe, then we tried to get him back as a grad student. Kirk could be that guy. Just needs more time than others, but should be solid sometime

3/15/2016 11:12:39 PM

josh davis

3/16/2016 7:34:14 AM

Didn't Josh Davis also have a crazy growth-spurt after transferring? Thought he was a wing player for us that shot up a few inches and became a PF.

3/16/2016 8:52:28 AM

Josh Davis just filled out.

Kirk seems happy in his current role, but you never know. He's got great athleticism and length...and can actually shoot the ball pretty well. Just has to learn how to dribble. He has the tools to be a really good player by his junior and senior years.

3/16/2016 8:56:46 AM