The Curious Case of NC State Basketball: Who does less with more?

So going into this basketball season it was widely viewed that NC State with the addition of Cat Barber to an already uber talented squad, should have been one of the bubble teams in terms of ACC contenders, more on the bright side, looking up. Fast forward a few months and we all got to see what a dumpster fire NC State was after finishing 16-17, with a 5-13 record in the ACC. Mark Gottfried has to be the one on the greatest hot seat in the ACC coaching carousel.

Adding to his woes was the announcement by Cat Barber that he would stay in the draft (38.7 MPG, scoring 23.5 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 4.5 APG as well as Abdul-Malik Abu (28.3 MPG with 12.9PPG/8.8RPG/1.3APG) opting to go to the draft as well. Losing your top two scoring options early would be tough enough but then the news hit that both the Martin twins will also be transferring out this summer, taking with them the 4th and 5th scoring options this last season for the Wolfpack. That means that in a season where his job is likely on the line, he just lost 72% of his scoring from last season earlier than he should have.

Couple that with the fact that so far, this recruiting class is one of Gottfrieds worst in years simply by number, although who he got should make for another interesting story as he managed to pull in a top 10 PG in the country, Dennis Smith out of Trinity Christian School, a five star PG who may be the next top talent to suffer at the hands of Gottfired inability to maximize talent.

So I guess my question is what kind of season do you think NC State will have next year and do they finish better or worse than this season compared to Wake, BC and the other cellar dwellers?