Confirmed: Marques Johnson to NC State

Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball51

A lot of our recent conversations related to basketball recruiting discussed holes in the backcourt that will exist on State’s roster in the next couple of years before Julius Mays arrives in Raleigh.

Consider the hole filled.

Enter, Marques Johnson. (Not that Marques Johnson.)

This Marques Johnson is a freshman combo guard who has announced that he is transferring from Tennessee to NC State.

NC State has landed more backcourt help for next season. Freshman Tennessee guard Marques Johnson has decided to transfer to NC State according to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. He is expected to enroll at classes for the spring semester starting Wednesday. He will have at least two and a half seasons of eligibility starting with the conclusion of the 2007 fall exams.

Johnson, a native of Fort Wayne, Ind., that nearly committed to NC State after an unofficial visit to the school over Memorial Day weekend in 2005, also considered Xavier. He was in Raleigh over the past weekend for a visit, sitting behind the bench during the Boston College game.

At 6-5 and 200 pounds, Johnson has superb size for the backcourt. Coming out of high school, Johnson was ranked by some services based on the shooting guard position that he had been playing; but Bruce Pearl and Tennessee’s staff clearly liked Johnson as a point guard. Ultimately, injury and competition limited Johnson’s time at the point and he has chosen to opt for a change of scenery.

Johnson’s recruiting rankings peaked in the Top 50 prior to his senior season. Ultimately, Scout.com listed him as a 4-star prospect and the (#21) shooting guard in America while Rivals settled on a three-star ranking and the (#130) overall player in his class.

These conversations are not meant as criticisms of Iowa State transfer, Farnold Degand; but more of a recognition that Degand is a combo guard and athlete as opposed to a someone who is expected to be equipped to run the point for an ACC program in his first year of college basketball.

Projected 2007-2008 NC State Basketball Roster

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/2G)
(8) Bartosz Lewandowski (5C)

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

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

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Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball

51 Responses to Confirmed: Marques Johnson to NC State

  1. Graywolf1 01/08/2007 at 10:45 AM #

    I have the same question as Zahadum does…

    *************************************
    zahadum Says:

    January 8th, 2007 at 9:05 am
    Curious about this line in the Rivals article: “He will have at least two and a half seasons of eligibility”. I can never keep the transfer rules straight, but that seems to imply he could have 3 and half seasons. Is that why you’re listing him as a fr. and not a so.?
    *************************************

    If MJ is going to be a freshman then he would have 3.5 years left…correct?
    If he only has 2.5 years left then it seems that he would be a sophmore…
    I would think that he played half a year, then sat out a year he would have 3.5 years to play 3.5 years of basketball…

    Look ing for help here…Thanks..

  2. burnbarn 01/08/2007 at 10:47 AM #

    I’m not very worried about Lew and Degrand having ships.. we will have a lot of very skilled basketball players on this team..Someone will need to NOT play much.
    Take our frontline next year.. add three take away none. Our backcourt, add 2 (that can play) and take away Atsur… How many more players do we need?
    I think we will have all the depth we might want. Will we have the right players? This remains to be seen.

  3. Mr O 01/08/2007 at 10:48 AM #

    Depends on whether he qualifies for a medical redshirt or not. Won’t know that until after the season.

  4. choppack1 01/08/2007 at 10:48 AM #

    O – That’s a good point. It’s not unusual for ACC teams to have highly rated recruits. Turning them into a functional unit that wins on a regular basis has proven to be another story.

    Chemistry and finding “your kind of player” is key. Right now, the only gap I really see is outside shooting. I’m looking forward to seeing the kind of ball we play under Sidney if we go 10 deep. Hopefully, we’ll see what Herb always promised us – pressure D and up-tempo basketball.

  5. Gene 01/08/2007 at 10:55 AM #

    Mr.O: The only thing I’ve read, about Smith’s academics being an issue with attending NCSU was his pending SAT score, which he did well on. Otherwise he has had the pre-requisite courses to attend the university. I don’t know if Mt. Zion is a basketball / diploma factory and how bad / good their academics are, but Smith does have the grades and SAT score to attend NCSU.

    I think there’s some concern he’ll have problems academically, but I think a solid SAT score has put some of that fear aside for me.

  6. Mr O 01/08/2007 at 10:57 AM #

    Choppack: Good point on shooting possibly being a weakness. That is one reason I think Horner will get a lot of minutes his entire career at NC State.

