One way to rebuild a team that failed to make the NCAA Tournament is to add a bunch of transfers with March Madness experience at their former schools.
That’s the route new NC State coach Will Wade took once he was hired to replace Kevin Keatts, who was fired after going 12-19 last season. Paul McNeil is NC State’s only returning scholarship player, but the Wolfpack added nine Division I transfers. Six of the newcomers came from schools that won NCAA Tournament games last season.
“The first thing we were looking for is guys who’d won,” Wade told reporters during the Atlantic Coast Conference Tipoff event. “I think winning is a habit.”
Darrion Williams earned first-team all-Big 12 honors at Texas Tech and Tre Holloman was a co-captain at Michigan State before coming to NC State. Both reached regional finals at their former schools last season. Terrence Arcenaux joined NC State after helping Houston reach the NCAA Tournament championship game.
Ven-Allen Lubin played in the NCAA Tournament with North Carolina last season, while Quadir Copeland and Alyn Breed were part of Wade’s McNeese team that reached the round of 32.
“I think we should have a top-10 or 15 defense in the country,” Wade said. “Our biggest issue’s going to be defensive rebounding. We’re going to get stops."
NC State heads our list of potentially dangerous teams that failed to reach the NCAA Tournament last season. Here’s a look at some others:
Indiana (19-13 last season)
Mike Woodson’s coaching tenure ended with two straight 19-win seasons that didn’t include NCAA Tournament berths. The Hoosiers are turning to Darian DeVries, who coached just one year at West Virginia after a productive tenure at Drake. Tucker DeVries is following his dad to Indiana with career averages of 17.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists. Lamar Wilkerson averaged 20.5 points at Sam Houston last season and scored 26 points in Indiana’s preseason exhibition win over Baylor. Tayton Conerway, a Sun Belt Conference player of the year at Troy last season, had 17 points against Baylor.
Iowa (17-16)
Ben McCollum brought many of his players with him when he went from Division II Northwest Missouri State to Drake a year ago. The strategy paid off as the Bulldogs reached the NCAA Tournament’s round of 32 in McCollum’s lone season at Drake. Now he’s making the move to the Big Ten and again has plenty of familiar faces. Iowa’s roster features six members of that Drake team, including Bennett Stirtz, who last year became the first player in Missouri Valley Conference history to compile at least 600 points, 200 assists and 70 steals in a season.
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Kansas State (16-17)
Kansas State added one of the nation’s top transfers when it brought in PJ Haggerty, who earned Associated Press All-America second-team honors last season at Memphis. The Wildcats added plenty of transfers who had double-digit scoring averages at their former schools last season: Haggerty (21.7), Abdi Bashir (20.1 ppg at Monmouth), Marcus Johnson (16.2, Bowling Green), Nate Johnson (14.0, Akron) and Khamari McGriff (11.5, UNC Wilmington).
Ohio State (17-15)
The Buckeyes return three of their top four scorers from last season. Preseason all-Big Ten selection Bruce Thornton heads that list. The 6-foot-2 guard had 17.7 points and 4.6 assists per game last season. Devin Royal also is back after collecting 13.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. John Mobley Jr. scored 13 points per game. Ohio State also added a pair of high-scoring transfers in Brandon Noel (19 ppg, 7.7 rebounds per game at Wright State) and 7-footer Christoph Tilly (12.5 ppg at Santa Clara).
Virginia (15-17)
Virginia has an entirely new look under first-year coach Ryan Odom, who led VCU to an NCAA Tournament berth last season. Malik Thomas should provide a boost out of the transfer portal after leading the West Coast Conference with 19.9 points per game for San Francisco. Other newcomers who had double-figure scoring averages last season include Sam Lewis (16.2 at Toledo), Devin Tillis (13.7, UC Irvine) and Jacari White (17.1, North Dakota State). Odom also added 7-footer Johann Grunloh from Germany and Thijs De Ridder from Belgium. Thomas and Grunloh were Virginia’s leading scorers in an exhibition victory over Villanova.
Washington (13-18)
This one’s a leap of faith, considering Washington dropped its final six games last season and ended up in the Big Ten basement. The guess here is that the Huskies added enough in the transfer portal to turn things around. Southern California’s two leading scorers last season – Desmond Claude and Wesley Yates - are now at Washington. Jacob Ognacevic was the Atlantic Sun’s player of the year at Lipscomb last season, while Quimari Peterson was the Southern Conference player of the year at East Tennessee State. Freshman Hannes Steinbach also could make an immediate impact. He had 22 points and 16 rebounds in an exhibition win over UNLV.
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