NC State fans can breathe easy now.
The Wolfpack men's basketball team is set up to be fairly impressive next season. Abdul-Malik Abu is coming back. That's for sure. The school sent out an announcement on Thursday, and Abu's posted about it on numerous social media platforms. BeeJay Anya is also reportedly backing out of the draft, with an announcement expected very soon.
Abu was a guy we pegged as one of the top 101 players in the sport last season. He started every game for NC State in 2015-16, putting up 12.9 points per game and leading the team with an 8.8 rebound average.
Here's what he had to say, and check out Anya's tweet, too.
This, combined with the huge news of NC State landing an elite international player (who is planning on playing with the Pack in 2016-17) means the Wolfpack are set up to have one of the best frontcourts in America next season.
Oh, and they'll have arguably the best freshman point guard in the country too. His name is Dennis Smith. Jr. and he's already projected as a lottery pick in 2017. Mark Gottfried's team will have high expectations and might wind up being a sleeper pick to be top-two in the ACC. But remember, UNC has a lot coming back and Duke is the projected No. 1 team in the country.
The ACC should be a riot.