Wolfpack recruiting lagging

The Brain · Apr 18, 2006 at 9:16 AM

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/14365879.htm

Wolfpack recruiting lagging
Analysts: Lack of coach setting N.C. State back
KEN TYSIAC
[email protected]

RALEIGH - As coaches eagerly watched top high school basketball recruits last weekend, one school was conspicuously absent.

The red and white of N.C. State was nowhere to be found because a replacement for Herb Sendek hadn't been hired.

Recruiting analysts said Monday that N.C. State is falling behind in recruiting as athletics director Lee Fowler's coaching search dragged on, 16 days after Sendek decided to leave for Arizona State.

April's evaluation period is a key time for coaches to see junior recruits.
"It's urgent," said All-Star Sports analyst Bob Gibbons. "There is a great sense of urgency because Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Skip Prosser, Oliver Purnell, Gary Williams, you name it, have been at sanctioned events so they could look at top prospects for 2007."

Scout.com recruiting analyst Dave Telep said the spring is an important time in recruiting because it allows coaches to establish their interest in players by watching their AAU games. It might be especially important this spring for N.C. State to avoid further delay because Telep said many top juniors already are committed, so competition for the rest will be fierce.

Twenty-one of scout.com's top 50 juniors have made commitments, and there are two more open evaluation weekends left this spring. About 500 AAU teams are scheduled to compete in the Kingwood Classic AAU event this weekend in Texas.

The Charlie Weber tournament in Washington is the big event the following weekend.

"You've got to get that logo out in front of kids the next two weeks," Telep said.

N.C. State has no juniors committed; junior Chris Wright -- who was rated the Wolfpack's top backcourt recruit in years -- rescinded his commitment after Sendek's departure.

Telep said N.C. State's most important task is to hire a quality coach, regardless of the time frame. Recent ACC coaching searches at Virginia (33 days before hiring Dave Leitao last year) and Wake Forest (14 days, Prosser, 2001) have demonstrated that patience is prudent if a good coach is landed.

But Gibbons said it's also important for N.C. State to hire somebody soon to handle other aspects of the program. Before Sendek left, he asked rising senior guard Engin Atsur to take the lead in the team's offseason workout program, but a coach's guidance is needed elsewhere.

Center Cedric Simmons, who just completed his sophomore season, is considering applying for the NBA draft. High school seniors Larry Davis, Dan Werner and Dennis Horner, who have signed with N.C. State, need to see whether they have a place in the new coach's plans.

Werner and Horner, in particular, were ideally suited to Sendek's Princeton offense as jump shooting forwards, but might not fit as well in a more up-tempo system.

"There needs to be closure with a new coach so you can move forward rather than sitting in a stalemate or a vacuum," Gibbons said.
Since Memphis' John Calipari on April 11 became the second coach to publicly reject the Wolfpack (joining Texas' Rick Barnes), there has been little news on N.C. State's search.

Reports have added Nevada-Las Vegas coach Lon Kruger to the highly speculative list of candidates that has included Texas A&M's Billy Gillispie and Miami's Frank Haith, but there has been no confirmation they have been contacted.

Whoever the new coach is, Gibbons and Telep agree that hiring him and putting him to work soon is imperative from a recruiting standpoint.

"We're at the point where it's getting pretty important," Telep said.
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THE 5TH CRUSADER · Apr 18, 2006 at 9:35 AM

TOLD YOU DUMB STATE FANS..

VA49er · Apr 18, 2006 at 9:47 AM

.

mathmajors · Apr 18, 2006 at 9:05 PM

Brane is doing his best PantherPaul imitation. Scary.

The Brain · Apr 19, 2006 at 4:16 PM

http://www.nypost.com/sports/64693.htm

DAVIS REGRETS CHOICE
By DAN MARTIN
April 19, 2006 -- Larry Davis, who committed to N.C. State last June, now says there remains a 50-50 chance of him joining the Wolfpack this fall.

"I do regret it, I should have at least taken my other visits," said the Christ the King senior, who also considered Villanova and Pitt, among others. "When I made the decision, I was calling all the shots. Now, they are."

Actually, no one is calling the shots. Nearly three weeks since coach Herb Sendek left for Arizona State, nothing has gone right for N.C. State.

Numerous coaches have spurned the school's overtures, including Texas' Rick Barnes and Memphis' John Calipari.

"I was happy when it looked like Calipari was going there because he recruited me hard to Memphis and I liked him," said Davis, who was at St. John's last night, practicing with the Jordan All-American regional city team that will play at the Garden on Saturday. "Now I don't know what's going to happen. 2006 has been a rough year for me."

That's an understatement. Davis will play his first game this weekend since he was suspended during the CHSAA AA playoffs after yelling at a referee following the city title game on March 12.
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