Category: North Carolina State Wolfpack

4 bid thieves force bubble teams to sweat before Selection Sunday reveal

Four college basketball programs stole bids for the 2024 NCAA Tournament by winning their conference championships ahead of Selection Sunday.

A college basketball season full of parity and upsets culminated in an insane final few days of conference tournament championships – with a pair of Power-6 conferences being won by teams not expected to earn at-large bids in the NCAA Tournament.

First it was the Wolfpack of NC State, who became the second program ever to win five straight games in five days to win a conference championship, starting as the 10 seed in the ACC and mowing down five teams that all won a national championship this past decade in Louisville, Syracuse, Duke, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Then the Oregon Ducks knocked off Washington State in the final Pac-12 championship, resulting in Dana Altman’s team taking a bid.

Additionally, a pair of mid-major conferences had potential bid thieves as well. The AAC championship will be between UAB and Temple, while FAU could still earn an at-large bid despite losing in the semifinals. And finally the Atlantic 10 conference had a wild weekend where each of the top four seeds were upset on the same day, resulting in a championship battle between Duquesne and VCU, while a ranked Dayton team will likely earn an at-large bid giving the conference two teams in the big dance.

All this bid thievery is bad news for teams who were on the right side of the bubble, and is a likely death sentence for the teams who were borderline. Fans of Indiana State, Seton Hall, Providence, St. John’s, Texas A&M, and Colorado will be extra sweaty for the next few hours until the bracket is revealed starting at 6:00 PM ET.

Grayson McCall commits to play for N.C. State

The former Coastal Carolina quarterback threw for 10,005 yards and 88 touchdowns across five seasons with the Chanticleers.

Quarterback Grayson McCall, one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the transfer portal, announced his commitment to play for N.C. State next season on Wednesday.

The former Coastal Carolina quarterback set program records with 10,005 passing yards and 88 passing touchdowns across his five seasons with the Chanticleers. He averaged 9.8 yards per attempt over his entire career, he threw just 14 interceptions, and he won the Sun Belt Player of the Year Award three straight times from 2020-22.

McCall broke out in 2020, his redshirt freshman season. He threw for 2,488 yards, 26 touchdowns, and three interceptions, completing 68.8% of his passes.

He improved the following year, setting personal bests in completion percentage (73.0%), passing yards (2,873), yards per attempt (11.3), and passing touchdowns (27) while still only throwing three interceptions.

As the Chanticleers starting quarterback, McCall led his team to a pair of Sun Belt conference championship appearances in 2020 and 2022. Coastal Carolina went 38-12 across the past four seasons, but McCall and former head coach Jamey Chadwell were a combined 31-6 before Chadwell left to be the head coach at Liberty for the 2023 season.

Report: N.C. State quarterback M.J. Morris to redshirt remainder of 2023 season

The Wolfpack sophomore led the team to upset wins over Clemson and Miami the past two weeks and won three of his four starts.

North Carolina State quarterback M.J. Morris will redshirt the remainder of the 2023 season, according to a Tuesday report from The Wolfpacker’s Ethan McDowell.

The sophomore quarterback played the past four games for the Wolfpack, taking over for former Virginia signal-caller Brennan Armstrong. The Wolfpack won three of Morris’s four games, including upset wins over Clemson and Miami the past two weeks.

Morris threw for 719 yards and seven touchdowns over his tenure at the helm of the offense, completing 55.8% of his passes for 6.4 yards per attempt. He threw three interceptions in his debut against Marshall, but he has only thrown two in the three games since.

Armstrong will slide back in as N.C. State’s starter. He led the passing offense in the first five games of the season, throwing for 971 yards, five touchdowns, and six interceptions. He completed 58.8% of his passes for 6.1 yards per attempt. The senior has continued to contribute to the offense with his legs while Morris started, rushing for 51 yards on eight attempts against Miami.

The Wolfpack play Wake Forest on Saturday.

Former high-four star recruit Isaiah Miranda enters transfer portal

NC State redshirt freshman Isaiah Miranda has entered the transfer portal according to reports.

