Stanford junior point guard Michael O’Connell visited NC State on Friday and Saturday, and picked the Wolfpack over Wichita State and Notre Dame on Sunday.
O’Connell completes NC State’s massive rebuilding process that led to five players transferring out and sophomore Terquavion Smith turning pro. O’Connell will part of a six-man four-year transfer class, joining wings Jayden Taylor (Butler) and D.J. Horne (Arizona State), forward M.J. Rice (Kansas) and centers Ben Middlebrooks (Clemson) and Mohamed Diarra (Missouri).
The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder received the ball from day one at Stanford, and he averaged 6.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 26.6 minutes per game in 2020-21. He averaged 5.2 points and 3.1 assists in 25.7 minutes per game this past season, while splitting minutes with Isa Silva, who has transferred to Long Beach State.
Rivals.com had him a three-star prospect in the class of 2020, and he picked Stanford over offers from Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Lafayette, Marist, Maryland-Baltimore County, Niagara and UC-Santa Barbara.
O’Connell comes from a multi-generation sports family and he had the option of playing lacrosse in college. His brother Thomas O’Connell helped Maryland win the 2017 national title in lacrosse, and then he finished up at St. John’s where he played basketball for his fifth year of school.
O’Connell’s dad went to St. John’s as a student and his mother was a standout at SJU in softball. Two uncles and an aunt played college basketball.
O’Connell went to Mineola (N.Y.) Chaminade High on Long Island, and then he spent a year at traditional power Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J., where he averaged 18 points, five rebounds and five assists per game.
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