As you already know, Markell Johnson is facing a felony assault case which has him suspended from the team until the court makes their ruling, which could come as soon as Jan. 8th.

If Johnson is found not-guilty then it’s likely he’ll be back. If he’s guilty well then… I guess we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it, but he certainly won’t be NC State’s PG for the rest of the season.

Although it’s just one player, Markell Johnson was important to this NC State team in so many ways. With him out, NC State is facing an uphill battle, to say the least. Here is why we believe the ruling on Johnson is make-or-break for the Wolfpack’s season.

Tempo / Style of play

When Kevin Keatts arrived, one thing was certain. He was going to change the way NC State played basketball. He immediately implemented a fast-paced system, complete with full-court defense, traps to create turnovers, and an offense that is built on getting out in transition to get quick, but good shots.

To do this, you need the right players. From day one it was going to be a tough to really run this system when you had Yurtseven and Lennard Freeman, both of whom are bigs who are more comfortable in a slower half-court set style of offense. But at the same time, he had a few pieces that did work. One of those was Markell Johnson.

Johnson is the super-fast, uber-quick, athletic point guard that works well in this style of offense. His ability to pester his man full court and jump passing lanes created a lot of deflections and turnovers. His ability to penetrate the defense. get into the lane, and find the open shooters is what allowed NC State to get good shots in transition.

Without Johnson, none of this is happening. The full court defense isn’t creating turnovers, which isn’t allowing them to get into transition. But even when they do get out and start running, they don’t have the facilitator who can control a game at that pace. Without Johnson, NC State is playing much slower, and this system isn’t designed for that.

Offense

Why is it good to get out in transition? Because it doesn’t allow the defense to get set. Because a lot of miscommunications happen on defense when you’re trying to defend on the fly.

When NC State was humming, they were running.

Once in transition, Markell Johnson took control. He was fast down the court, and quick to make a move, getting himself into the lane. Once there he was always a threat to throw one down or finish at the rim. This forced defenders to pinch-in to help on drives. Once that happened, Johnson was quick to read that pinch and find the guy being left open on the wing. This is why Johnson was one of the nations best in Assist Rate. In fact, even right now, he still ranks 19th in the country (Top 5 in the Power Conferences). Losing a PG like that doesn’t just hurt your depth, it changes your entire offensive strategy.

Defense

Getting out in transition is how NC State is going to score, but doing that takes a lot more than just preaching it. To push tempo you need to force your opponent to play quicker then they’d like. Doing that leads them into taking bad shots, or turning it over. But you can’t make them play faster if you don’t have the defenders.

Johnson was pestering the opposing PGs full court. He was in passing lanes. He was getting steals and deflections. Johnson was the point man on defense, just like he was on offense. His quickness, his fast hands, and his anticipation on the defensive end was what was making the Wolfpack so successful. It was allowing them to get into transition, at which point he was getting them better shots, which was allowing them to put up more points.

Overall

A guy like Johnson is necessary if this team is going to be successful. That is why the ruling on January 8th is so important. If he is found not guilty, then NC State gets their PG back (after missing just 3 ACC games) and can once again play the ‘Keatts brand of basketball.’ If he’s guilty, then, honestly, it could be a long season.

Braxton Beverly is a good PG, but he’s not built to run. He’s a freshman possession PG who values the basketball and can run an offense. He struggles at getting into the teeth of the defense and making things happen. That being said, he’s pretty darn good at it for his size. However, in the ACC, when everyone is long, tall and athletic, it’s just much tougher for a guy like Beverly to be a true creator without size, length and athleticism.

Lavar Batts is also just a freshman, but like Johnson, he has the quickness and athleticism to push tempo at this level. The problem is, he’s a freshman and he’s yet to really grasp his role as leader and facilitator.

As you can see, losing Johnson is a little bigger then people are admitting. NC State now has a depth problem with a team built to play 100% for 4o minutes (something you never want to have), and a personnel problem that is not allowing this team to really run the system they’ve practiced running all offseason.

That is why we believe Johnson’s status could really make or break the season for NC State.