Deshawn Painter: Florida’s loss becomes NC State’s gain

Basketball Recruiting174

8pm Update: BREAKING NEWS! – The Wolfpacker beat Pack Pride by about 15 minutes on this one with their report that Deshawn Painter has chosen to play basketball at NC State. SFN heard last week that NC State was ‘expecting’ to land Painter, but you never count your chickens before they hatch. We felt pretty good about State’s odds after Painter got out of his visit in College Park this past weekend without falling in love and committing in person to Gary Williams. So, we got ready to run this story this evening so that we would be prepared. Good timing/ CONGRATULATIONS, Coach Lowe and the Wolfpack!!

The recruitment of the one of the top remaining post prospects in country ended on Wednesday when Deshawn Painter chose NC State over Maryland after eliminating Virginia Tech from consideration earlier in the week.

Painter, of Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy, is a very athletic, ‘lengthy’ 6’9 power forward who has a well rounded game that includes the ability to rebound and block shots. After originally committing to Billy Donovan at the University of Florida, DeShawn ultimately changed his mind and re-opened his recruitment.

He is ranked as one of the Top 75 high school players in the country; Scout has given him four stars and Rivals has given him three stars. ESPNU ranks Painter #19 on their list of top power forwards in the country, achieving “score” of 92 as NC State’s other post commit – Richard Howell. Howell is ranked #20 on ESPNU’s list.

  • Wolfpack Hoops’ biography/profile of Painter can be seen by clicking here.

Make no mistake about Painter’s potential impact on NC State’s 2009-2010 team and on the program into the future. In this thorough entry on March 23rd we stated the following:

Much is made about State’s struggles and needs at the point guard position…and, Ryan Harrow may be scheduled to arrive in Raleigh one year too late for Coach Lowe. But, I see an even more glaring deficiency on the Wolfpack’s roster after the departure of Brandon Costner – NC State desperately needs some size, heft and toughness in the post. Despite the addition of Richard Howell in the 2009 recruiting class, an ‘ideal’ candidate for one of the Wolfpack’s remaining scholarships would be a junior college big man – preferably a true center of close to 7 feet – who can defend, block shots and rebound. Additionally, this would be ideal for current and future scholarship spacing needs.

Although Painter may not represent the ‘ideal’ situation that we projected with a hypothetical junior college prospect, he’s damn close and would obviously contribute to the program for more than just two seasons. Having versatile and skilled bookends in the post like Richard Howell and DeShawn Painter (as freshmen) behind Tracy Smith and Dennis Horner would create an awful lot of depth for the Wolfpack next year, and beyond) while helping to blunt the blow of (potentially) losing CJ Leslie from next year’s class.

Projected 2009-2010 NC State Basketball Roster

Senior Class
(1) Dennis Horner (F)
(2) Farnold Degand (PG)

Junior Class
(3) Javi Gonzalez (PG)
(4) Tracy Smith (4F)

Sophomore Class
(5) Johnny Thomas (Wing)
(6) Julius Mays (PG/SG)
(7) CJ Williams (Wing)

Freshman Class
(8) Scott Wood (Wing)
(9) Lorenzo Brown (PG/SG)
(10) Richard Howell (PF)
(11) Josh Davis (WF)
(12) Jordan Vandenberg (C)
(13) DeShawn Painter (PF/C)

2010 Commits
(1) Departure of Dennis Horner – Ryan Harrow (PG)
(2) Departure of Farnold Degand – Previously CJ Leslie (PF/C)

2011 Commits
(3) Departure of Javi Gonzalez
(4) Departure of Tracy Smith

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Basketball Recruiting

174 Responses to Deshawn Painter: Florida’s loss becomes NC State’s gain

  1. BJD95 05/14/2009 at 3:00 PM #

    Julius Hodge was close to the perfect college player, no doubt.

  2. NCSUownzJoo 05/14/2009 at 3:06 PM #

    Too bad he had both his hands tied behind his back by the weave and heave. He might have become even more great.

