An amazing spring for NC State basketball head coach Mark Gottfried on the recruiting trail has some wondering: Where does this class rank for the Wolfpack?
Any discussion on the topic is a tribute to the job Gottfried and his new-look staff have done. After fall, they only had a signing from 5-star point guard Dennis Smith Jr., but they were stung by Smith’s friend and fellow 5-star Edrice Adebayo, an athletic power forward, surprisingly choosing Kentucky over a package deal at NC State.
Then came the unusual configuration of the spring. Gottfried signed an international 5-star (Turkish center Omer Yurtseven), one prospect who reclassified up a year (Cleveland guard Markell Johnson) and another who needed a post-grad year (Africa native and power forward Ted Kapita), and one conventional four-year prospect who was at one point committed to an SEC school (Mississippi native power forward Darius Hicks).
Johnson and Kapita are both regarded as 4-star prospects. Kapita was originally listed as the No. 53 player in the 2015 class by Rivals.com when he signed with Arkansas. Johnson was the No. 40 prospect in 2017 by Rivals.com. Hicks chose NC State over Cincinnati.
The recruiting service 247Sports has the collection ranked No. 4 nationally and second in the ACC behind Duke, the collector of the country’s top class. (Note: Rivals.com has not updated its rankings but counts Smith as a member of the 2015 class because he already enrolled.)
What were some of the other impressive classes NC State put together in the last 10 years? To find out for free, sign up for basic access to ACCSports.com. Get access to the rest of this article and unlimited access to the rest of ACCSports.com when you upgrade to Premium Access! Click on the button below to view all the benefits of becoming a Premium Access member.Get the rest of the story right now with Premium Access!
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