The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/81131
BASKETBALL RECRUITING ISSUE FITTING IN A Star-Studded Freshman Class Won't Have To Worry About Carrying The Wolfpack Head coach Mark Gottfried landed a top-10 class featuring three of the nation's top-50 players, according to Rivals.com. BY JACEY ZEMBAL hailed as the future saviors of Wolfpack basketball. The signees, all from North Carolina, W had fabulous senior years en route to mak- ing the McDonald's All-American Game March 28, and all finished in Rivals.com's top 50 for the class of 2012. They held up their end of the bargain and are poised to be great additions to the NC State pro- gram, but that wasn't the only development over the last seven months under new head coach Mark Gottfried. The NC State basketball team finished strong, notching a 24-13 record, reaching the ACC Tournament semifinals, and knock- ing off ranked foes San Diego State and Georgetown to reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. NCSU's impressive postseason run ended with a narrow 60-57 loss to eventual national runner-up Kansas. Four of the five starters return for NC State, including NBA prospects C.J. Leslie, a sophomore power forward, and Lorenzo Brown, a sophomore point guard. Seniors Richard Howell and Scott Wood, who started at center and small forward, respec- 22 ■ THE WOLFPACKER hen NC State signed shoot- ing guard Rodney Purvis, point guard Tyler Lewis and small forward T.J. Warren last November, the trio was tively, round out the returning starters. NC State's three signees will not need to carry the program and will join a team on the upswing . "It is almost a 180," Lewis said. "Coach Gottfried has done a lot of great things at NC State. He led them to the Sweet 16, which is very impressive. He gets his play- ers to play very hard, and the players seem to love playing for him and with great intensity." Lewis was the first to commit to NC State, doing so on Oct. 28, 2010, to former head coach Sidney Lowe. Gottfried hon- ored Lewis' commitment and watched him emerge as one of the top point guards in the country. The 5-11, 165-pound Lewis, who is ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 48 overall player nationally, enjoyed a strong four-year career at Lewisville (N.C.) For- syth Country Day, and then attended famed Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy for his senior season. He led the Warriors to a 44-0 record and the No. 1 national rank- ing by USA Today. Name (National Rank) Tyler Lewis (48) Rodney Purvis (12) T.J. Warren (17) PG SG SF 5-11 6-4 6-8 Ht. Wt. 165 195 230 PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN Lewis watched the transformation of NC State's program over the last two years. "The whole atmosphere at State has changed," he said. "Everybody is talking about NC State. Before, it was just State fans, and they were probably doubting us, too." Warren and Purvis also watched NC State hoops while living in the Triangle area. Purvis, who moved to Raleigh from Plymouth, N.C., for middle school, picked NC State over UConn and others on Sept. 30, 2011, during his second recruitment. Purvis didn't get recruited that hard by the previous NC State coaching staff and originally picked Louisville. However, after the Cardinals lost assis- tant coach Tim Fuller to Missouri, Purvis opened his recruitment up last May. The timing was perfect with Gottfried and as- sistant coach Orlando Early on board and ready to make him a top priority. "Being a Raleigh native and seeing the program and the way it is now, I would ■ NC State's Class Of 2012 Pos. Statesville, N.C. (Oak Hill Academy [Va.]) Raleigh (Upper Room Christian Academy) Raleigh (Brewster Academy [N.H.]) Hometown (High School)