  3. anti-smurf 05/14/2009 at 3:12 PM #

    4 top 75 players? I count 3, who am I missing: Brown, Howell, Painter

    Is it Wood?

  4. Rufftown Wolf 05/14/2009 at 3:15 PM #

    Why can’t anyone be happy for the wolfpack getting a good recruit?? I could see us doing OK with just 5 freshman starting. You add in Tracy Smith which just might have a break out year, Dennis Horner, Mays, Williams, & Javi. This is going to be good team that could find itself in the Top 25. You know why b/c we have ACC caliber depth. It won’t be an injury that holds us back this year.

  5. Thinkpack17 05/14/2009 at 3:30 PM #

    “A freshman Hodge went to the 2nd round. A freshman JJ didn’t make the NIT.”

    I could not begin to tell you what is wrong with this comparison. I think you will be the only person referencing your quotes for quite a while. =)

  6. Alpha Wolf 05/14/2009 at 3:55 PM #

    “Why can’t anyone be happy for the wolfpack getting a good recruit?”

    I am, Rufftown. I am. We needed Painter and I for one am damned glad he chose to play here.

  7. bradleyb123 05/14/2009 at 3:57 PM #

    “Why on Earth would you think that’s such an unfair standard? Why make excuses before the season starts?”

    Because with a great class like this, I think you sit back, wait, watch, see what happens and THEN evaluate. I don’t think it’s fair to say “win X number of games and make the NCAA tournament or you’re out”. Sid finally has a chance to build the kind of team he wants to build, but they’re all freshmen and sophomores. This group could be GREAT in a couple of years. How silly would it be to throw it all away because of some random benchmark like that?

    Personally, I think we absolutely WILL meet that benchmark anyway. But I also know these are mostly inexperienced players. It may be a lot to ask that of them in their first year. What I’m saying is it doesn’t make sense to me to set this benchmark on such a young, inexperienced group.

    I haven’t been happy in the last three years either. But at least I’m sitting back and catching my breath for a minute, and giving him a chance. Sid hasn’t done much at all (other than develop some of the current players, which is a good sign), but he has sure done a LOT in this recruiting class. This class was ranked #19 BEFORE the 7′ Aussie and Painter committed. We may be a top-10 class right now. For that reason alone, I think we ought to back off Sidney and stop worrying so much about what he did or didn’t do using Herb’s leftovers, and just be concerned with what he does with THIS group.

  8. anonymousselfquoter 05/14/2009 at 4:05 PM #

    The only thing wrong with that comparison is that it’s too ingenious for laypeople.

    The closest Sid has come to a playmakee anywhere near Hodge is Atsur. Maybe if be stayed and learned a little, JJ would have faired better against real competition. But Jules? Jules? When Jules was born he stole the scissors from the doc and no looked them to his dad for the easy score.

  9. bradleyb123 05/14/2009 at 4:41 PM #

    I just saw this posted on another blog. I think it is well-said. It’s just one guy’s opinion, but I share it and this is what I’ve been trying to get at:

    “We don’t want everyone to descend into the pit of despair when next year is rocky due to inexperience. But I’m beyond excited about the next year after they’ve had a year and a summer together, plus Harrow and Parker and/or Cothron… It’s essentially the UNC model. They brought in McCants, May, and Felton and let them grow together. They all left and Ellington, Lawson, and Hansborough do the same thing (granted Travel Hansborough was a year older, but same idea). Florida comes to mind too with Horford, Noah and Brewer. This is by no means a one year deal. It’s just the beginning of a system set up to be relevant for years to come.”

    Basically, I think we HAVE to let this thing play out for AT LEAST two years. I don’t think this is necessarily a case of Sidney recruiting his behind off just to save his job, and getting lucky, and sticking us with a lousy coach for a couple more years. I think maybe Sidney can be a good coach, with the right players. I expect to see IMPROVEMENT at the very least this year (hopefully BIG improvement!). If I see talent, and lousy coaching decisions by Sidney, then maybe he should be shown the door. But I don’t think we fire him JUST because the win total isn’t there. We would have to determine if we thought it was his fault, or the inexperienced players’ fault.

