It’s been a banner month for the NC State Wolfpack men’s (and women’s) college basketball teams, with a pair of Final Four appearances in Raleigh bolstering the hoops cred at the Triangle University in 2024.
For the MBB team, Kevin Keatts and his staff led the Wolfpack to the national semifinal for the first time since Jim Valvano’s miracle squad won it all in 1983, thanks in large part to the exploits of forward DJ Burns.
Burns, who transferred to NC State from Winthrop in 2023, finished the year with 12.9 points per game and 3.3 win shares in 41 games, pushing his four-year total to 14.2 WS and 38.7 when you combine that total with his four-year Player Efficiency Rating of 24.5.
Of the top players in recent NC State history (in combined PER + WS totals), Burns is right up there with a handful of other Wolfpack greats but is the lone member of the 2024 Final Four team to make the cut.
Utilizing SportsReference.com, BetCarolina.com developed the NC State Men’s Basketball team of the past decade from 2014-15 to 2023-24. The players included had to have played for the Wolfpack during this period and it is based on the combination of PER and Win Shares during those years with the team.
NC State Men’s Basketball Team of Last Decade
If only North Carolina sports betting were legal during these great NC State players' careers, NC bettors would lift them up even more. Here is our NC State Men's Basketball Team of the last decade (2014-2024).
Who Made NC State’s All-Decade Team?
The NC State All-Decade team includes Burns at the center position, with the most recent player of the five besides him being forward DJ Funderburk, who had a career PER + WS total of 34.0 between 2018 and 2021.
Throw in four-year starting guard Torin Dorn (28.4 PER + WS between 2015 and 2019), Dennis Smith Jr. (27.1 PER + WS between 2016 and 2017), and Anthony “Cat” Barber (29.7 PER + WS between 2014 and 2016) and you have the full list of the NC State team in question.
Of the five, Burns was the 2024 ACC Tournament MVP, while Smith was an All-ACC member in 2016-17 and the conference’s Freshman of the Year that season, and Barber was a member of the All-ACC team in 2015-16.
All five left indelible marks on the Wolfpack basketball program, with Burns being the most recent NC State star to make a name for himself under the blinding lights of March Madness.
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USA Today photo by Kevin Jairaj.
