Ben McCauley couldn't help but notice North Carolina State's interest. At many of his AAU basketball games in the spring and summer, McCauley would look to the sideline and see North Carolina State coach Herb Sendek. Houston, Orlando, Morgantown, W.Va., Sendek was there, watching.
Next year, Sendek will get to watch McCauley in a North Carolina State uniform.
McCauley, a 6-foot-8, 230-pound senior at Yough High School, made a verbal commitment to North Carolina State this past weekend. He will sign a binding letter of intent with the Wolfpack during the NCAA's week-long early signing period in November.
McCauley is the most heavily recruited player in the WPIAL in the past few years. He is ranked among the top 100 players in the country and chose N.C. State over Xavier, Ohio State and Cincinnati. All four schools offered scholarships, as did many others. Pitt had offered McCauley a scholarship, but McCauley said the Panthers stopped recruiting him this summer.
"I developed a really good relationship with Coach Sendek," said McCauley, who played for the Pittsburgh JOTS AAU team. "He came to a lot of my games, and I was really happy to see that. I could tell he really wanted me. Once I told him I was committing, he seemed really happy."
McCauley has made two unofficial visits to N.C. State and attended a Wolfpack game last year. He also had visits planned to Xavier and Ohio State, but canceled them after a phone conversation last Friday with Archie Miller, who is in his first season as North Carolina State's director of basketball operations. Miller is a former WPIAL star at Blackhawk High.
"He told me to really think about the pros and cons for the remaining schools," McCauley said. "When I hung up, I really realized there aren't too many cons for N.C. State. It became clear that N.C. State was where I was supposed to go."
McCauley was a member of the Post-Gazette Fabulous Five as a junior. He averaged 26.6 points, 14.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks. He had 49 points against Keystone Oaks and heads into his senior season with 1,445.
North Carolina State recruited McCauley to play the "3" or "4" positions (small forward and power forward).
"I really like the style of play [at N.C. State]," McCauley said. "They don't have their big men just stay inside all the time. They're allowed to actually handle the ball, bring it up the court sometimes and shoot 3-pointers."