  10. Thinkpack17 05/14/2009 at 4:50 PM #

    ^^I agree with this too. People are saying giving out this many scholly’s in one year will create gap issues…but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. I mean now-a-days the only reason you stay for your senior year is to win a national title or because you just aren’t good enough to go pro. These kids are good enough to go pro (Except maybe Josh). So they will space themselves out…and if they all do stick around until they are juniors and seniors and they all do live at once what a year that would be!

    JR. Harrow
    SR. Brown
    SR. Wood
    SR. Howell
    SR. Painter

    That’s what we call “Rich people Problems.”

  11. jaimico_elberg 05/14/2009 at 5:38 PM #

    I think that when you have a team based in young player therefore inexperienced one you can fairly expect a lot of inconsistency.

    As things are I think we have nice talent but inexperienced for next year. On the other hand I think we will se what kind of coach is actually SL, I have faith in him and HIS kind of players. As a consequnce, I expect 3 posibilities for this team .

    A) a consistenly good team, this would be a combination of talent and good coaching. Therefore, SL gets more time.

    B ) a decent, fun to wath sometimes, horrible other times, always great effor, but inconsistent team, this would mean regular coaching and players, that have the talent but lack the experience. This in my opinion is acceptable and that certainly means improvement from last year. This would also mean that coach lowe formula would be: ok coaching, great recruiting.

    c) A consitently bad team. The only way to have this posibility is bad coaching, and then with all the faith, love and respect I have for coach lowe, he should be fired.

    One last thing, for me this should be the way that Coach Lowe’s work should be assesed, not in a number of wins but rather ow he manages logically with the personel he has. I mean this because, in my opinion now is clear that he can identify (Harrow) and bring (this class) important talent. That is the first leg, the second comes now.

    One last thing imp

  12. 44rules 05/15/2009 at 3:39 AM #

    I totally agree with our South American fan. I have no contacts, higher up or otherwise, being locked in North Georgia.
    Call me crazy, but I really right off Lowe’s first 2-3 years. He was not ready to coach an ACC program when we hired him. That’s a fact. And when his son got arrested (second year) I did hear that he didn’t attend half the practices.
    He, as a coach and recruiter, was behind the 8-ball. I think we should expect inconsistency with a boatload of freshmen and sophomores. Lowe has shown he has learned how to find talent and recruit it, even if he doesn’t land everybody he targets.
    He must show next year that he has learned from his piss-poor substitution patterns, and can prod his team to play better defense.

  13. blackdom 05/15/2009 at 8:13 AM #

    Well, when is the parade? If Sid makes the ncaat he can stay,if not so long. We can’t keep crying about ^ “learning on the job”,”not ready to coach”,”his son got arrested”, and on and on……..Lets see if the guy can coach.

  14. frankiepack 05/15/2009 at 8:52 AM #

    I think we should give Sid all the time he needs. He came to our rescue. He needs to learn and grow as a coach. It is also the right message to send ,Sid loves the pack and I think he is doing a wonderful job! I think his son is out of jail so Sid can also concentrate more on his job.

  15. Packman02 05/15/2009 at 9:11 AM #

    http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/865198.html

    Scout Updated Rankings (05/15/2009 – Dave Telep’s List)

    Up to #13…not a bad haul at all!

  16. bradleyb123 05/15/2009 at 9:41 AM #

    Not bad at all, Packman!

    For me, Sid gets a MINIMUM two years with this group of talented kids. He’s earned that with this haul. I expect a pretty good year, and quite possibly an NCAA tournament bid. But even if we don’t, I still say he gets a second year at a minimum.

  17. rtpack24 05/15/2009 at 10:22 AM #

    Cooldrip on page 3 makes some very good points. I like Sidney and I hope he succeeds. Regarding defense we were the worst team in the ACC in points allowed per game and we were also the 12th team in the ACC for field goal pct of opposing teams. This is not poor defense, it is horrible defense.

