Will Wade hasn’t been a power conference head coach since 2022. He appears to be trying to make up for lost time.
After a disgraced exit at LSU and two highly successful seasons at McNeese State, Wade was tasked earlier this spring with the job of returning NC State to the status of perennial contender.
First order of business: Talent acquisition.
Second order of business: Stir the pot with the big dogs in the Triangle.
Phase two went into effect Saturday night at a dinner event hosted by One Pack, NC State’s NIL collective.
While talking about his offseason work in the transfer portal, Wade focused on Ven-Allen Lubin, a 6’8 forward who transferred in from rival North Carolina after averaging 8.7 points and 5.5 rebounds in 37 games for the Tar Heels last season.
“I don’t know where we got him from,” Wade joked. “We got him on the side of the road.”
When the crowd reacted positively to that line, Wade smelled blood in the water.
“The other school was too dumb to play him,” Wade said “When he plays 28-plus minutes — he’s done that in 23 games — he averages 15 and eight. I don’t know why the hell they didn’t play him. But we’re going to play him, so he’s going to average 15 and eight.”
Not only is this a rivalry shot from a side that has, historically, been on the lesser side, but it’s a rivalry shot at the other side’s head coach. Wade clearly senses weakness in Chapel Hill, where Hubert Davis is heading into what many consider to be a make-or-break season after four years of pretty extreme highs paired with equally extreme lows.
Wade, meanwhile, is looking to reassume his status as one of college basketball’s biggest coaching stars and most brazen personalities, two hats he seemed destined to wear before the FBI’s probe into college hoops cut his time at LSU short.
The answer to the question of whether or not Wade can bring stability to Raleigh — a trait long-desired by Wolfpack fans — won’t start to be answered until the actual games begin in the fall. What Wade has undoubtedly done is make the program more interesting and relevant during the summer months than it would have been if the school had hired just about anybody else.
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