Former consensus top-50 prospect, forward Isaiah Morris has entered the transfer portal and is leaving NC State after just one year with the Wolfpack. The news was first reported by Travis Branham of 247Sports.

As a freshman at NC State, Miranda did not play in any games this past season after signing with the program mid-semester. Earlier this offseason, he had declared for the NBA draft and remains eligible for the draft but in the meantime has now entered the transfer portal.

He originally signed with NC State over USC, Georgetown, Louisville, UCLA, and Connecticut among others.

The Wolfpack this past season went 23-11 including 12-8 in conference play in their sixth season under head coach Kevin Keatts. They made the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the Keatts era as well, making it in as a No. 11 seed where they lost to No. 6 Creighton in the first round.

Despite Miranda’s departure, NC State should be just fine in the frontcourt next fall, as they added Clemson’s Ben Middlebrooks and Missouri’s Mohamed Diarra to the transfer portal this offseason.

Notably, the Wolfpack are also set to return beloved big man DJ Burns to their roster for next season. The 6-foot-9, 260-pound forward/center averaged 12.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists for NC State this past season.

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Arizona State’s DJ Horne picks NC State as his next destination

NC State’s backcourt got a big addition on Monday with a Pac-12 transfer announcing his decision.

North Carolina State added a quality piece to their backcourt on Monday morning when Arizona State transfer guard DJ Horne made his decision to join the Wolfpack. He announced the decision on Twitter.

Horne, a 6-foot-1-inch guard is returning home by picking NC State. Horne is a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, and played his high school basketball at Trinity Christian School in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Horne will be playing now at the third college of his collegiate career. He originally signed with Illinois State out of high school, spending two years with the Redbirds including a sophomore season in which he averaged 15.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. He would join Arizona State before the 2021-2022 season, where he spent each of the last two seasons, averaging 12.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists over 65 games which included 62 starts.

Now, he’ll return home and suit up for the Wolfpack who will be entering their seventh season under head coach Kevin Keatts. This past season, they made the NCAA Tournament for just the second time under Keatts as a No.11 seed, losing in the first round to Creighton.

Horne will look to help replace the hole left by guard Terquavion Smith In 2022-23, Smith averaged 17.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 4.1 assists before deciding to enter the NBA Draft as a projected first-round pick. The Wolfpack are also set to lose guard Jarkel Joiner who averaged 17.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.6 assists this season.

NC State QB Ben Finley becomes third Wolfpack quarterback to enter transfer portal

North Carolina State loses yet another quarterback to the transfer portal.

On Tuesday, the North Carolina State Wolfpack lost a quarterback to the transfer portal for the third time this offseason as Ben Finley announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal.

Finley joins Zo Wallace and Devin Leary as quarterbacks to leave the program since the beginning of the offseason. While Wallace has yet to find a new destination, Leary will continue his collegiate career at Kentucky.

Finley finished up his third season with NC State this past fall where he completed 65-of-123 passing attempts for 741 yards and three touchdowns. Over his career, he’s played sparingly, appearing in eight games and passing for 912 total yards and four touchdowns.

A member of the 2020 recruiting class for NC State, Finley was a consensus three-star prospect and considered a top-25 quarterback in the country. He committed to the Wolfpack over Arizona, Arizona State, Iowa State, Colorado State, and Nevada.

Finley is the younger brother of NFL free-agent quarterback Ryan Finley who last played with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2019 and 2020. Ryan was a fourth-round draft pick by the Bengals in the 2019 NFL Draft after playing his college ball at both Boise State and NC State.

While the Wolfpack have lost three quarterbacks to the portal, they did bring in former Virginia signal-caller Brennan Armstrong to the program. Armstrong is expected to be the Wolfapack’s starting quarterback after passing for over 9,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in his first five seasons at Virginia. Last season, the Wolfpack went 8-5 including 4-4 in ACC play before losing to Maryland 16-12 in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.