What Uptick in Transfer Visits Means for NC State
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RALEIGH — NC State men's basketball faced far more questions than answers entering the 2026 offseason, especially after the exit of former coach Will Wade. Enter Justin Gainey, a program alumnus with a passion for his alma mater, who hopes to raise the standard on and off the court for the Wolfpack moving forward. To address the on-court needs, Gainey needs quality transfers.
While the first-year coach assembled his staff, he also added a pair of backcourt players from the transfer portal, building an early foundation for his first roster in Raleigh. However, things started slowly when it came to visits for portal targets, while some other schools in the ACC filled their rosters quickly. Now, that's changing significantly for the Pack, but what does it mean?
Gainey is hitting his stride
Getting players on campus can often be the key to securing transfer commits, as coaches are able to show potential members of their rosters around and give them a blueprint for their role should they commit. Gainey built a reputation as a strong recruiter during his two decades as an assistant and staffer at both the mid and high-major levels, so there's reason to believe that will translate to the transfer portal as well.
Over the last three days and in the early part of the week, NC State is set to host a flurry of frontcourt players. With his goal to build the Wolfpack on toughness, strong forwards and centers need to be staples of Gainey's roster every year. However, the Pack started by solving some of its backcourt problems, bringing in Christian Hammond and Preston Edmead before prioritizing the frontcourt.
Having added a couple of transfers now, Gainey can pitch things even more accurately to incoming visitors, especially in the frontcourt. Big men want to know what kind of guards they'll be working with. Edmead is likely to act as the first point guard of the Gainey era at NC State, so there's film and numbers to show centers and forwards, potentially luring them in to play with a crafty young guard.
There was also the fact that Gainey finished his season with Tennessee and arrived at NC State for his new job within three days of the Elite Eight loss for the Volunteers. His primary focus was building out a staff when he arrived, which went quite well for the first-year coach. With more connections to players through his new assistants, Gainey's net is wider now.
Finances becoming clearer
The financial landscape of the transfer portal is becoming clearer after most players intending to enter are now in. That means NC State, which sat out during the spending flurry in the first 10 days of the portal being open, has most of its war chest left over to spend on players that might've been overlooked or entered the portal late in the process.
As for the specifics of NC State's budget, reports are all over the map on social media. Athletic director Boo Corrigan expressed confidence in the program's ability to compete financially, both in revenue-sharing and NIL, with other programs in the ACC as the coaching search began. Many schools still don't have any players on their rosters, so there's no reason for concern about the Pack's lack of activity being related to a lack of resources.
The uptick in visitors arriving in Raleigh is tied to the fact that NC State still has money to spend. Agents and players know that now and can prioritize a program like Gainey's more than one that already blew through a lot of cash over the first two weeks of the portal process. Financial clarity should help the roster get more fleshed out in the coming days.
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Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.
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