Assessing NC State’s roster building after first month of transfer activity leads to top-10 portal class

When Justin Gainey was officially introduced as NC State’s next head coach, he made it clear that his team was going to be built on two key traits: Character and toughness. Those qualities were the driving force for the Wolfpack’s roster-building process over the past month as the coaching staff navigated the transfer portal. The former, however, seemed to take the lead in the evaluation process that Gainey envisioned when he arrived in Raleigh at the helm of his beloved alma mater’s program. “I want to recruit high-character student-athletes who embrace the standard and take pride in wearing that jersey,” Gainey said in front of a packed ballroom on the second floor at Lenovo Center on April 1. “I understand the era we’re in right now, where rosters are fluid. Maybe you have a guy for one year, maybe it’s two years. I get it. I promise you, and I’ll do my best through the vetting system that low-character will not exist in my program.” Gainey’s intentional approach to identifying talent, deeper than just how they perform on the court, utilized "uncomfortable meetings to find the right guys.” In turn, the first 30 days of the transfer portal resulted in a bevy of commitments with the roster growing from just one player to nine.  NC State’s portal success, which featured getting star guard Paul McNeil Jr. to withdraw from it while landing a pair of elite backcourt pieces with NCAA Tournament experience to pair with him, led to the program earning the No. 9 class, according to the On3 Team Transfer Portal Index after the first month of it being open. In short, Gainey and Co. have been able to piece together a cohesive roster to this point of the offseason. Yes, they have six more roster spots available to use ahead of the first day of classes in August, but so far, the ACC’s third-best portal haul appears to be trending in the right direction. Let’s take a look at how the Wolfpack’s player-acquisition process has gone over the last month.