Omer Yurtseven is back and Ted Kapita is gone; let’s assess the roster as it stands

wheeeeeeeeeeee

I’ll be honest here: the roller coaster nonsense that comes with every offseason now, whether that involves transfers or kids maybe turning pro or any combination thereof? It gives me something to write about during an otherwise dead period sports-wise, which I appreciate. With that said, I’d rather merely nap through the offseason as opposed to smacking my head against a concrete wall.

Omer Yurtseven will be back for his sophomore season at NC State this fall. Ted Kapita decided he’d rather go get some money overseas, as did Maverick Rowan. NC State gained a recruit; NC State lost a recruit. NC State added a pair of graduate transfers to help fill out the weak spots in its rotation. College basketball is always at its most obvious dysfunction during a coaching change.

At least the NBA Draft deadline for underclassmen provided some clarity. This is probably the roster that Kevin Keatts will be working with in his first season:

1: Markell Johnson / Lavar Batts
2: Al Freeman / Sam Hunt
3: Torin Dorn / Shaun Kirk
4: Malik Abu / Lennard Freeman / Darius Hicks
5: Omer Yurtseven / Freeman / Abu

(Until I hear otherwise I’m assuming Terry Henderson will not be back.)

Yurtseven’s return answers a lot of concerns about the front court, but the question for this group is gonna be how much can they stretch defenses; there are no obvious go-to perimeter threats aside from Al Freeman. There also isn’t an obvious go-to scorer in any spot, w,hich is a brand new predicament.

That’s okay, though. There are worse places to start over, and anyway starting over was absolutely necessary.

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