NC State basketball star, future ‘mayor’ of Raleigh? The legend of DJ Burns keeps growing

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RALEIGH – There’s no place for DJ Burns to hide on NC State’s campus.

The 6-foot-9, 275-pound basketball star became an instant celebrity for the Wolfpack last season with a fun-loving, big personality to match his back-to-the-basket, old-school-big-man game on the court.

“It’s a lot of pictures. I take a lot of pictures,” Burns said with a wide grin at NC State basketball’s media day on Sept. 21. “That’s the one thing I don’t know about so much, but the love is always there wherever we go. It’s always love.”

The Wolfpack’s emotional leader and top returning scorer, Burns was the main attraction at NC State’s preseason event inside the Dail Basketball Center as cameras crowded his space and photographers snapped promotional photos of him rocking red shades.

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“(After an injury to Dusan Mahorcic last season), DJ, obviously, got a chance to go into the starting lineup,” NC State basketball coach Kevin Keatts said.

“We played him about 30 minutes a game after that, and man, the legend of DJ Burns was born. He’s going to be mayor of this city one day. He is. He is what he is.”

Butler transfer Jayden Taylor, who described Burns as “someone you could always be around,” wouldn’t be surprised to see Burns in that kind of role. Once he arrived on campus, it didn’t take long for Taylor to see Burns’ influence in Raleigh.

“Always smiling, never has a bad day,” Taylor said. “He’s just a good person. Forget basketball, he’s just a good person, a good dude. He could have a whole conversation with anybody, so I could see that.”

Casey Morsell, a graduate student like Burns, was there to see the legend grow in the 2022-23 season. State’s second-leading returning…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nc-state-basketball-star-future-080554598.html

Author : The Fayetteville Observer

Publish date : 2023-09-26 08:05:54

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