NC State's efforts to land coveted point guard Dennis Smith Jr. date back to Smith's sophomore season in high school, and it was the commitment on the staff's part that ultimately played a significant factor in landing him. (The helicopter visit didn't hurt, either.)
Smith is a rare elite prospect to eschew both Duke and North Carolina for NC State, but as he told the N&O's Joe Giglio, he doesn't have a problem going with a program that hasn't reached an elite level:
"When it comes to Duke and North Carolina, N.C. State is viewed as the underdog," Smith said in an interview Thursday.