Tonight’s in-state rivalry game between Duke and North Carolina State at Cameron Indoor Stadium marks the beginning of a new and exciting era for the Wolfpack program.
Outside of the Blue Devils and North Carolina, the ACC has lacked quality depth at the top during recent years. Part of this downturn can be attributed to N.C. State’s recent struggles, however, first year head coach Mark Gottfried has quickly returned a program with rich basketball history back to ACC relevance. Despite losing highly touted point guard Ryan Harrow, who transferred to Kentucky in the offseason, and being picked to finish eighth in the conference preseason poll, N.C. State (18-7, 7-3) is currently fourth in the ACC standings and a road win over No. 4 Duke (20-4, 7-2 in the ACC) could help propel them to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006.
“We have a long way to go here,” Gottfried said. “When I took the job back in April, I was told repeatedly, quite frankly, how mediocre we’ve been, so that was drilled into me.”
Even if the Wolfpack fail to make the 68-team field in 2012, an injection of talent is on the way. Gottfried and his staff have assembled one of the best 2012 recruiting classes in the country, which includes three McDonald’s All-Americans—TJ Warren, Tyler Lewis and former Duke target Rodney Purvis—all of whom are North Carolina natives.
As N.C. State hopes to consistently compete with North Carolina and Duke again for ACC supremacy, the timing of their star-studded 2012 recruiting class could not be better. In a down year of recruiting on Tobacco Road, the Blue Devils and Tar Heels combined only have two recruits playing in the McDonald’s All American game, whereas in 2010 and 2011 they had four and five, respectively.
“The fact that [Lewis, Purvis and Warren] came tells me they want to be a part of something really unique and that’s trying to build a basketball program back up,” Gottfried said.
The Wolfpack’s 2012 recruiting class is not complete yet either. Tonight’s on-court matchup with the Blue Devils coincides with a heated recruiting battle between the two schools for Amile Jefferson, a 6-foot-9, 200-pound combo forward, who is the third ranked power forward in his class according to Scout.com. Even though Kentucky, Villanova and Ohio State are also in the mix, recruiting experts consider Duke and North Carolina State to be the frontrunners to land the Philadelphia product.
After hosting Jefferson in 2010 for Countdown to Craziness, Duke’s interest faded as they began to heavily pursue Mitch McGary, who committed to Michigan last fall, and Tony Parker, who is no longer expected to come to Durham. Given the graduation of Miles Plumlee and potential loss of Mason Plumlee after this season, Duke is in desperate need of adding length and size to its frontcourt next season, so head coach Mike Krzyzewski has aggressively re-entered Jefferson’s recruitment.
“[Duke] is a just great school academically and athletically,” Jefferson said. “It’s everything that someone could want in a school. [Duke] brings the best of both worlds to one campus and that’s something that not only I admire, but pretty much everyone admires.”
North Carolina State has been recruiting the wiry forward equally as hard for even longer than Duke. Playing alongside three McDonald’s All-Americans and being part of a class that has the potential to restore the program to prime form is also an enticing sales pitch.
“[Lewis, Purvis and Warren] are great guys,” Jefferson said. “I definitely know them personally a little bit. I got to play with two of them over the summer and they are really good players, but I still have to do what I feel is right for me. Both Duke and N.C. State are great programs.”
Regardless if the Wolfpack defeat the Blue Devils on the court tonight or in Jefferson’s recruitment, the future in Raleigh is definitely bright.
“We are going to compete hard on the floor. We are going to compete hard in recruiting. We are going to compete and hopefully we can keep improving,” Gottfried said.
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