NC State is recruiting Cincinnati transfer Nysier Brooks

You know the transfer recruiting situation has gone full circle when you can find a picture of NC State’s current target (Nysier Brooks) celebrating with a former target (Cane Broome).

Anyway, Cincinnati big man Nysier Brooks put his name in the transfer portal, and while he could return to the Bearcats for his final year of college, he’s getting plenty of interest from high-major programs, NC State included.

Brooks is not a graduate transfer, so he’ll have to sit one to play one, which is not the most ideal transfer situation. If you are going to commit a scholarship to a kid, tying that up for a year of sitting on the bench with only one year on the court to balance it is not the best accounting.

Sorry, that sounded cold, didn’t it.

Anyway, there’s no question that Nysier Brooks would be a valuable addition to NC State’s roster—he is a monster on the glass, particularly at the offensive end, and he’s an elite shot blocker.

You might have noticed this season that Kevin Keatts often didn’t press when Wyatt Walker was on the floor, but was willing to take more chances when DJ Funderburk was his big. Neither of those kids were good shot blockers, but Funderburk was the more talented of the two.

The thing is, when you want to go press-heavy, you need an eraser to make some mistakes go away. You need a safety, basically, if you really want to make a press work. Keatts’ NC State teams haven’t had that, so he’s had to be more reserved about when he calls for the press. If you can put somebody like Nysier Brooks on the floor for 30 minutes, though? That changes a whole lot.