  7. Dr. BadgerPack 01/08/2007 at 11:04 AM #

    Mr. O:

    As of July, the NCAA was allowing players from Mt. Zion; two other NC schools were on the disqualified list. Here is the relevant article from the N&O that I located:

    http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/458244.html

    It is, of course, an older story and more may have been released. If I find anything else, I’ll be sure to toss that in a subsequent post. But this article is as good as any as far as a starting point goes (and seems to exemplify the fact that this shool qualification situation may be fluid).

  8. ShootingGuard 01/08/2007 at 11:53 AM #

    As SFN and Mr O have pointed out, this transfer helps with the VERY important factor of having guys having to practice hard and play their best during games—rather than being able to slack off mentally (intentionally or unintentionally) because there is no one to take their place…putting the coach in a VERY difficult situation when substituting means a HUGE dropoff in talent that the other team can shred anyway…(i.e. pick your poison)

    While neither Degand or Johnson are likely to be All-Americans, we will be able to throw some matchups at opposing teams either going with the shorter / speedier pg in Degand OR the bigger / feeder / back-your-man down pg in Johnson. Also, while I don’t think Trevor will be an All-American either, I think, as he adds some more strength and gets some more experience, he will be able to contribute some there as well if need be, especially since he will be, by default if nothing else, one of the “purer” shooters on the team. The important thing is that Grant and Fells will be able to stay on the wing exclusively and play to their strengths with, hopefully, some lessons learned from having to play the point. Also very important is that, when guys don’t show up or don’t listen OR something is simply not working, Lowe will have other options to go to…It is funny, actually sad, to watch Lowe see something that pisses him off on the court and turn to the bench before quickly turning his eyes back to the court because there is no one on the bench that he can turn to…

    As far as chemistry goes, I don’t think that is going to be as much of a problem (fingers crossed) as some think for a variety of reasons. One, the Iron 4 will have felt that painful fatigue enough this season that they will gladly welcome some time on the bench—plus, they will have suffered enough defeats that they will look forward to getting some reinforcements and going out and getting some revenge next year by kicking some guys asses (too bad it won’t be Dudley and Marshall). Second, guys like Trevor and Degand and Johnson will have been here so long before playing that they should have plenty of connection with the guys that they have practiced with and watched play and rooted for…Third, Horner didn’t even blink about committing here after Herb dicked him for Werner nor did he blink about coming here when punks like Werner and Davis ran away after Herb left, so, for whatever reason, the guy loves NC STATE (and NC State fans should always support him no matter what), and he will likely be a glue guy for 4 years. Finally, with all of the effort and time Thomas and Smith and CJ are spending coming to games and hanging out with each other and the current team, I don’t see them having a problem fitting in when all is said and done. It may be fashionable to say,”but, Herb brought in a bunch of guys early too…yada yada yada” and some caution is warranted, it is important to remember that, while Sendek was all about his “character quotient” in later years, as a young coach, his early mental assessments left a lot to be desired. Inge, for example, always had the reputation as an elbow guy, and he and Adam Harrington didn’t spend a year hanging out at State games cheering for their future teammates. I will spare everyone the analysis into such gems as Adam Harrington’s babying momma and Damien Wilkins’ meddling father except to say that, hopefully, years later, Herb left the program with enough solid “character” guys that, hopefully, Sid will be able to build on that base without having to compromise character or giving into dealing with certain visible problems just to get a player…

    On paper, the roster looks a lot better next year than this year which SHOULD mean that we can make the all important Year 2 PROGRESS that is SO critical in building / rebuilding a great long-term program under a new coach…

    Of course, a win tomorrow night would go a long way toward building some momentum in that direction…

  9. Gene 01/08/2007 at 12:23 PM #

    Wasn’t Werner Herb’s first committed recruit for the 2006 class? So I’m not sure how Horner got “dicked”, if Werner was the first guy to sign-up….

    I know we should all be behind Horner for sticking with NCSU, even after the coaching change. I know I’m grateful he didn’t transfer, because we could kiss this year good-bye if he did. We wouldn’t have been able to go six deep, earlier in the year without him. For that reason alone, SG’s right, he’s a guy we shouldn’t get down on as fans.

  10. packbackr04 01/08/2007 at 12:48 PM #

    HORNER is the man, he and ben mccauley hustle like i havent seen in a while, i like both of them.

    good for sid, i would like to see some more info on this guy. but we are goona be sick in years to come.

  11. RickJ 01/08/2007 at 1:15 PM #

    ^Gene – As I recall, Horner actually wanted to commit first and we slow played him waiting on Werner. After Werner committed, it pretty much left Horner out. Later on, Horner blew up in some AAU games and we decided we could take both players and Horner committed too. ShootingGuard is correct in his information and I think he is using the term “dicked him” in the most collegial of ways. This kind of thing happens all the time in recruiting.

