The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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■ basketBALL recruiting NC State Lands No. 11-Ranked Recruiting Class By Jacey Zembal he NC State men's basketball program locked up three in-state signees in the class of 2012 and then followed up with an impressive national group in 2013. NC State signed Hampton (Va.) High point guard Anthony "Cat" Barber, Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic center BeeJay Anya and Wolfeboro (N.H.) Brewster Academy post player Kyle Washington, who is originally from Champlin, Minn. Rivals.com ranks head coach Mark Gottfried's three-man recruiting class, which will likely add more players during the spring signing period, No. 11 in the country. Barber is also ranked No. 11 individually by the recruiting network, with Anya at No. 49 and Washington No. 99. Barber got the ball rolling by giving his commitment Sept. 15 during his official visit and he unofficially visited at least twice this fall, including Primetime With The Pack Oct. 12. "I think with Cat Barber, you have to love his speed and quickness," Gottfried said. "He has that element that you really can't teach." NC State fans will get the chance to watch Barber at the HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational Dec. 26-30 at Raleigh Broughton High. Hampton High squares off against junior point guard Shelton Mitchell and Waxhaw (N.C.) Cuthbertson High at 9 p.m. Dec. 27. "Barber is really focused right now," said NC State assistant coach Rob Moxley, who was the lead recruiter for the point guard. "He is doing great in class and is working on his shooting, which I've told him to do. He is just shooting over and over, and catching and shooting. He is just doing things to make his jumper more consistent." The 6-2, 165-pound Barber averaged 21.3 points per game his junior year, while leading Hampton High to the Virginia AAA state championship. He also won the Virginia Group AAA Player of the Year award. "The guy wants to win and likes to win," Gottfried said. "I think he has improved his shooting to where now he's becoming a threat on the perimeter. I really like his potential." Barber, a likely McDonald's All-American, is the latest standout from the traditionally loaded Boo Williams traveling team program. T Hampton (Va.) High standout Anthony Barber is a five-star prospect, the No. 3 point guard in the land and the No. 11 overall player in the class of 2013 according to Rivals.com. photo courtesy rivals.com "Cat just needed to come see NC State," Moxley said. "I don't think he realized how close we were, and his mom [Pam Barber] loved how close we were. Those historic programs like Kansas and Louisville for example, had unbelievable things to offer, too, but we could offer three and a half hours to his house, which they couldn't. I think he understood that once he got here." than some of the other bigs and also blocks shots more than the other bigs. I think his upside is really good." Anya averaged 13.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.8 blocks per game his junior year at DeMatha Catholic. He'll get the chance to work with strength and conditioning coach Bob Alejo, which should help him take his game to a new level. "The big thing with him is the strength and conditioning aspect," Gottfried said. "I think he's going to blossom in our system." Moxley, who is from Baltimore, had targeted Anya ever since he got hired at NC State in April 2011. "First of all, he's a fun kid, and while you have to be serious in recruiting, it was fun recruiting him," Moxley said. "He's a great kid to talk to all the time. His mother, Oby, was as thorough about the recruiting process as anyone I've ever recruited. We had many two- and three-hour conversations. There was unbelievable attention to detail on her questions, which you can understand since it's her son's future." Anya unofficially visited NC State with DeMatha Catholic coach Mike Jones Aug. 30-Sept. 1, and that's when the tide might have started to turn toward the Wolfpack. He was considering Indiana, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Ohio State at the time. "When he left here on the unofficial, I "NC State should be able to beat a lot of traditional powers because we have the resources, the tradition and history. We just have to make sure we work as hard as we can. These three guys could have went a lot of places, and we feel good about the schools that we did beat." ■ Head coach Mark Gottfried Anya is the latest DeMatha Catholic player to don the NC State uniform, joining past Stags such as Kenny Carr, Hawkeye Whitney, Sidney Lowe, Dereck Whittenburg, Benny Bolton, Quentin Jackson and Jordan Collins. Lowe and Whittenburg won the NCAA title in 1983, the second national championship for NC State. The 6-8, 270-pound Anya was the last of the three commits to pick NC State, making his decision on Nov. 16. "BeeJay was the post player from the start that we wanted," Gottfried said. "I like his winning background [with DeMatha Catholic and Team Takeover traveling team]. He gets off the floor quicker felt like we were in really good shape," Moxley said. "I went up a few weeks later and talked to Coach Jones. BeeJay came in and Coach Jones said, 'Tell Coach Rob how you feel about NC State.' He said he enjoyed it the most by far and it was the clear favorite." The Wolfpack was concerned when Anya officially visited Indiana Oct. 19‑21 for Hoosier Hysteria, but the promising big man calmed those fears by going through with his official visit to NC State Oct. 26‑28. "He went to Indiana and had a great visit there and had it going in their favor a little bit, but then he came here and it went 64 ■ the wolfpacker 64,66-68.BKB Recruiting.indd 64 12/11/12 2:31 PM