Spotlight on CJ and Beyond

Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball45

With NC State’s 2007 recruiting wrapped-up with a Top 20 class, why don’t we take just a few minutes to look ahead a little in basketball recruiting.

The Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions last weekend helped kick-off the summer camp circuit. The local nature of the tourney always helps to bubble specific targets of the Wolfpack to the surface.

2008: As we discussed earlier in the week the commitments of Julius Mays and CJ Williams mean that State’s recruiting for 2008 is finished unless a scholarship were to open due to transfer or some other unforeseen event. (Congrats to CJ who just got invited to the NBPA’s Top 100 camp this summer!)

IF another scholarship opens for 2008, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Pack target a post player like 6 feet 10 inch, Ralph Sampson III (C/PF). State never prioritized Ty Walker or Caitlin Baicu as heavily as many expected; but the potential losses of Ben McCauley, Brandon Costner and JJ Hickson in two years would definitely create a need for some help in the frontcourt. Sampson is playing his way up the rankings and some expect him to move from a 3-star to a 4-star prospect and could end up ranked somewhere between #50 and #100 in the country.

2009: SFN isn’t a recruiting service, and we don’t like to go a long way out into the future because it seems to be somewhat of a waste of time. But, the BIG NAMES that Coach Lowe seems to be developing strong relationships with in the class of 2009 are just too intoxicating not to at least mention. Derrick Favors (PF), Jordan Hamilton (Wing) and Noel Johnson (SG) could all easily end up as 5-star recruits with Top 25 rankings. Pack Pride and The Wolfpacker both are indicating that Coach Lowe and the Pack are gaining solid traction with these studs.

2010: See our previous comments regarding our disinterest in looking too far into the future. However, in light of Coach Lowe’s ability to get both CJ Williams and Julius Mays to commit to early in their recruiting cycle, we would be taking a risk if we didn’t at least acknowledge the name CJ Leslie. Leslie is a Holly Springs, North Carolina prospect who is already six feet seven inches tall as a freshman in high school. Leslie attended a ton of NC State games this past season and has not been shy about publicly expressing his love for the Wolfpack.

The Winston-Salem Journal ran a feature on the recently injured CJ Williams on Wednesday (link to ‘Healing: Pack recruit is back on court again’). We thought would fit well here.

Williams is smooth and productive when healthy. He averaged 24.2 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.6 blocked shots last season in helping Britt finish 18-9, and he was named the Mid-Southeastern Conference player of the year.

N.C. State’s previous staff, led by Herb Sendek, started recruiting Williams. Last season was Lowe’s first as a college coach, but Williams quickly decided that Lowe’s pro experiences would make him a better player and that Lowe would build a strong program at N.C. State. Since making his decision, Williams said, his commitment to Lowe and N.C. State has grown stronger.

“Everyone saw it this year, but I saw it before,” he said. “Coach Lowe was able to build those guys up and get them ready for the games. They had a couple of letdowns, but that’s what I’m hoping I can come there for, so I can help us be prepared for every game. It also helps to be playing in the RBC (Center) and a nice, big gym.”

…“I’d love to go in there and start right away, but that’s not what I’m looking for,” Williams said. “I want to help us win. I want us to get up there and get in the NCAA Tournament and play for a national championship. That’s been my dream since I was so little. I just want to be able to help my team win.”

One thing about CJ that will need to be worked on is highlighted at the end of the article:

Friday’s game was in the Smith Center, an unusual place for Williams’ return. Williams grew up as a North Carolina fan and early in his high-school career thought about playing in the arena.

“All my friends at school, they get on me a little bit talking about how I can be a Carolina fan and go to N.C. State,” Williams said. “You can love a school anyway. I love Carolina, but N.C. State was just a better fit for me as a player and as a person. I feel strong and firm in my decision to go to N.C. State.”

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Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball

45 Responses to Spotlight on CJ and Beyond

  1. PackGirl 06/01/2007 at 3:25 PM #

    Pasted from yesterday’s SFN thread:

    Senior Class
    (1) Gavin Grant (2G/3F)

    Junior Class
    (2) Courtney Fells (2G)
    (3) Ben McCauley (4F/5C)

    Sophomore Class
    (4) Brandon Costner (3F/4F)
    (5) Trevor Ferguson (2G/PG)
    (6) Dennis Horner (3F)
    (7) Farnold Degand (1PG)

    Freshman Class
    (8) Johnny Thomas (3F)
    (9) JJ Hickson (5C/4F)
    (10) Tracy Smith (4F/3F)
    (11) Marques Johnson (2G) (eligible after first semester)
    (12) Javi Gonzalez (1PG)

    HS Senior Commits
    (13) Julius Mays (PG)
    (1) CJ Williams (3F/2G) [Gavin Grant’s old scholarship]

    This list does not include Lew. Thus, if he is still on the team we are overbooked 08-09

  2. Rick 06/01/2007 at 3:28 PM #

    “no answer?”

