Mayo Signs with USC; Is a JUCO PG the Answer for State?

Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball47

OJ Mayo signs with USC thereby ending any hope/speculation that Mayo could re-open his recruiting. Additionally, potential combo-guard target Jordan Crawford signed with Indiana.

SFN is going to share a full-blown basketball roster and scholarship analysis in the coming days. When you see the work, you will note the primary remaining hole in the Wolfpack’s roster for the near future is at point guard.

Currently, the Wolfpack projects to rely on combo-athlete Fernold Degand to run the show at the point next year and into the near future. Degand will be a sophomore who has never played a collegiate game when he becomes eligible next year. Additionally, State currently projects to have no back-up to Degand at the point unless freshman Trevor Ferguson steps into this role.

We don’t think that NC State’s program should be built exclusively on on Junior College players like, for example, Cincinnati who brought in SIX Juco’s this year to fill the holes on their roster (without any national criticism). But, the current situation with NC State’s roster and program may be exactly what JUCOs offer to a program.

Would Sidney Lowe and NC State consider this route for use of a 4th scholarship in the class of 2007 despite our past endorsement to save this scholarship for the future?

As partialqualifier noted in our comments section, we don’t want to put the cart before the horse here:

(Lowe) is seeing Ferguson and Degand in practice. Not to take away from any of our vast knowledge of babsketball, but I would take Sidney Lowe’s evaluation of point guard play over any of our’s any day of the week and three times on Sunday!

It should go without saying that if the coaching staff believes that Degand and Ferguson have enough talent to effectively fill the position then that is fantastic! But, at this point there is very little information in the public domain to support fans making this conclusion until we see/hear more about the two players. With this said, a solution to this potential hole in the Wolfpack’s roster could very well be a junior college point guard. The use of a scholarship for only two years for the right point guard could pay tremendous dividends on the court in the next two years.

Like we say, we will have much more on the scholarship analysis in the coming days…but we wanted to throw this out to you to see if it generates any thoughts and/or any perspective on current juco point guards about which we currently have zero knowledge.

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball

47 Responses to Mayo Signs with USC; Is a JUCO PG the Answer for State?

  1. primacyone 11/16/2006 at 3:21 PM #

    By the way, I heard Juluis Mays scored 43 points in a game last week.

  2. StateFans 11/16/2006 at 4:00 PM #

    ^ WOW!

  3. redfred2 11/16/2006 at 4:40 PM #

    I don’t about considering OJ Mayo and Rico Pickett as surprises.

    But Booker Woodfox? Now there’s a name you don’t hear every day.

  4. redfred2 11/16/2006 at 6:43 PM #

    “MAYO naise”

    “I got no place to go Sir…(sob, sob)…no place to go.”

    I guess he does now.

  5. WolfPup35 11/16/2006 at 9:53 PM #

    Valvano used the JOCO route with good success, so what’s to say that Sid won’t do the same thing?? JUCOs may bring some baggage with them, but they also bring on the floor experience, which is smething that is very very important. Especially in this league.

  6. bTHEredterror 11/17/2006 at 2:53 AM #

    I don’t think Marion HS, Mays high school team, has played yet.

    http://www.chronicle-tribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061116/SPORTS02/611160338/-1/PREPSSPORTS

    A related article on the front page of the High School sports page previewing their team, mentioned he’s sat out preseason with a hamstring.

    Check out this excerpt from the preview article:

    “Mays led the Giants in scoring last year with a 17.0 average and also contributed 3.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists a game. Equally capable of driving to the basket or hitting the 3-point shot, Mays also is reliable at the free-throw line, where he made 83.7 percent of his attempts and made 29 straight in one late-season stretch.”

    Sounds like a pretty good point guard prospect, though I hope to see the assists jump this year. He is the primary weapon, so we’ll see what he’s all about. They expect to run and gun this year, so I expect Sid knew something and our PG is gonna be effective with Mays, Degand, and Ferguson.

  7. Wolfpack4ever 11/17/2006 at 8:31 AM #

    SFN: We are only leaving this drivel on the site as great example of the type of stupid shit that we delete here.

    (1) If you cant pass a reading comprehension course, don’t post.

    (2) If you want to criticize us on our own blog, don’t post.

    (3) If you want to create arguments about strawman topics that don’t exist, don’t post.

    SFN, You didn’t include “If you disagree with us, don’t post.” I frequently neither agree nor disagree with you, but when I do disagree, is that disagreement OK to post? I have had posts deleted before where I simply disagreed with you.

    I’d also like to know before I waste my time, is a post that doesn’t support you incessant criticism of LF OK or does that topic require agreement?

