Marquise "M.J." Rice understands the opportunity in place for him at NC State.

Rice attended NC State games as a recruit from the eighth-grade until his junior year off-and-on. Coach Kevin Keatts believed in him to offer him a scholarship his sophomore year at Durham (N.C.) Voyager, after he tore his ACL.

The lure of going to a blue blood proved too strong in the end, and Rice picked Kansas over NCSU, Oklahoma State and Pittsburgh, among others. However, what could go wrong, went wrong his freshman year with the Jayhawks. He suffered a nagging back injury and on played a scant 172 minutes in 23 games this season. He tallied 51 points, 24 rebounds and went 3 of 15 on three-pointers on the season.