NC State is almost certainly the most interesting ACC team going into the season. Why?
Because of their new coach, Will Wade.
Wade comes to Raleigh after winning stretches at Chattanooga (40-25), VCU (51-20), LSU (105-51) and McNeese (50-9).
Three of those four schools are in smaller leagues and it’s not easy to win at those remote outposts. Wade did though. He’s never had a losing season.
So why are people around the ACC somewhat aghast that NC State hired Wade?
Well. because of what happened at LSU.
Wade got caught up in the FBI/Adidas scandal while he was in Baton Rouge and was recorded as saying he made a”strong-ass offer” to a high school player.
It cost him his job and, incidentally, also that of former Duke AD Joe Alleva, who left Durham for LSU, where his handling of the Wade situation cost him his position.
Wade did his coaching rehab at McNeese for two years and came to Raleigh after a social media campaign to draft him for the Wolfpack job that came open when Kevin Keatts was fired this past spring.
Most fans were ecstatic because, as noted, Wade wins. But not all were happy. Wade’s ethical track record is obviously not impressive. We’ll come back to that in a bit.
Wade certainly hit the ground running, working the portal and rebuilding his roster.
Mike James, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Dontrez Styles, Breon Pass, Trey Parker, Bryce Heard, Jayden Taylor, Dennis Parker, Michael O’ Connell, Ismael Diouf and Ben Middlebrooks are all either out of eligibility or left the program. The only scholarship player back from last year is Paul McNeil.
Wade brought in 6-3 senior Alyn Breed and 6-6 Quadir Copeland from his McNeese State team, 6-10 senior Scottie Ebube from Wyoming, 6-2 senior Tre Holloman from Michigan State, 6-8 senior Ven-Allen Lubin from UNC, 6-6 senior Darrion Williams from Texas Tech, 6-6 junior Terrance Arceneaux from Houston, 6-9 junior Jerry Deng from Florida State and 6-6 redshirt freshman Colt Langdon from Butler.
He also brings in 6-5 freshmen Matt Able from Tampa, 6-5 Jayme Kontuniemi from Finland and 6-8 Zymicah Wilkins, from Rutherfordton and Christ School.
There’s some serious talent in that group, starting with Williams. He averaged 15.1 ppg, 5.5 boards and 3.6 apg for Texas Tech, helping to lead the Red Raiders to the Elite Eight this past season.
Breed and Copeland, who was unremarkable at Syracuse before his transfer, will provide talent and continuity for Wade’s system.
Breed only played two games at McNeese before suffering a knee injury but he also played at Providence before his first transfer. Jury’s a bit out right now: he never topped 5 ppg before his transfer to McNeese and you can’t base much on two early-season games. However, at a minimum, he can help teach the new guys Wade’s system and he’ll probably do more than that, assuming his knee is sound.
Copeland’s stats as a Syracuse sophomore and a McNeese junior were pretty close, though his rebounds were down and assists up after his move to play for Wade. He did become a much better facilitator for the Cowboys than he was for Syracuse.
Ebube is a big, physical guy, but he’s not much of a shooter. He’s never taken a three in his career and he’s going to be sent to the foul line a lot because he shoots just 39.2 percent there.
He does handle himself well around the basket though, hitting 67.8 overall for his career. We’re pretty sure most of those are going to be pretty close to the basket.
Tre Holloman did not have spectacular stats at Michigan State, but he’s a point guard and stats aren’t that big of a deal for point guards. Tom Izzo trusted him enough to make him a captain. That says a lot and we’re sure he’ll be good for the Pack.
Arceneaux was a Top 40 recruit coming out of high school and at Houston, you have to defend to play. He had some success there and adds to Wade’s impressive athletic core in Raleigh.
Deng is from Florida State and honestly he didn't make a huge impression on us, but who knows what will happen with a new coach?
At 6-9, Deng, is a decent shooter who will have a chance to carve out a different role under Wade. We’ll see what he does with his opportunity.
Lubin is a fun situation. He outraged UNC fans by moving to Raleigh and Wade taunted Hubert Davis for not using him intelligently, vowing that in Raleigh, he’d be more effective.
The UNC-State games will be very intense, thanks to Lubin’s decision.
Langdon is a native of Raleigh who started at Butler but redshirted. He’s a good outside shooter, but he hasn’t proven himself in college yet, so the jury’s still out.
The freshmen class has some potential too, starting with Able. He’s the highest-rated player to choose NC State since Dennis Smith back in 2016. He says his main goal is just to win and whatever it takes, that’s what he’ll do. He could emerge as State’s best player.
It’s hard to know much about Kontuniemi since he played in Finland, but he appears to be talented.
Then there’s Wilkins. He spent a year at Christ School and was the team’s leading scorer. He actually committed to NC State under Kevin Keatts and stayed committed after the coaching change, which is not all that common.
It’s hard to know what to expect from State since everything is new. The coaching staff is new, the players are new, we don’t know how effective the interior defense will be or the Pack’s ability to score inside.
It’s all so new that the official NC State roster page only has two pictures - McNeil and walk-on Jordan Snell.
Having said that though, Wade is an excellent on-court coach. He has never had a losing record as noted, and in fact has never had fewer than 18 wins, which he had in his first years at Chattanooga and LSU respectively.
And he appears to have a talented core of athletes to start his NC State career. Wade is strikingly confident, saying over the summer that State would be in the tournament and his taunting of UNC’s Hubert Davis over how he used Lubin has, no doubt, gone over very well with State fans who are sick of being the third wheel in the Triangle.
And he’s just 42. He’s gone toe to toe with some great coaches and certainly held his own.
However, there’s no question that hiring Wade is risky.
Over the summer, there was a joke that NIL now stands for Now It’s Legal. Well, yes and no.
Profound changes in the game mean that players will get paid. However, there is a new structure in place and new limitations. The pressure to get players remains and will intensify. Certainly the pressure on coaches to win will not go away, and that means that cheating will not go away either.
In fact, according to an article by Matt Norlander, coaches fully expect cheating to not only continue but to accelerate. Izzo estimates it used to be that 10-15 percent of coaches cheated. He thinks that could move up to around 40 percent.
Given Wade’s track record and his intense desire to succeed, what are the odds that he cheats again? What would you peg it at? Ten percent? Thirty? Fifty?
Just as an aside, there’s a reasonable chance that the next major college basketball scandal involves the IRS, but back to Wade.
Money isn’t the only way to cheat, as UNC taught us. There’s also academic fraud.
We’re pretty sure Wade is going to win - he always has - but is he a risky hire?
Yes he is.
NC State has a long and sad history with cheating. It happened in the 1950’s, the 1960’s, the 1970’s, the 1980’s, and most recently under Mark Gottfried’s tenure in the last decade.
It’ll be said if it happens again, but with Wade in charge, only a fool would rule it out.
However, unless or until that does happen, Wolfpack basketball should be vastly improved, and State fans will be happy to have a winning team again.
Just don’t count on the good times lasting.
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