N.C. State has not gotten off to a great start to their 2015-16 season as they are 5-3 and although they have a win over Ben Simmons and LSU they also have a loss to William & Mary. Head coach Mark Gottfried has done a great job of recruiting in his time with NC State but his 2015 class was lacking as it was ranked outside the top 50. Gottfried is trying to avoid that with his 2016 class and the main target right now is Rawle Alkins who has his list down to eight schools, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
NC State is one of the schools that made the list of eight along with Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Indiana, UNC, St. Johns and UNLV. Alkins is from Brooklyn, New York so with Chris Mullin now at the helm for the Red Storm that may be an intriguing option for him but as of right now it seems as though the Wolfpack are the heavy favorite for him, according to 247 Sports.
Alkins has unofficially visited UNC three teams in the past four months but he has yet to take any official visits yet and doesn't have any scheduled. Alkins seems to be somewhat focused on the North Carolina schools as of right now but he wants to make sure he doesn't make either fan base feel some type of way.
"I have to pick which games I go to between the two North Carolina schools carefully because I don't want one school feeling like I'm favoring the other. They're big rivals too! So I try and give equal time to both N.C. State and North Carolina. I went to the State game first last week then I went to see the North Carolina game. Great times at both," wrote Alkins in his USA Today blog.
As of right now the experts see NC State as the heavy favorites for Alkins but it is still extremely early in this process as he expects to schedule some official visits soon. As of right now the Wolfpack have one commitment for 2016 and that is top ten prospect Dennis Smith Jr. Getting a commitment from Alkins would give Gottfried two of the best players in the 2016 class as he is ranked as the 15th best prospect overall and the fifth best shooting guard in 2016, according to ESPN. Alkins' situation and future will become clearer when he schedules and takes his official visits but for now NC State fans have good reason for optimism.