  12. burnbarn 01/08/2007 at 1:50 PM #

    I recently read (on PP) about Hickson’s goals from the NCSU coaching staff fo rnext year were to ‘focus on academics’.

    I think everyone will qualify.

  13. Frank 01/08/2007 at 3:45 PM #

    As for the mistakes this year, I do NOT think most of them are from slacking off. I believe it is MAINLY from inexperience. All of the guys (Remember, EA has not played this STYLE of ball before) still have a lot to learn. I think they are working as hard as they can.

  14. vtpackfan 01/08/2007 at 4:47 PM #

    Great news. As I mentioned in another thread, ’07’s pg’s are gone, and ’08 has had very few goods ones so far. Mays is technically a scorer, combo guard type. He is working hard at polishing up at being a pg right now, but Lowe had to do something to ensure this team can function the way he wants to in the future. You can’t bring in great talent at every position and not have a functioning pg. The depth will serve as insurance that something positive can be done until a stud pg recruit is landed, maybe a sleeper in ’08, but probablyin ’09 the earliest.

    I can’t see Costner playing the three unless he really works on ball handling. If we don’t have a dominant ball handler at the pg, you can’t put guys at the three spot who can only dribble the twice before they have to pick it up. I see Costner coming off the bench and playing alot of minutes next yeat. He could be a great sixth man with his high percentage shooting and shooting range. Unless he establisheshis presence better under the boards then McCauley this ACC season, then I don’t see him starting ahead of Ben or JJ

  15. PackGirl 01/08/2007 at 6:02 PM #

    How do you pronounce “Marques”? Mar-keys, Mar-qwez, Mar-kez, Mar-cus or maybe it’s french and the ‘s’ is silent, ie, Mar-kay???

  16. Mr O 01/08/2007 at 8:57 PM #

    Dr. Badgerpack: Nice find! So as of right now Mt. Zion is fine, but as you said the situation does appear to be “fluid”.

    As far as my fear of someone not qualifying, in some ways our recruiting class seems almost too good to be true, so I am just paranoid that something unexpected could happen.

    Shootingguard: I agree that most likely we will be fine in terms of chemistry. I just brought that up because I think it is getting ahead of ourselves if we start talking about contending for an ACC title at this point.

  17. ShootingGuard 01/08/2007 at 10:38 PM #

    “Shootingguard: I agree that most likely we will be fine in terms of chemistry. I just brought that up because I think it is getting ahead of ourselves if we start talking about contending for an ACC title at this point.”

    I agree. I think we have the components coming our way to have a very good and dangerous team next year, but, you’re right, we need more talent to knock UNC off the top of the perch and win the ACC. JJ Hickson is a great start, but you need a wing scorer and lead guard of his calibre coming in to really make some championship noise, especially the way Roy-Nike-ESPN-AAU Pimp-Oak Hill-UNC is recruiting…We’ll see how CJ and Mays develop from here…Lowe & Co are doing some good things so far though…

  18. redfred2 01/09/2007 at 9:41 AM #

    Someone may have mentioned it above but I thought in 2005 Marques Johnson was listed and ranked as a shooting guard coming out HS?

  19. Rochester 01/09/2007 at 11:35 AM #

    I believe he played shooting guard for his HS team and point for his summer league team, so he was projected differently by different people.

  20. packbackr04 01/09/2007 at 12:36 PM #

    to beat a dead horse, i assume farnold was denied eligilbity this year by ncaa?

  21. packbackr04 01/09/2007 at 12:36 PM #

    is the game on tv tonight?

  22. TNCSU 01/09/2007 at 12:46 PM #

    It is listed as being on Fox Sports Net. I’m not sure I get that on TWC.???

  23. redfred2 01/09/2007 at 12:47 PM #

    I’m hoping he has PG skills, but the unmentionable recruited him, so I’d say it’s pretty reasonable to think that he has outside shooting touch.

  24. packbackr04 01/09/2007 at 2:23 PM #

    red^ you speak of him like the poeple in that Joaquin Pheonix movie where they dont mention the color red cause those monsters wear red. i think the name of the movie was “the villagers” or something like that.

    so the game is gonig to be on FSN tonight? i get that, isnt it fox sports south? channel 43 for me

  25. burnbarn 01/09/2007 at 3:04 PM #

    Channel 50 on TWC in Raleigh

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