NC State is switching from Wilson basketballs to Adidas

In some important basketball-related basketball news, the N&O’s Joe Giglio has the scoop on which basketball NC State will be using this season. State is making a transition from Wilson to Adidas. That’s a severe downgrade.

The Wilson ball that State had used for years is a standard in college hoops—it’s the ball that the NCAA uses in the tournament. Why would you change that***, especially when you could actually use that as a bit for recruiting, like, “our mind is always on the national championship, which is why we use Wilson basketballs, the official basketball of the NCAA tournament.”

(***This is where State’s lucrative new contract with Adidas kicks in, I’m guessing.)

The irony of this change, which Giglio pointed out, is that Marcus Paige destroyed State with the Wilson ball in Raleigh. This is all coincidence—Paige’s graduation and State’s change in basketball brand—but when read together it’s pretty funny.

What’s not funny: Adidas basketballs. Ugh.

At least it’s not an Under Armour ball. Scott Wood would already have his own group of protesters lined up outside Debbie Yow’s office.