Recruiting: Pack’s Purvis wins Jordan MVP; Oriakhi to Missouri

NC State recruit and Raleigh native, Rodney Purvis put on a show in Charlotte last night in the “Jordan Brand Classic” game televised on ESPN. Purvis scored 22 points while grabbing at least 3 steals and took home MVP honors while exhibiting tenaciousness and athleticism that will be a huge addition to the Wolfpack program.

You can click here for highlights from ESPN’s coverage.

You can click here for a link the N&O’s article and scroll below for a video highlight of Purvis’ dunk over a Duke recruit, Rasheed Sulaimon.

The following is a tweet from Dick Vitale during the game last night:

Rodney Purvis will be vital as a Diaper Dandy & could be a key reason y NC ST will have a gr8 chance to pass UNC & Duke. #MARKGOTTFRIED

——————————————————————-

When Alex Oriakhi originally announced his intentions to leave UConn last month, there appeared to be mutual interest between the former UConn center and NC State. There also appeared to be a potentially strong fit between the parties to pair the defensive standout with a Wolfpack roster that should have plenty of scoring power.

As the month progressed, the Wolfpack appeared to back away from Oriakhi, which I read as positive signals related to other roster developments such as CJ Leslie’s potential return and the recruitment of Andrew Young and Amile Jefferson.

My biggest interest in Oriaki’s recruitment shifted from NC State, to a concern that UNC-CH or Duke may land the lanky 6’9 big man and bolster their thin front line depth next year. Luckily, we won’t have to worry about that as Oriakhi is going to play for Frank Haith at Missouri. (Link)

Former Connecticut standout Alex Oriakhi told CBSSports.com on Friday that he has decided to transfer to Missouri.

“Obviously it’s a simple fact that they don’t have any big men, and I can play with a pass-first point guard,” Oriakhi said. “I just felt comfortable.”

Oriakhi started on UConn’s 2011 national championship team but had his minutes and field goal attempts cut this past season because of the presence of one-and-done prospect Andre Drummond. Oriakhi’s relationship with Mizzou point guard Phil Pressey was among the factors in his decision. The 6-foot-9 forward will be able to play for the Tigers immediately because UConn is banned from the 2013 NCAA tournament. He’ll have one year of eligibility.

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

Basketball Recruiting

14 Responses to Recruiting: Pack’s Purvis wins Jordan MVP; Oriakhi to Missouri

  1. PackHowler 04/15/2012 at 9:15 AM #

    Jordan should host more of these high school games. The attendance is way above anything the Bobcats have seen all year.

  2. eas 04/15/2012 at 9:57 AM #

    Purvis looks great as does next year. I will say that was hardly a dunk “over” anybody but a good solid take to the rim.

  3. gtspack 04/15/2012 at 10:08 AM #

    Purvis will fit in great with the Pack’s transition offense.

  4. tuckerdorm1983 04/15/2012 at 11:55 AM #

    yeah there was some article in the News and Disturber saying the Oriakhi was coming the UNC and would be a force with McAdoodoo. Guess they were wrong

    http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/03/30/1971422/paige-oriakhi-are-key-for-uncs.html

  5. BJD95 04/15/2012 at 12:58 PM #

    I think we must feel extremely good about getting the juco (Young), and that Calvin is coming back. I have never, ever thought we would get AJ, nor do I think the staff would pass on Oriahki without very strong assurance of having three game-ready big men for 2012-13 (and by all indications, they knew that Pringles was going to leave all along).

    And when I say “game ready” that absolutely does not include Vandy or DeThaey. It’s a reasonable debate whether they can contribute in a pinch…but nobody in their right mind would definitely put them in the primary lowpost rotation, and recruit accordingly.

  6. virginiawolf 04/15/2012 at 1:42 PM #

    @BJD95, I’m reading your post that Leslie has announced he is returning and that Young has committed to STATE … must have missed those headlines in the N&O. hope that is so, where / when was all that decided/ announced?

  7. nuclearwolf07 04/15/2012 at 2:10 PM #

    @virginiawolf, I took it to mean we must feel we have a good shot at getting Young and/or Calvin coming back… Not that it was a done deal (Wish it was a done deal…)

  8. tjfoose1 04/15/2012 at 3:20 PM #

    ^ BJD means we should feel good about our chances of landing the two.

  9. virginiawolf 04/15/2012 at 4:04 PM #

    tjfoose, thanks … my mis-read. a little talk on twitter today from Young that looked very good in two aspects, but i don’t want to be “mis-read”. ‘thought CJ was announcing “this week” — any word?

  10. xphoenix87 04/15/2012 at 4:47 PM #

    I love the way Purvis attacks the body of defenders at the rim, it bodes really well for his ability to finish at the next level (it’s what Lorenzo Brown doesn’t do very well). It helps neutralize shotblockers and gets you to the free throw line. One play in particular, there was a defender back in transition with decent position, but instead of going right to the rim, Purvis attacked right at the defender, which forced him to back off and give up the easy layup. He just looks to be a tremendous finisher, something we haven’t had at the guard spot in far too long.

    Also, love the edge he’s got. Big-time competitor. I don’t think we’ll ever have to worry about him giving less than 100%.

  11. logarithm 04/15/2012 at 7:32 PM #

    If we can continue improving our bigs’ ability to outlet pass and Brown and Purvis can both steal the ball like Brown did last season, the combination of Leslie, Brown and Purvis in transition is going to be about as good as any fast-break offense around. It’ll be exciting to watch even if Lewis doesn’t get as much PT as we’d like to sling awesome passes.

  12. Mike 04/16/2012 at 11:46 AM #

    Karl has seen Purvis’ ability to drive to the bucket. Tendency to drive = tendency to charge. Just saying……….

  13. mikeak01 04/16/2012 at 1:08 PM #

    tendency to drive also equals tendency to make buckets, draw blocks / other fouls and an ability to dish to the outside / inside ie Leslie / Wood

    Serioulsy the outcome of the ability to drive to the bucket tends to be based on how good that ability is. Pretty general statement saying it is going to leads to charges. Kind of like shooting from the outside = missing shots……

  14. MattN 04/16/2012 at 7:53 PM #

    Don’t know if it’s been mentioned here, but my inside guy says Torian is officially going the prep route. Look for him to commit for 2013. He absolutely wants to run with the Pack. Hopefully this will work out as well as Lo Brown did…

Leave a Reply