For good this time. Probably.
No need to worry about a scholarship crunch anymore—not that a lack of available scholarships is much of a problem in the NIL era—as both MJ Rice and Ernest Ross have decided to leave NC State.
I suppose this can’t be considered surprising, though it is a bit confusing. Rice, after all, played in only nine games last season, the last of those in mid-January, before indicating that he would seek a redshirt. His status leading up to the start of the season also was unclear. He’d been with the program this offseason, but now will move on for good.
As Cory notes in the above-linked article, the transfer portal is closed, so it’s not clear what his next move will be. Or what Ernest Ross’ next move will be, for that matter. Ross entered the portal earlier this offseason, committed to UT-San Antonio, then backed out on that as State’s frontcourt options withered.
I don’t know if Ismael Diouf’s commitment yesterday had something to do with Ross’ decision to leave again, but I’d guess that it’s unrelated.
The departures of Rice and Ross leave NC State with 12 scholarship players, leaving one open spot that could be filled. It’s a bit late in the offseason for that, though.