NC State’s basketball recruiting is not done.
After apparently missing on 5th year transfer and former NC State player, Josh Davis, Coach Gottfried & Co. continue to seek ways to fill out the Wolfpack’s 2013-2014 roster. The quest formally took another step forward yesterday when Oak Hill Academy’s Lennard Freeman committed to the Wolfpack. Freeman picked State over a host of competitors that included the likes of Villanova, Seton Hall and Pittsburgh. Link to the N&O
N.C. State men’s basketball coach Mark Gottfried said he wanted more options in the frontcourt next season. The Wolfpack added another big man to its recruiting class Monday with the commitment of forward Lennard Freeman.
Freeman, a 6-foot-8, 215-pound power forward from Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, joins fellow forwards BeeJay Anya and Kyle Washington in the class and will be the fifth newcomer for Gottfried’s third team. Freeman confirmed the decision on his Twitter account Monday.
N.C. State has to replace its top two forwards from this season’s NCAA tournament team. C.J. Leslie, the team’s leading scorer, and Richard Howell, the ACC’s leading rebounder, both averaged more than 31 minutes per game. Gottfried used T.J. Warren as the third forward, but Warren spent the majority of the time on the perimeter.
The addition of Freeman, rated a three-star recruit by ESPN, gives Gottfried more options in what will be a young frontcourt rotation, save for senior 7-footer Jordan Vandenberg. Gottfried said this month he would prefer to use at least three big men, like he did during the 2011-12 season with Leslie, Howell and DeShawn Painter.
“We rotated those three guys around, hopefully we’ll find ourselves back in that situation,†Gottfried said. “We feel more comfortable that way than we did this year.â€
Freeman, originally from Washington, chose N.C. State over Pittsburgh, Villanova and Rutgers. He made a name for himself at Oak Hill with his work ethic and rebounding.
Guards Anthony Barber and Desmond Lee, a junior-college transfer, joins the three forwards in the class of 2013. With five of the top six scorers from last season’s team exiting the program, N.C. State still has four available scholarships.
Freeman, a consensus ‘3-star’ prospect generally ranked well outside of the Top 100 high school players in the country, could be a couple of years away from significant contributions in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Although the N&O’s article listed Freeman at 215 pounds, we’ve seen some services that list him closer to 235 pounds. Who knows? What we do know is that Freeman just turned 17 years old in December and the physical difference between a 17 year old and a 5th year senior who could be 23 or 24 years old is tremendous. The word on the street is that Freeman is exactly the type of player you want in your program – an academic achiever that is a consummate ‘team player” who gives it 100% in every practice. At the end of the day, it may make the most strategic sense to red-shirt Freeman and enjoy the benefits of having such a great kid around practice and the program for five years. Heck, the more I write the more the kid sounds like Josh Davis.
As for the macro vision of the NC State Basketball program — there continues to be reason for optimism and excitement around style of play. Just this morning Dick Vitale publicly acknowledged the talent coming into the program with the following tweet:
This team will be filled with exciting young players – BEWARE- these kind of teams r dangerous! @mark_gottfriednewsobserver.com/2013/04/30/285…
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) April 30, 2013
The scholarship configuration of NC State’s current roster is detailed in the chart that follows. You will note the obvious hole in experienced post talent and scholarship spacing among the upper classmen. The program is screaming for at least one upper-classman in the post with immediate eligibility; and such a player is probably the difference maker for positioning State for an NCAA Tournament bid next year. Additionally, it would not hurt the program to find a traditional transfer (maybe a three point shooting specialist?) who would be a rising sophomore or junior.
Current 2013-2014-2015 NC State Basketball Program Configuration
Senior Class
(1) Jordan Vandenberg (C)
Junior Class
(2) Ralston Turner (Wing) – transfer from LSU sat out 2012-2103
(3) Desomnd Lee (2G) – JUCO transfer from New Mexico Junior College
Sophomore Class
(4) Tyler Lewis (PG)
(5) TJ Warren (F)
Freshman Class – 2013 Commits
(6) Anthony Barber (PG)
(7) Kyle Washington (4F/5C)
(8) BeeJay Anya (4F/5C)
(9) Lennard Freeman (4F)
(10) Open
(11) Open
(12) Open
2014 Commits
(13) Caleb Martin (wing)
(1) Cody Martin (wing) (scheduled departure of Vandenberg)
