Word of God Christian Academy's C.J. Leslie verbally re-committed to NC State University to play for the Wolfpack in 2010-2011. The Holly Springs, NC native decided to stay close to home rather than play at the University of Kentucky or the University of Connecticut, two other programs that had recruited him heavily over the past year. Leslie had verbally committed to the Wolfpack last season, but decided to keep his options open and examined opportunities at other schools before reaffirming his original decision in committing to play for coach Sidney Lowe at NC State.
Letter of Intent Signing - Tuesday
Leslie will officially sign his Letter of Intent (LOI) on Tuesday at Sammy's Tap and Grill in Raleigh at 5 pm. This is the same location where fellow Wolfpack recruit and future teammate Ryan Harrow signed his LOI. The event is open to the public.
Traveling the recruiting road
Leslie chronicled his past year on his blog which provided Wolfpack fans with hope that he would eventually choose NC State as the place to showcase his skills and talent. He was open as to what his process was going to be, who he was interested in, and who was interested in him. As he and his teammates took on their NCISSA opponents throughout the season in the quest for a State championship, many times the story focused only on where he would decide to play college basketball. NC State fans have now gotten their wish, again.
Championship vs. upward advancement
It is a common tale in this day of over-hyped young high school players who are rewarded with recognition and public stature at a young age to achieve a championship to reaffirm their status at each level of play. Unfortunately, Leslie could not lead Word of God Christian Academy to capture an NCISSA 1-A title this season, but then again, former teammate John Wall didn't earn one, and after one year at the University of Kentucky, has committed to enter the NBA draft. This decision came in the wake of Kentucky losing to West Virginia in the Elite Eight round of play in the NCAA Championship tournament.
Promises and commitments
Obviously the choices that each player makes to proceed to the next step in his life to achieve career goals is entirely his, but when committing to help a program achieve success it is anticipated that an equal investment in time is provided. In addition to Leslie, the Wolfpack has invested in other players (Ryan Harrow, Lorenzo Brown) to play with him and the current upperclassmen to achieve success in 2010-2011. In his own words Leslie stated, "… we’ll get to the ACC Tournament championship game and we’ll go to the Final Four in the tournament." That is a powerful statement for an incoming freshman to make who still has room to improve his game and should do so while playing in college.
Notably, he did not go as far as promising a championship win, but that the goal is to get there. That is what good players say. Committing and staying to achieve that goal is what great players do. Just travel up Tobacco Road to understand what this means.
Whether C.J. Leslie and the Wolfpack reach and capture a championship or not, hopefully for Wolfpack fans, Leslie makes an investment in his future to stay longer than just one year and really prepare himself and his Wolfpack teammates for future success.
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