Basketball season can’t get here quickly enough.

At least that’s what Wolfpack fans are saying as we sit less than a week from the start of the college basketball season, and this year, there’s reason for excitement in Raleigh. The NC State men’s basketball team is bursting at the seams with talent and athleticism, and at the center of it all, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound freshman from Fayetteville named Dennis Smith Jr.

The freshman heads into the upcoming basketball season as one of the best players in the country. As a five-star recruit, the point guard showcased jaw-dropping skill before arriving at State. Now that he’s here, Smith Jr. is ready to lead the Wolfpack to accomplish something that hasn’t been done since 1983: win an NCAA national championship.

Smith Jr. is arguably one of the biggest recruits to ever come to NC State to play basketball. Ranked as the No. 1 overall point guard in the ESPN class of 2016, as well as No. 4 overall on the ESPN Top 100, Smith Jr. garnered plenty of attention nationwide while he was in the process of choosing his college. Besides NC State, he received offers from big-name programs Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill and Kentucky.

The Fayetteville native said that one key factor helped influence his decision to come to NC State.

“I had a better relationship with the coaching staff here than any other school, even outside of the state,” Smith Jr. said. “They were at every game during the live period, and I appreciated the loyalty.”

Though he is a freshman this year, Smith Jr. actually arrived on campus back in January. After tearing his ACL at a summer basketball camp in 2015, he was forced to sit out his senior year of high school basketball. After talking with his father, he decided to enroll at State a semester early to help rehab his injury and become more acquainted with the people and all-around feel of campus.

Recovering from an ACL injury requires incredible dedication and an optimistic viewpoint. Usually tearing one’s ACL calls for surgery followed by at least 9-12 months of rest and rehabilitation. Smith Jr.’s idea to come to State early paid off, and he was playing basketball again as early as this past summer.

While he is back on the court and playing without problems, many are quick to say that the injury could come back. Smith Jr., however, expressed confidence that his knee will hold up fine for the entirety of the season.

“I’m sure it will,” Smith Jr. said. “I worked too hard this summer, and even before that last semester, I worked too hard to be worried about it so it’s not in my mind at all.”

To say Smith Jr. has high expectations to live up to is an understatement.

Coming into the 2016-17 basketball season, the media hype surrounding Smith Jr. has been consistent and immense. Many NBA experts have proclaimed that Smith Jr. could be a top five pick in next year’s draft, a feat thousands of college basketball players strive for. Even at practice right now, it is not uncommon for as many as 30 NBA scouts to arrive in Raleigh to watch the young point guard practice.

Junior Abdul-Malik Abu has known Dennis Smith Jr. for quite some time now as they played together at a camp this summer. As one of the leaders on the team this year, Abu has high praise for his freshman teammate.

“He’s on the winning team 90 percent of the time [in practice],” Abu said. “He’s a great player, and I feel like we have all these [NBA scouts] here because they know it and we know it. I’m looking forward to being out there during the regular season with him.”

For many normal 18-year-olds, playing through all that hype and exposure might prove overwhelming. Smith Jr., however, takes a second to gather it all in before coolly brushing it aside.

“I just be humble with it, I don’t let it go to my head, whether it’s positive or negative,” Smith Jr. said. “I just take it all in stride, I don’t really sweat it, I just go out and play ball.”

While he has yet to play a single second of college basketball, Smith Jr. has already begun to rack up the awards. Just last month, it was announced that he was given the preseason ACC Rookie of the Year award, one that is quite impressive considering he beat out the likes of Duke’s Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum, two of the top players in the country.

Smith Jr. was also appointed to the preseason All-ACC first team, joining those such as Grayson Allen of Duke, Joel Berry II of UNC-Chapel Hill and London Perrantes of Virginia, all big-time upperclassmen for their respective programs. He was also named to the Bob Cousy watch list, the award given to the top point guard at the end of each season. To top it all off, Smith Jr. also received the nod for preseason All-American second team, a highly desirable feat.

Smith Jr. said that while he is blessed to be given all these awards, he still needs to go out onto the court and compete like he deserves to be on those lists.

Abu has noticed that with Smith Jr. around, the mentality of the other team members, along with the overall atmosphere, has shifted.

“It changes everything,” Abu said. “He’s an all-around do-everything point guard, and he’s a winner too, you can see it in his eyes. He brings a certain level of confidence that rubs off on everybody, we’re grateful to have him.

Even with all the media hype, the preseason awards and the NBA attention, Smith Jr. says that his focus has stayed on one thing.

“Getting our first win,” Smith Jr. said. “Getting our first win, that’s what I’m looking forward to right now.”

Smith Jr. has yet to live up to the hype, but it doesn’t take an expert to tell that he’ll be able to do just that, and perhaps even more. For now, Smith Jr.’s enjoying his time in Raleigh, however long that may be. And who knows? He might just cement himself in Wolfpack basketball lore, and maybe someday we’ll mention him in the same breath as NC State legends like David Thompson and Jim Valvano.