Will Wade was welcomed with a red carpet at NC State. The program fired Kevin Keatts, and the fans practically begged the Wolfpack to bring Wade in. His first words as a coach made plenty of noise. “It’s gonna be a reckoning for the ACC, and it’s gonna be a reckoning for college basketball,” Wade said.“Let me be very clear: this is not a rebuild. We’re gonna be in the top part of the ACC next year, and we’re going to the NCAA Tournament.” 

Unfortunately, the reality for Wade is quite different. Cut to nine months from his announcement in March, Wade is off to an 8-4 start. The first-year coach is not loving how his team is going about things in practice and their games. He was extremely critical of his squad, even after a comfortable 108-72 win over Texas Southern. 

“Not good enough. Same guys we make mistakes in and shoot around. We make mistakes in practice. Make the same mistakes in the game,” Wade told the media. “Same guys who foul all the time because they have no attention to detail, and they make mistakes, and they just act all shocked when they foul in the game. It’s what we do.”

Wade’s frustration is understandable if we pore over some of the numbers. NC State commits 19.4 personal fouls per game. That ranks 298th in the country. Even in a lopsided win against Texas Southern, they had 20 fouls. Naturally, they concede 22.4 free throws per game, which also ranks among the worst in the nation. According to Wade, the problem lies in the attitude of his players. 

“We’re running a daycare…We’re running a competitive basketball program,” Wade said,“And quite frankly, I’ve been trying to get some urgency and some internal leadership…We’ve got a lot of casual personalities on our team. We don’t have people that are wrapped up and ready to go.”

The in-game mistakes have shown what Wade is trying to explain. So far, the team has been lax on defense. They are leaking 105.5 points per 100 possessions, stemming from weak offensive rebounding, allowing more than 9 offensive boards per game. The team has also struggled to win close games, losing 2 out of the three they have had.

For example, they had the opportunity to win their first game against a ranked opponent in Kansas. The team had defended Darryn Peterson fairly well, but when it came to the clutch situation in OT, they couldn’t finish the crucial shots. Their on-court performance shows that this team clearly has some potential.

“We made 88 mistakes in our shoot-around,” Wade added. “We made 23 defensive errors, 13 offensive execution errors. 36 errors on those. Our first team made 14, our second team made 22. How the h*** can you be on the second team and watch the first team do it and make eight more mistakes? You’re running the same stuff, casual, lack of attention to detail, lack of focus.”

The team can still bounce back. Sometimes, the engine takes some ignition and a kick to start. This spirited rant from Wade might just light that fire. He did have some praise for Quadir Copeland and Ven-Allen Lubin, but others have some work to do before returning to Wade’s good graces. The alarm bells from Wade make even more sense, looking at what lies ahead for NC State.

Will Wade Braces Tough Schedule As High Major Teams Await NC State

NC State is currently 34th in the NET rankings per Warren Nolan, which are a factor in the ultimate NCAA slate. Either NC State will need to win the ACC, which is a tall task considering how good the likes of Duke, Louisville, and North Carolina have been so far. Or, they need to rack up multiple Q1 wins and keep their resume among the top 68 teams. 

“S***, it’s concerning it’s taking this long, and we’re not there,” Wade said after he was asked what his level of concern is. “We’ve got all high-major games from here on out. Kindergarten is over… Yeah, it’s concerning.”

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The team’s next few games are tougher than what they faced against Texas Southern or Liberty. Next, they face the 7-4 Ole Miss, who can put a dent in the Wolfpack. Then they face the 9-3 Wake Forest, who have a top 50 defense per KenPom. Forest lost against the No.6 Michigan Wolverines and No.15 Texas Tech by just one point. 

They can certainly make life difficult for Wade. He has No.23 Virginia on the horizon, who are a top 15 offense per Ken Pom, and the defense will need to be on its game to go head-to-head. That’s not to say NC State is destined to struggle in the next few weeks. However, if the intensity and concentration that Will Wade flagged don’t trend in the upward direction, they could be in trouble. If Wade’s ‘reckoning’ is still coming, the next three weeks will determine whether it’s aimed at the ACC—or his own locker room.