  18. blackdom 05/15/2009 at 10:42 AM #

    Well just to keep it real class of 2005 {ie Herbs players} ranked #11
    class of 2007 #17 so whether it is 13 or 15 wait to see how this plays out and no not 2years for Sid. This season no 2 years or more.

  19. Packman02 05/15/2009 at 10:51 AM #

    ^ Sorry, Dom. Have to go with BradleyB123 on the two years thing, if only because of Ryan Harrow.

    He’s becoming THAT good – and doing so playing against elite competition in Atlanta. Just like Lo Brown and Richard Howell. That is the sole reason I feel there is some legitimacy behind this class – the HS leagues they played in. Atlanta is a hoops hotbed, a trial by fire (by HS standards) and I think we will see this experience serve as a catalyst to boosting the performace of our NC State team. Not a slight at anyone in particular from the 2005 class but just take a look at where they played their HS ball – big fish in small ponds, y’know?

  20. bradleyb123 05/15/2009 at 11:19 AM #

    “^ Sorry, Dom. Have to go with BradleyB123 on the two years thing, if only because of Ryan Harrow.”

    That’s actually part of the reason I say Sid gets two years. I just didn’t mention it. Even without Harrow, I’d say give Sid two years, but Harrow is icing on that cake (for me).

  21. bradleyb123 05/15/2009 at 11:24 AM #

    Not picking on anyone in particular (because I can’t remember who all said this…) but to the guys that were saying Sid needed to “hit this one out of the park, and he didn’t” (talking about this recruiting class when it was ranked 19th, and before we had the 7′ Aussie and Painter)……. you used this so-so recruiting class to help make the case that Sid isn’t getting it done, and (presumably) that he needed to be let go.

    I’m curious if you have changed your minds now that Sid’s class is ranked 13th, and we also got Painter, and Harrow is now a five star recruit for 2010.

    Serious question. Not picking on anyone at all. But if the last straw was an average recruiting class, well, that last straw appears to be a “moot” straw now.

    I admit, I liked Sidney even when the recruiting class was just ranked 19th. Are you willing to give Sid a pass now that it has improved?

  22. Packman02 05/15/2009 at 11:40 AM #

    ^ I was actually doubting the staff’s ability to close this year’s class. Hell, after the ‘whiffs’ on Favors (who was, in reality, probably not going to go anywhere BUT GT) and Cousins, what else was I to think?

    With those guys unavailable, Sid and Co. finished as well as they possibly could have (yes, even better than if we’d landed Wall). Harrow will draw the interest of players of similar caliber (Luke Cothron, for example) and we’ve now proven we can close once we get the initial attention.

    My personal reservations around this staff center around its (in)ability to manage certain facets of the game. How much of this was predicated upon players that were ‘not their recruits’ remains to be seen.

    Sidney is the principle architecht of this year’s team (sans a couple of guys) – I think we’ll see improvement.

  23. ktoh 05/15/2009 at 12:38 PM #

    Sid always looks great on paper around here ,its when they throw the ball up things go south very quickly.

  24. kyjelly 05/15/2009 at 1:49 PM #

    The League is and has been down,there Has to be improvement there is no other option I am afraid. We have used up and Sid has used up all of his excuses.

  25. BJD95 05/15/2009 at 1:53 PM #

    He still didn’t hit the homerun – no Top 10, game-changing player. The class does get better with Painter, though. There will be lots of pieces for the next coach to work with.

    Here’s my post from March, recapping my criteria after I wrote off Lowe’s second season as a complete “learning” year:

    http://www.statefansnation.com/index.php/archives/2009/03/03/revisiting-last-februarys-analysis/

    I said Lowe needed to meet all 3 criteria to get me fully back on board, and he met ZERO. As bradleyb notes, he came very close to meeting ONE of my criteria (Top Ten recruiting class). That might be a valid argument if he met the other two criteria, but he didn’t.

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