Top five NC State basketball class won’t let hype get to it
Apex Friendship forward Nick Farrar wasn’t born when Michigan’s ‘Fab Five’ made an impact on college basketball in the early 90s. And so far, Farrar said he hasn’t heard that nickname associated with N.C. State’s 2020 basketball recruiting class that he is a part of.
The fall signing period was a good one for Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts, who reeled in a five-man class currently ranked No. 5 in the nation. It’s the highest ranked recruiting class for N.C. State since 2016, which also finished No. 5 nationally and No. 3 in the ACC.
Farrar, who scored 18 points in a 75-47 win over Lee County on Tuesday night, was the first player out of the group to verbally commit. Farrar (6-7, 230) was followed by Greensboro guard Cam Hayes (6-1, 160), then Ebenezer Dowuona, a 6-10 center from Georgia.
Keatts then put a bow on the class in a two-day span a few weeks ago with the verbal commits of Moravian Prep teammates Shakeel Moore and Josh Hall, the highest ranked player out of the group. Hall, a four-star power forward, is ranked No. 2 in the state. Hayes is No. 3. Four of the five players are from North Carolina, backing up Keatts’ earliler statements about wanting to get some “homegrown” talent.
All five players signed National Letters of Intent during the early signing period and Keatts was able to boast about the class after.
“You look at those guys that we signed, all five of those guys fill a need for us,” Keatts said about the 2020 class. “They were all guys that we prioritized and we knew we could have a chance to get.”
It was Farrar, the No. 8 player in North Carolina, who pledged his allegiance first. At the time, Farrar knew Hall and Hayes had their eyes on the Pack, but he was coming to State regardless.
“It really didn’t matter,” Farrar told the N&O on Tuesday. “N.C. State is positionless basketball and I’m a positionless player. I thought it was a great fit for me.”
Farrar had a connection with some of the other prospects. He and Hayes played for the same AAU team in third grade. They stayed in touch and from conversations, Farrar’s gut feeling was that Hayes would join him in Raleigh.
“I had high hopes that he was coming and things just started picking up,” Farrar said. “Then that’s when we got Josh.”
Farrar then went on the recruiting trail himself, through text messages and phone calls, trying to convince the rest of the targets to commit to the Wolfpack. Hall was the last verbal and the class instantly shot up to No. 5 in the country and No. 3 in the ACC (behind Duke and North Carolina). That immediately brings extra excitement to the program, but high expectations as well.
During its first season, the last No. 5 recruiting class at N.C. State didn’t make the NCAA tournament and only won four ACC games. When this group steps on campus, the same type of buzz will await it. Farrar realizes that, but is already taking the right approach to the fanfare.
“I’m not really too big on where we are ranked,” he said. “We have to go in and prove ourselves being a top five class. It’s good that we are top five, but we are going to come in and work hard. We’re not going to let that get to us.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 1:41 PM with the headline "Top five NC State basketball class won’t let hype get to it."