  8. Wolfpack4ever 11/17/2006 at 8:49 AM #

    class of 74 Says: “I’ll start worrying when the staff starts acting worried. Those cats know better than any of us on who and what we need personnel wise. So far I’m thrilled with what they’ve accomplished is so short a period of time.”

    Right on! And while there are a few very astute posts/posters who contribute here, I’ll start worrying when Sid and staff start thinking along the lines of most of us. Our analysis of talent and needs and our concerns are mostly mental masturbation IMO. Example: We as a group were upset when Nate MacMillan’s son (forget his name) went elsewhere (and I do remember where). Our survival mechnisms kick in and want us to immediately sign or commit some point guard. Sid knows point guard material when he sees it and if he doesn’t Monte might.

    To paraphrase what class of 74 wrote, “Those **Wolves** know better than any of us on who and what we need personnel wise.

    BTW 74, have you thought about changing your log on moniker? “Class” has some pretty bad connotations recently. 😉

  9. packbackr04 11/17/2006 at 12:23 PM #

    so are there no more “mystery recruits” out there that we are going after? was OJ MAyo one these mystery recruits?

  10. primacyone 11/17/2006 at 1:45 PM #

    packbackr04 – The “known” “mistery recruits” were Chris Allen (signed with Michigan State last week) and Rico Pickett (signed with Alabama last week). I believe every one thinks all the mystery recruits are gone.

    If there are still any mystery recuits left well then they are – um, how do I say this, oh yea – a mystery.

    Hope that helps. But keep your eyes on Mike Scott at Hargrove.

  11. primacyone 11/17/2006 at 1:49 PM #

    ^B the Red – I think the game that my freidn was talking about was the Marion versus Wabash (not sure of spelling) game last week. But I could not verify the 43 number myself either. I got the same article you got. I also found the Nov. schedule with the game listed, but it did not have any scores/states posted.

  12. packbackr04 11/17/2006 at 2:54 PM #

    primacy^ do we need mike Scott? i mean isnt his position solid for next year? doesnt he play same position as johnny thomas? what we need is a PG and they seem to be in short order right now.

  13. packbackr04 11/17/2006 at 2:54 PM #

    but thanks for the info on the “mystery recruits.”

  14. cpwolfpackfan 11/17/2006 at 2:58 PM #

    our recruting class in now ranked in the top 25 by rivals. We are #19, if we sign one more player, like green or scott, we will move up even more. Things are looking up guys

  15. cpwolfpackfan 11/17/2006 at 2:59 PM #

    if lowe isn’t out looking for a pg, then he must feel ok about it. So i will trust him. Just get the best players you can get, and figure out the rest later. degand, fergerson, grant, can hold the point down, and if green also comes we will be fine

  16. primacyone 11/17/2006 at 3:19 PM #

    Here is what I am starting to think for 07/08. Again, as everyone has said above, the coaches know exactly what they are doing and that is a fact for sure. This is just me having fun with potential possiblities and trying to guess what the coaches are thinking. However, if this is how it plays out, I am excited as hell.

    2 PF’s – Smith and Costner
    2 Centers – Hickson and McCauley
    2 SF’s – Thomas and Scott
    2 SG’s – Fells and Ferguson
    2 PG’s – Degand and Grant

    You could definetly run some NBA style set’s with that group. On every side of the basket, forwards, sideways, and reverse.

  17. redfred2 11/17/2006 at 4:24 PM #

    primacyone

    Just curious, does Fells have any capacity to run the point, just in brief stretches?

  18. primacyone 11/17/2006 at 4:30 PM #

    I don’t think Fells has any capacity to run the point, but he can flat out take the ball to the basket and catch some ally opps. He reminds me of Len Bias.

    There are a lot of interchangable parts in the above.

  19. Rochester 11/17/2006 at 4:33 PM #

    Don’t forget Dennis Horner. Give the kid some love. He stuck with us when others bailed out.

  20. primacyone 11/17/2006 at 4:50 PM #

    Wow. Can’t believe I forgot Dennis. Need to give him a lot of love. He’ll get a lot of minutes. That kid knows how to move without the ball and get an open shot.

  21. SixPack 11/17/2006 at 5:13 PM #

    What’s the point in Tracy Smith giving us a verbal (and being taken seriously) when he could sign and make it official ? Verbals are not worth the paper they’re NOT signed on !!!!

    Show me da money !!!!!

  22. redfred2 11/23/2006 at 3:06 PM #

    Very late response to Sixpack’s question, but verbals are worth something, but they aren’t the end all. The relationship has to be handled properly and cultivated after the kid gives a verbal. I would also remind everyone, especially one Wolfpack4ever, that if a verbal doesn’t carry as much weight as it did a few years back, that NC State’s own Athletic Director’s office went a long way in helping to devalue the process on a national basis.

1 2

Leave a Reply