NC State is walking into 2026-27 in a spot a lot of programs would love to trade for: they already have legit All-ACC firepower on the roster.
In a time when it feels like half the sport lives in the transfer portal (over 1,400 entries to date), the Wolfpack’s biggest wins might not be new names at all. They are the ones everyone in Raleigh already knows: first team All-ACC point guard Zoe Brooks and All-ACC forward Khamil Pierre. If those two are your starting point, you are not rebuilding. You are reloading.
Zoe is where it all begins. She played like a true first team All-ACC point guard in 2025-26. She scored in double figures, pushed the pace, attacked off the dribble, and set up her teammates all season. When NC State needed someone to take over a stretch of a game, it usually turned into a Zoe segment. She hit big shots, handled pressure, and ran the offense like it was hers, because it was.
Her stats backed it up, with strong scoring and assist numbers and heavy minutes in every meaningful game. The feel was even better. You could see that when things started to wobble, she calmed everything down just by having the ball in her hands. For 2026-27, having that kind of point guard already locked in is a massive advantage.
Then there is Khamil Pierre, who, by all reasonable indications and we are going to write from the positive side, is staying put. She seems to of found happiness in Raleigh. She played at a first team All-ACC level last season and looks every bit like one of the best forwards in the country. She can score around the rim, knock down face-up jumpers, rebound as well as any power forward you will find, and switch across multiple positions defensively. She is exactly the kind of player every coach spends all spring hoping to land in the portal.
In 2025-26 she filled up the box score in all the right ways. Double-figure points, strong rebounding, and big minutes against the best of the best. She gave NC State a real presence in the paint and the kind of versatility you can build a frontcourt around.
Which is why her portal status matters so much. The longer Khamil stays out of the portal, the better life gets for NC State. As time goes on, other teams fill out their rosters. Scholarships get eaten up, minutes dry up, and NIL money gets spoken for. Those dream scenarios other staffs like to pitch may simply not be there by the time summer hits.
All of that quietly works in NC State’s favor. If she is still sitting tight while other rosters are basically set, the best overall situation, on the court and off it, starts to look a lot like the one she already has in Raleigh.
There is also the reality that keeping stars in 2026 is not about just asking nicely. If Zoe and Pierre are still wearing red, it almost certainly means NC State had to step up financially and structurally. NIL matters, and All-ACC level players know their value. To keep them, the staff had to show real commitment, not just in words but in resources and roles.
That is where leadership and loyalty really show up. The staff chose to build around them and put serious backing behind that choice. In return, the players chose to stay and keep building in a place where they already have roots. In this era, that kind of mutual loyalty is not automatic. You have to earn it.
On top of that, NC State is not sprinting through the portal right now, and that is okay. From the outside, it might look a little slow. A few conversations here, some evaluations there, not a long list of instant commitments. But when you already have Zoe running the show and Khamil anchoring the frontcourt, you do not need to hit fast forward. You need to be picky.
Teams that scramble through the portal are usually the ones trying to find their stars. NC State is in a better place. It is trying to find the right pieces to put around the stars it already has. That means shooters who can space the floor, defenders who can take pressure off, and role players who are fine with the fact that this is Zoe and Khamil’s team.
Zoom out, and the situation looks pretty good. While other programs are crossing their fingers that their new guards and bigs can handle the jump to big time women’s college basketball, NC State already knows two of its main answers. It has a point guard who can win big games in this league and a forward who can go toe to toe with anyone in the nation inside.
Everything else this offseason is about raising the ceiling, not fixing the floor.
If the assumption holds and NC State’s best portal victories are actually just keeping Zoe Brooks and Khamil Pierre right where they are, then the Wolfpack have already cleared the hardest hurdle of the summer.
In a portal crazy world, that is not just surviving the offseason. That looks a lot like winning it.
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