The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/430118
40 ■ THE WOLFPACKER ing the Wolfpack's run to the 1983 national championship. Simmons, with 80 blocks as a sophomore, is the only player in recent years to ever threaten Bailey's school mark, despite his relative lack of size. Not only does Anya's presence in the middle return a major shot blocker to the Wolfpack lineup, he also returns one of the greatest recruiting pipelines to NC State's program. He's the first player from DeMatha to join the Wolfpack since Herb Sendek signed Jordan Collins in 2001. For years, there was a direct line from De- Matha to Raleigh, ever since assistant coach Eddie Biedenbach missed out on signing Adrian Dantley but got the edge on recruit- ing future All-American Kenny Carr, who followed David Thompson to become a two- time ACC scoring leader. DeMatha-graduate Charles "Hawkeye" Whitney followed Carr, and both Dereck Whittenburg and Sidney Lowe were next, as the last two DeMatha grads signed by head coach Norman Sloan. Valvano signed point guard Quentin Jackson in 1985, but there was a long gap before Collins restored the connection. Lowe, who may have mentioned the De- Matha connection a time or two, first re- cruited Anya. He arrived in Raleigh at the same time Whittenburg returned to the pro- gram as the director of player development. Whittenburg blamed the lull in prospects on the parity of high school basketball in the Washington area and the preponderance of prep schools that recruit high school talent. But the disciple of legendary DeMatha head coach Morgan Wootten loves that there is a tangible connection again between his two alma maters. "Maybe that's something that we can start up again," Anya said. "With me and Lennard [Freeman, a sophomore forward and native of Washington] on the team, maybe we can get more guys from that area to come here again. "It was a big pipeline." Now that the season is underway, though, Anya is just concerned about being a bigger contributor, now that he's much smaller. ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker. He can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. Anya has lost more than 60 pounds since arriving in Raleigh, which has allowed him to stay on the court longer (19.0 minutes per game) and contribute more (5.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest) during NC State's 7-1 start. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN "For me, he's just now scratching the surface of what he can do on defense. As he continues to lose weight, he'll be even better." ■ Head coach Mark Gottfried on Anya