NC State has won all 3 of its games by 30+ points, impressive regardless of competition. Hopefully, however, they'll be a bit shocked by the competition level and our athletes.
I'm intrigued by Jackson in this matchup. Think he should get a fair play of minutes. Their 3 most important cogs on offense are 6'3" (Hayes), 6'5" (Daniels), and 6'7" (Hellems). Jackson's best role for us is as an athletic defender against wings and that will be important tomorrow. Adams should get run as well. Hellems seems like Polley with a more attacking mindset, so we could definitely get away with Martin/Polley at the 4 if needed, but Whaley could probably guard him if we wanted to upsize them. Which we might, because they are particularly weak on the glass.
They've got 4 shooters on the court most times plus either a shot blocker (Bates) or more offensive oriented center (Funderburk). They do play 2 bigs sometimes when their 3rd big (freshman Gibson) comes in (and sparingly those 2 together). The frosh and Bates are active on the offensive boards.
NC State's defense seems similar to ours. High pressure man that attempts to disrupt, force turnovers, run guys off the 3pt line, and funnel into the shotblacker Bates. Even a bit better than us at forcing turnovers.
A Cole/Gaff, Bouk, Jackson, Martin, Whaley lineup gets us athletes to defend while still being able to hurt them on the glass with Bouk/Jackson/Martin/Whaley all being + rebounders for their positions and enough ball handlers and playmakers to handle the pressure and take advantage of driving lanes. Or maybe we go Whaley + Carlton/Sanogo to really punish them on the glass, because I do think Whaley can stay with Hellems.