In his debut season at two of his four previous stops in his coaching career, Will Wade led his team to the NCAA Tournament.
In his first season at North Carolina State, Wade looks to do the same with a transformed Wolfpack squad that opens Monday night against a North Carolina Central team taking a 20-mile bus ride from Durham to Raleigh, N.C.
Attracting talented, experienced players always has been a strong suit for Wade. With the Wolfpack, he lured five players who were in the rotation at power-conference schools last year.
The standout is senior forward Darrion Williams, who averaged 15.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last year while helping Texas Tech reach the Elite Eight. He was named the ACC’s Preseason Player of the Year.
“When the ball’s in his hands, good things are gonna happen,” Wade said. “He can play all five spots on the court.”
Williams joins Tre Holloman (Michigan State), Ven-Allen Lubin (North Carolina), Jerry Deng (Florida State) and Terrance Arceneaux (Houston) as the high-major transfers.
After coaching McNeese State to the NCAA Tournament the last two years, Wade brought along his backcourt facilitator Quadir Copeland.
“We have 549 NCAA Tournament minutes played on our roster,” Wade said. “That’s 200 more than the next-closest ACC team. We want to have a team that’s prepared to get to March and prepared to win in March.”
NC State starts the season as the first team outside of the Associated Press Top 25 poll. Its rotation bears little resemblance to the one coach Kevin Keatts fielded last year in going 12-19 and failing to reach the ACC tournament in the 18-team league.
NC Central, which went 14-19 last season, also features considerable roster turnover as its top six scorers are gone. LeVelle Moton, the winningest coach in school history who has guided the Eagles to four NCAA Tournament appearances in 16 seasons, brought Division I transfers Tekao Carpenter (Austin Peay), Khouri Carvey (Morehead State) and Coppin State duo Ryan Archey and Jonathan Dunn.
The only rotation player back is Dionte Johnson, who owns the school record for assists in a game (16) since it became a Division I program.
“I’m excited about this year’s group because collectively they possess a higher basketball IQ than we’ve had the previous years,” Moton said.
–Field Level Media
