NC State basketball is in a heated recruiting battle with UNC and many other programs for Deron Rippey Jr.
A few weeks after offering Rippey, first-year Wolfpack head coach Will Wade and his staff are still waiting to lock in an official visit from the standout point guard out of Blair Academy (N.J.). The 6-foot-2, 175-pound five-star prospect has been busy scheduling trips as his senior-year recruitment ramps up.
Rippey is set to spend three days in Chapel Hill visiting UNC, NC State’s biggest rival, starting August 31, which lines up with the opening weekend for Bill Belichick’s Tar Heel football program. That visit will be an official one. He has also lined up official visits to Alabama (Sept. 12–14) and Texas (Sept. 19–21).
With 44 scholarship offers so far, Rippey—whose father played a season at ECU in the mid-1990s—has already checked out Louisville, Rutgers, Syracuse, UConn, Villanova, and St. John’s.
A dynamic guard ranked No. 17 overall in the 247Sports 2026 Composite (up ten spots from a year ago), Rippey is among the most sought-after players in his class.
NC State has offers out to about a dozen prospects in 2026, including several who were targets under the previous coaching staff. So far, Wade and company have yet to secure their first commitment from any of the nation’s rising high school seniors.
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