    I have to give you partial credit this time.
    You are at least trying to add something useful instead of repeating your adoration for the desert gym rat.
    Of course your addition was simply taking something posted yesterday and bastardizing it until it was completely wrong. So I guess we are making some progress.

  3. CedarGroveWolf 06/01/2007 at 3:33 PM #

    again “how are we overbooked for ‘09 & ‘10?”

  4. CedarGroveWolf 06/01/2007 at 3:34 PM #

    “ok, here’s how it goes, and I’ll say it slow and with small words”

    who wasn’t clear with next year?

  5. PapaJohn 06/01/2007 at 3:35 PM #

    If Big Lew can’t play, do we still allow him to stay on as a student if he wants to? Like we would with an injured player that was coming back?

    How does that work, does he burn a scholarship or do we somehow give him an academic scholarship? Or is there some type of NCAA legislation that addresses this? The assumption above seems to be that if he’s not coming back we get the slot back.

    How does that work, oh wise ones?

    PS – Cedar, your math seems right to me but they’ve been kicking your butt so bad I’m keeping it to myself. Oops.

  6. primacyone 06/01/2007 at 3:47 PM #

    Didn’t somebody say something about Trevor Ferguson being on track to graduate after next year?

    Have a good weekend!

  7. Rick 06/01/2007 at 3:53 PM #

    “Didn’t somebody say something about Trevor Ferguson being on track to graduate after next year?”

    [in my monkey dancing voice] that means we have 4 more scholarships for 2018 [in my monkey dancing voice]

  8. westwolf 06/01/2007 at 4:21 PM #

    I’ve heard that Ferguson is leaving to try and find Mike O’Donnell’s baraber.

  9. noah 06/01/2007 at 4:34 PM #

    “If Big Lew can’t play, do we still allow him to stay on as a student if he wants to?”

    Probably. It’s called a hardship scholarship. It doesn’t count against the number of players you have on scholarship, but they can continue their education.

    You use it for career-ending injuries or if a guy is recruited and it turns out he has some pre-existing medical condition (narrowing of the spine or maybe a heart-condition) that doesn’t allow him to play.

  10. Gene 06/01/2007 at 5:29 PM #

    From what I understang Big Lew will stay on a scholarship and continue as as student. This will not affect the scholarship count for basketball. His injury is career ending.

  11. choppack1 06/01/2007 at 10:57 PM #

    Hopefully CJ will make a full recovery from his injury. I think he has a pretty impressive all-around game. I think this week was his first week back.

  12. beowolf 06/01/2007 at 11:20 PM #

    Damn, I’m sorry to hear that for his sake. But at least he gets a free college education.

  13. cpwolfpackfan 06/02/2007 at 6:54 AM #

    from what i have heard about this kid is that he has a game like hodge, but a better shooter. He can do about every thing. He will be a nice player in the future for us, a good glue player that hold every thing together.

  14. sf59 06/02/2007 at 11:45 PM #

    josh howard would be a better comparison fom the games i have seen. CJ is a better shooter and more athletic than hodge. Hodge is a better finisher going to the hole.

  15. pakfanistan 06/03/2007 at 2:29 AM #

    Hodge was a great shooter until his senior year. He shot 40% from three and like 85% on his freethrows.

  16. StateFans 06/03/2007 at 10:20 AM #

    I have no information, just personal speculation. But, I can’t imagine Trevor Ferguson’s scholarship getting in the way of our needs in the future. It is nice to hear someone mention that he may be further along towards graduation than the average college student his age. Maybe that is the ‘play’ — instead of him transferring to Div II or Div III — he is working hard to graduate early to free up the scholarship. Even if he stays, I honestly doubt we ever see him step on the floor again after this December.

  17. pakfanistan 06/03/2007 at 1:22 PM #

    (;__;) Give Fergie a chance. He’s the next Brent Barry.

  18. Luke12321 06/03/2007 at 7:22 PM #

    “from what i have heard about this kid is that he has a game like hodge, but a better shooter. He can do about every thing. He will be a nice player in the future for us, a good glue player that hold every thing together.”

    I think if he had that, he would not be ranked around 100 by most scouting services. He would be top 5. Not saying this to put the kid down but lets not go crazy just yet over him. I do think he will be solid for us and will have a great oppty. to get playing time early in his career and could develop into an all-acc player. Hodge was very highly ranked coming out of HS….Maybe the scouts are just overlooking his hodge like game with a better jumper?

  19. cpwolfpackfan 06/04/2007 at 3:05 PM #

    I am not saying he is better than hodge. I was just saying he has a hodge like game. He does a little bit of everything. And if he plalyed up in New York, against some of those teams up there instead of in NC against alot of nobodys, then he would be ranked higher.

  20. Luke12321 06/05/2007 at 11:35 AM #

    That I would agree on. The scouts have not really got a chance to see a healthy CJ that I know of. I need to go watch him play sometime myself actually, hopefully next year I will be able to catch a game.

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