ACC Preview #2 – NC State. Was The Portal Good To The Pack? We’ll Know Soon.

You know the old joke about you can’t tell the players without a scorecard? It’s beyond that in college basketball.

With the new transfer rule, it’s almost impossible to know a team’s roster. Well, you can know who’s on it, but knowing what they can do? That’s another story all together (there is a business here for someone who just scouts, quantifies and runs analytics on every single player in the portal. AI should make it possible soon).

In ACC Preview #1, we talked about UNC losing seven players to transfer. It’s nearly as bad in Raleigh: eight players won’t be back for coach Kevin Keatts and as far as we know, only two graduated or are out of eligibility.

Those would be (we think) Chase Graham and Jarkel Joiner. Terquavion Smith left for professional basketball so that leaves five transfers: big men Ebenezer Dowouna, Isaiah Miranda and Dusan Mahorcic are all gone as are forwards Jack Clark and Greg Gantt.

We will see Dowouna and Clark again: Dowouna is off to Georgia Tech while Clark chose Clemson.

For his part, Mahorcic chose Duquesne and Gantt will finish up at UNC-Asheville. Finally, Miranda, who redshirted last year, will transfer to Oklahoma State after deciding against the NBA. That really sums up where we are today: you sit out a year and then your options are to make a lateral transfer or go to the NBA? Based on what?

But we digress.

Those are some heavy losses to be sure, especially Smith. He was a hot NBA prospect as a freshman but went undrafted after his sophomore year. Philadelphia signed him and he’s on a two-way contract, which must be a bit of a comedown. He was a tremendous threat at NC State.

Joiner proved dangerous too, and if you shut one down, the other was going to hurt you.

Dowouna proved to be an effective inside defender, but he’s replaceable. Mahorcic was a starter prior to his knee injury but he was already replaced when Burns emerged. Miranda has promise but big deal. State did fine while he redshirted and the Pack will do fine without him too.

Clark was useful but he missed 11 games with injuries. Gantt, who also dealt with injuries while at State, never quite lived up to expectations/hopes.

The backcourt is the biggest loss obviously. Those guys averaged 17.9 (Smith) and 17.0 (Joiner) respectively and both were explosive scorers.

Kevin Keatts brings back six players – DJ Burns, Ernest Ross, Casey Morsell, Breon Pass, LJ Thomas and Jordan Snell.

Burns became a fan favorite last season. When Mahorcic went out with a knee injury in early December, Burns stepped in and became a star, and even a bit of a cult figure. At 6-9 and 275 and with a Falstaffian sort of aura, Burns was surprisingly effective. The Winthrop transfer put up 12.5 ppg and a shade under five boards. He’s almost certainly the most popular player on the team and…