Five guard lineup? NC State women open to possibilities with post position uncertainties

Blue, white, orange and red confetti littered the floor at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, on March 31. Members of the N.C. State women’s basketball team chanted, “From not ranked to the Final Four,” after winning the NCAA Tournament Regional. The Wolfpack was also picked to finish eighth in the ACC.

That probably won’t be the case this year. The unranked part, that is.

Actually, NC State coach Wes Moore said last season’s team was picked too low. This time, it might actually be picked too high when preseason honors come out next week.

Except, Moore and his staff aren’t quite sure how it’ll accomplish it this time.

Moore said the team’s chemistry was “without a doubt” the major key to its run. Every player committed to putting the team first and celebrating each other’s individual wins.

But, N.C. State coupled that with experience. The primary starting lineup featured players who averaged 14 minutes per game the year prior. River Baldwin and Mimi Collins specifically split time at center in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.

The Wolfpack lost both players, now professionals in Europe, to graduation and Moore said they’re difficult to replace.

Guards will lead Pack

There’s plenty of confidence with its guards. Rivers, James, Madison Hayes and Zoe Brooks all returned and played significant minutes all season, including the postseason run.

The Wolfpack brought in one of the best signing classes in the nation, landing at No. 17 in ESPN’s final rankings. Five-star recruit Zamareya Jones headlined the incoming freshmen class and ranked No. 21 out of all prospects. Devyn Quigley ranked No. 47 and was a four-star recruit. Jones and Quigley add depth to the guard position.

There’s plenty of hype around the pair, too. Rivers thinks Jones could have an impressive season, just like Brooks did last year.

Moore also brought in Boston University transfer Caitlin Weimar to supplement the scoring.

Sophomore Madison Collier and graduate student Lizzie Williamson return in their second season with the Pack, while freshmen Tilda Trygger and Lorena Awu round out the expected bigs.

“It’s still a work in progress as far as reloading the front court, I’ll be honest with you,” Moore said. “We have some question marks there. We’ve got to have some players step up. … We’re probably going to be playing four guards quite a bit. Heck, we may play five guards. I don’t know yet.

“We are definitely looking at a lot of different options. We want to get our best players on the court and then kind of adjust the system to fit that line-up.”

Versatility will be important

Rivers is confident one of her teammates — or multiple, if the squad goes that route — will step into the role well. She’s also more than willing to play in the post if the team ever needs to go with an unconventional five-guard lineup.

“With me being very versatile, very long, I think I look very good at different positions, like the four and the five,” Rivers said. “I didn’t get the box out a whole lot last year because I was the person getting back on defense to stop the play, but I’m excited. Change is hard, but you don’t grow when you’re comfortable. You grow when you’re uncomfortable. I definitely think everyone’s going to have to step out of their comfort zone and be ready to grow.”

The Wolfpack embraced the stay humble and stay hungry mantra last season. It loves being the underdog, and it’s holding onto that entering this season.

N.C. State had a couple of months to fully appreciate the last season — Saniya Rivers adopted a black kitten named Masego and Aziaha James took time to recharge — but it’s ready to begin another attempt to reach the pinnacle of college basketball.

Not just a ‘lucky run’

James said it sometimes feels like people view the Final Four as a “lucky run.” It wasn’t. Nor was it just a phase.

Conference championships and deep runs in March are earned through hard work. That’s always been the message for N.C. State. It won three consecutive ACC championships from 2020-22, after all, and it’s not changing now.

“We can’t obviously put them on that stage that we were on last year, but we can tell them, ‘Hey, it was fun, it was hard to get there. We can tell them everything we need to do to get there,’” Rivers said. “They still won’t know what it’s like until they actually get there. We’re going to do our best to prepare them to get back there, so they can experience something we did.”

Like the Wolfpack men’s team, which made its own Final Four run last spring, the women’s team is not relying on last season’s success for this year. Instead, it’s become motivation to get there again. To watch the newcomers be part of a confetti storm and play on the biggest stage.

“I just want to keep the slogan, ‘Why not us?’ and just say, ‘Why not pick NC State?’” James said. “We’re fighting, we’re competing, we’re passionate about winning. Yeah, why not us?”