Ven-Allen Lubin’s surprising departure from UNC to NC State has been one of the biggest storylines of the NCAA basketball offseason. After all, it’s not every day that a player chooses his former team’s biggest rival as his next destination.
Two Corners of the “Triangle” are Buzzing About Ven Allen Lubin’s Transfer
This move has naturally had endless repercussions among fans of two of the three corners of the so-called “Triangle” that includes North Carolina’s three biggest universities (UNC, NC State and Duke).
However, it has also generated a phenomenon that college basketball analyst Tim Donnelly has criticized.
Some fans of both the Tar Heels and the Wolfpack have drastically changed their opinions of Lubin. This is something that the host of “The Drive” on 99.9 The Fan can’t support:
“I see UNC fans who loved him [Ven-Allen Lubin] in the tournament, and were so excited for him to return next year, then he commits to NC State and I’m seeing ‘oh well, you think that’s going to change you, he’s not even a good player,’” Donnelly said.
“I’m going, ‘wait a second’…and same vice versa, right? State fans were arguing about how ‘oh you think 6’8’’ is a good enough big man? haha, UNC he’s no good’, and then turn around he commits to state and it’s like ‘you know, he actually plays way bigger than his listed height.’”
Donnelly bluntly stated that this type of reaction calls into question the ability of this segment of the fanbase to properly evaluate a player.
“You can’t flip-flop like that and have me trust you. You can be a fan, right? and just rose colored glasses your players and talk bad about everyone else’s players. I get you.
“But then you’re just going to lose a little bit of credibility if you admit that you see everything through your fandom’s eyes and people on your team you’re just going to think are better than if they’re playing for another team.”
Lubin played in 30 games with the Tar Heels during the 2024–25 season, starting in 28 of them. He averaged 11.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 0.7 assists per game while shooting an impressive 68.4% from the field.
This was his third season playing NCAA basketball with different teams each year. He debuted with Notre Dame and transferred to Vanderbilt for the following season.
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With the Commodores (Vanderbilt), he averaged 12.3 points per game in the 26 games he played in the 2023-24 season, shooting 50% from the field.
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