FanPost

Purvis may not be the only one cleared

http://www.zagsblog.com/2012/09/21/torian-graham-still-awaiting-word-from-ncaa/

So it looks like Torian Graham could still possibly join NC State in the spring if mutual interest still exist. From the way I understand it, the NCAA can still clear Torian to be fully qualified and Torian does not want to go to prep school. He wants to go to a high major school as soon as possible. He is currently in the same situation that Rodney Purvis was in just a few weeks ago. But the NCAA has told him he would have to be enrolled into a school to get the process moving faster. That isn't possible at NC State since the last date to enroll for the fall semester was August 29th. But a spring addition is still possible if he is cleared before January 1st ( possible later). This would completely change the depth outlook of our guards from looking at only having Brown, Lewis, and Wood to maybe having Brown, Lewis, Purvis, Wood, and Graham. Which would offset the loss of Tyler Harris since we could keep Wood at the 3 position and not have to rotate him at all in the 'guard' role if its not needed.

So our depth chart would look as follows:

PG: Lorenzo Brown, Tyler Lewis SG: Rodney Purvis, Torian Graham SF: Scott Wood, TJ Warren PF: CJ Leslie, Thomas DeThaey, C Richard Howell, Jordan Vandenburg

That is one deep, talented, and experience team. In your starting lineup you have nothing but juniors and seniors except for one freshman. Having Torian will keep us set at guards for 2013 also.

PG: Tyler Lewis, Anthony Barber SG:Rodney Purvis, Torian Graham SF: TJ Warren, Ralston Turner

The only thing that would be needed in the 2013 class is a Center and a Power Forward. NC State is still recruiting Sindarius Thornwell (SG) and Ishmail Wainright (SF) for the 2013 class. We are still in the mix for both of them but with Rodney Purvis and TJ Warren here its hard to imagine either one of those high talent guys sacrificing playing time to come to State. If either did come though that would most likely shut the door on Torian Graham. Having Graham is pretty significant, we already know he wants to play with Tyler Lewis, Rodney Purvis, and TJ Warren. But Graham is a guy with a ton of potential. Before his knee surgery he was steadily moving up the rankings, the highest he got was 25th in the nation with a 5 star rating. That is with a banged up knee. Torian can do it all, shoot and get to the basket. His height allows him to grow also putting more muscle on to be college ready. He'd be a good player behind Purvis until Purvis declares for the NBA draft which many believe he will do after his sophomore year. From what I heard Torian is a fiery guy and some worry about his intense play and rough background, I don't. So the possibility of adding torian is pretty exciting.

Looking forward to the 2013 class NC State is still in the mix for several top big men. As I mention earlier they only need two. Julius Randle, BeeJay Anya, Kennedy Meeks, Dominic Woodson, Kyle Washington, and Devin Williams are some of the players that are still listing NC State. The big name in the mix is Julius Randle whom if paired with a big time center (BeeJay Anya, Kennedy Meeks, or Dominic Woodson) would create a very talented but young starting five for NC State in 2013. We would be two deep at every position also to dampen the effect that the officials would have when we go to Durham and Chapel Hill. Right now its going to be tough to beat out Kentucky for Randle but one thing that could help is if the Harrison twins went to UK, since its been rumored that Randle wouldn't want to share the spotlight with them aka they are not known for passing the ball. The Harrison twins are deciding between UK and Maryland (another reason why we want them to go to UK) and will decide Oct. 29th. Reports are that the kids prefer UK and the dad wants them to go to Maryland. We saw how a similar situation played out with the athlete Amile Jefferson going to where his father wanted him to go to, Duke. From what I read though that the Harrison twins will win this one out though. One thing is for certain is that we don't want to face Maryland with the Harrison twins, we want them as bad as they can be.

What helps NC State is having Randle's good friend Purvis at NC State. The two want to play with each other and since Julius won't be committing until the spring, having a good year on the hard wood will go a long way to sway Randle. NC State can still have a great class and team without Randle but it just won't be the same. Picking up a center in the fall signing period will help us push all our efforts into Randle for the spring. Anya has already visited state and Woodson is visiting soon (this weekend I believe). Those are the two that I think we have the best shot as Meeks seems to be a heavy UNC lean, the only thing that keeps him from committing most likely is the plethora of big men UnC already has. Once I get more information on Woodson and Anya I'll update you all if you liked this post.

*Update*

Kyle Washington has committed to NC State. Now we can really just focus on Randle and possibly pull another big in if they don't mind waiting a year to get some playing time.

*Update #2*

Looks like I may be wrong about Sindarius Thornwell, he recently named his top 2, NC State and South Carolina. NC State has a good chance of getting him to commit which might, but not necessarily, close the door on Torian. It will mean if torian did come to NC State there would be a battle for playing time. Sindarius visits NC State October 12th per rivals.com Look for around that time frame for possibly more good news and my next post.