Starting Five: N.C. State off to hot start in 2021
Kevin Keatts and N.C. State are off to a strong start with their 2021 class after landing top 50 junior Ernest Ross on Sunday night. More on Ross plus Wake Forest's coaching vacancy and other items in this week's Starting Five.
1. NC STATE LANDS SECOND RIVALS150 PROSPECT FROM 2021
Kevin Keatts continues to roll on the recruiting trail.
He and his staff at North Carolina State currently hold the No. 7 ranked recruiting class in 2020 and after Sunday night's commitment from top 50 forward Ernest Ross, the Pack's 2021 class has an early ranking of No. 6 nationally.
So, what should State fans expect from Ross? They should have pretty high expectations.
While Ross is far from a finished product, I absolutely love the athletic 6-foot-9 forward's upside. He runs the floor extremely well, he's a pogo stick around the rim and while he's still lean he has the exact type of frame with good shoulders and long arms that you like to see in a high end prospect. He's not yet a knockdown shooter, but he's also got a lot of promise as somebody who can stretch the floor and his shot looks pretty sound.
He's built to play the type of high octane hoops Keatts wants to play.
Ross joins North Carolina combo guard Terquavion Smith -- also a member of the 2021 Rivals150 -- as an early member of State's class. Smith is also a big-time athlete and built to play fast. Needless to say, things are looking good in Raleigh on the recruiting front.
2. TIMING OF DANNY MANNING FIRING MAKES LITTLE SENSE
On Saturday, Wake Forest athletic director John Currie decided to relieve Danny Manning of his duties as head coach.
That Currie felt the need to do so isn't necessarily a big surprise. Manning was considered to be on the hot seat during the 2019-20 season and had only finished better than 12th in the ACC one time during his six years in Winston-Salem.
However, the time to do so was a month and a half ago when the season ended. Dismissing Manning in late April and in today's climate makes zero sense to me. It will give any candidates some pause when considering whether or not to take the job.
The ACC is tough enough to win in as it is, and asking a coach to come in this late is asking a lot. They can't go out and watch potential recruits, school is closed and current team members are at home and more than likely restrictions on transfers are about to be lifted, meaning their roster -- particularly sophomore Isaiah Mucius and junior Olivier Sarr, should he decide to withdraw from the NBA Draft -- is in danger of being raided. Phew.
Also, given tough times across the country as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, is now really the time to be casually throwing $15 million at a contract buyout?
Maybe Currie and Wake end up with a good hire and this is much ado about nothing (well, save for that $15M they are throwing away). UNCG's Wes Miller has been earning his stripes and I also feel North Carolina Central's LaVelle Moton is somebody that should get a long look. But, with the way this dismissal has been handled, they've really set up about as unappealing a situation as you can have for a coach looking to make a move to a high major program.
3. GOING TO THE FILM ON 2021 LAWSON LOVERING
Because of COVID-19 we haven't been on the road watching players and reporting on them like we usually would be this time of year. So, we've been spending a lot of time watching film and over the weekend I spent some time watching three-star Colorado commit Lawson Lovering.
A seven-footer from Wyoming who committed last fall, Lovering is coming along nicely, Tad Boyle and the Buffs did a great job locking him up early.
He'll still need to get stronger, but Lovering is starting to fill out and his skill level is impressive. He can shoot threes, he is a big-time passer, he has very good hands and he plays with a bit of a mean streak. There's just a lot to like about what he brings the table and his upside.
Currently ranked outside of the Rivals150 and No. 30 among centers in the class, I feel we have him underrated and he's going to receive heavy consideration to not only move into the rankings, but perhaps be elevated to four-star status the next time we update the Rivals150.
4. MONDAY FOR WALTON?
******Note, Walton committed to North Carolina late Monday morning*****
Say this for undecided four-star shooting guard Kerwin Walton, he sure knows how to build up some suspense.
The 6-foot-5 sniper from Minnesota was supposed to decide between Arizona, Creighton, Georgetown, Minnesota and North Carolina on Saturday. He didn't. The decision was then expected on Sunday and didn't happen again.
As of late Sunday night, sources indicated to me that they were hoping to hear a decision by mid to late morning Monday.
My futurecast pick has been with North Carolina but over the weekend pretty much everybody involved was left scratching their heads about what is going down and who he will pick (if he does decide on Monday) is anybody's guess at this point.
5. A FUTURECAST FOR 2021 CONWAY
The next member of the class of 2021 who has scheduled a time to make a commitment is Rivals150 point guard Ryan Conway.
The six-footer is planning to announce on Saturday and has a final group of Marquette, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Stanford and Vanderbilt that he will be selecting from.
As he prepares to commit, I've made my futurecast in favor of Kevin Willard and Seton Hall. Sources have indicated that the Pirates are the team to beat and from what I can see the two are a pretty good match of system and player.