He told us at his opening press conference and he wasn’t lying, Kevin Keatts is a winner. Ten months and 14 days after he was hired, Keatts has proven that he is indeed a winner and has raised long-term and short-term expectations in his first season in Raleigh.
When Keatts took the head men’s basketball coach job at NC State, the program was in shambles. Nobody knew which players would be back, there was no incoming recruiting class, a lottery pick on the way out and the team had won just nine ACC games in the last two seasons combined. To contrast, UNC-Chapel Hill had won 11 games in the NCAA tournament alone, including a national championship and nearly another. To top it off, the Pack suffered arguably the most humiliating loss in program history at the hands of the Tar Heels, 107-56.
Saturday, it was as if Keatts’ rebuild had come full circle. He took his team, only five of which were at the Dean Dome last year, and defeated the 10th-ranked Tar Heels 95-91. This is the Pack’s fourth win over a ranked team so far this season, and things are just getting started.
Coming into the season, many NC State fans just wanted to see the team compete hard. Effort is something the Pack struggled with the last few years, and Keatts promised that wouldn’t be an issue. It hasn’t been. Any wins would be gravy for fans, they just wanted a team they could be proud of. Keatts had more in store.
In the fifth game of the season, the Pack knocked off No. 2 Arizona 90-84. Fans were stunned, but in a good way. Maybe this team was a lot better than expected. Everybody came back to earth when the team followed it up with two losses, and the Wildcats had two more losses. It was probably just a fluke.
A month later, sophomore point guard Markell Johnson was suspended. State lost to UNC-Greensboro, Clemson and Notre Dame. The losses to the Tigers and Irish were not close, particularly at Notre Dame. Could this team even match last year’s win total? Didn’t seem like it, but at least they played hard.
However, the Pack bounced back and beat No. 2 Duke. Five days later, State knocked off Clemson, one of the most underrated teams in the country. Johnson was reinstated and things were looking up. Could this team make a run at the tournament? Probably not, but it was feasible, and hey, at least the team is fun.
Not even two and a half weeks later, the Pack returned to Chapel Hill, defeated the Heels and now sits at 5-4 in the ACC. Not only is the team in contention for the NCAA tournament, the Pack should make it. Less than four weeks ago, winning five ACC games seemed unlikely.
The most incredible part of State’s resume is that the Pack isn’t just upsetting these teams, it is outplaying them. In all these big wins, State has been the better team. UNC-Chapel Hill needed help just to get the game to overtime. Duke trailed the Pack the whole second half, and could never make a run. Clemson was down by double digits late, of course it got a lot more interesting than it should have, but State dominated the first 38:30 of the game against a top-20 team.
Coaches have gotten off to good starts in Raleigh before. Most recently, Mark Gottfried made the Sweet 16 in his first season. Sidney Lowe beat Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill in his first season too. But Keatts is different, or at least it appears that way.
Talent has never been the issue for NC State. However, this is arguably the Pack’s least talented team since 2010. Keatts took the job not knowing which players would be back. He convinced nearly every player to stay, plus added a freshman and two graduate transfers to solidify this team. Putting this team together in so little time was impressive in its own right, but it’s still lacking two things that Keatts wants: more shooters and more athleticism. The talent is good, but this is the ACC, where the Pack’s talent doesn’t stand out.
The difference between Keatts and past coaches, aside from talent at this point, is the way State is winning these games. The Pack wins by wearing down the other team and late-game execution. When’s the last time you could say State was winning games because of late-game execution? Never! It’s always hold on and hope the worst doesn’t happen. Not with Keatts. He has changed his players’ mentality to the point where the players expect to win every game, which is a welcome change.
It remains to be seen how high Keatts can take NC State. How will he handle high expectations? Sure, expectations have changed this year and the Pack has exceeded them exponentially. What happens when State is a preseason top-15 team? It will be at least a couple years before we find that out, but I’m not going to doubt Kevin Keatts. Why? Because he’s a winner.
