Following NC State men’s basketball blowout 97-73 loss against UNC-Chapel Hill last Wednesday, head coach Kevin Keatts pointed fingers at poor NIL funding as a reason for NC State’s tumultuous season a year after making the Final Four.
“Does NIL have something to do with it? Absolutely,” Keatts said. “You take a look at the top five teams in the league and look at their numbers, and it’ll tell you a story.”
Let’s break that down by looking at the top five teams in the AP Poll and their estimated NIL standings from the 2023-24 season. No. 1 Auburn ranks ninth in the SEC for NIL collective funding with $11.6 million for the season. No. 3 Florida ranks sixth in the same conference with $15.8 million. No. 4 Houston ranks 15th best in the Big 12 with just $2.1 million per year and No. 5 Tennessee ranks No. 8 in the SEC with $11.6 million per year. No. 2 Duke’s data is currently unavailable.
Note Houston’s success — the Cougars have the lowest NIL funding in its conference, which seems contradictory to Keatts’ assertion. Further, NC State’s reported $5.9 million in NIL collective funds places them in the middle of the ACC, outpacing programs like California with $3.9 million and Georgia Tech with $4.3 million, both of which have better records than the Wolfpack this season.
Miami and Florida State further exemplify the disconnect between NIL resources and on-court success. Despite being ranked fifth and seventh respectively in On3’s national NIL program rankings published in August 2024, Miami’s men’s basketball is set to finish last in the ACC, while Florida State has had a mediocre season and just had an atrocious past season of football with a 2-10 record.
Keatts also lamented the lack of individual star power on his roster for why his team is near the bottom of the ACC.
“This team doesn’t have superstars,” Keatts said. “There’s no Jarkel Joiner, Terquavion Smith or DJ Horne or Burns — guys that can go out and average 18 points a game.”
This year, according to 247Sports rankings, NC State has three former five-star, seven four-star, one three-star and four unrated members on its roster. This beats last year’s ACC Championship-winning roster of two former five-star, six four-star, two three-star and six unrated players.
No. 25 Louisville, who gave NC State its largest margin of defeat this season, has only one former five-star, three four-star, one three-star and twelve unrated players on its team.
At this point, it should be clear that NIL funding and player ratings don’t always coincide with successful teams. On top of being inaccurate, this claim is a slap in the face to his players while shifting the blame away from the coach.
What Keatts seems to have forgotten is that coaches are the ones who recruit and build teams.
Last year’s Final Four run gave NC State unprecedented national attention. It should’ve been a better time than any for Keatts to ride the momentum and draw in his “superstars” from the portal, but he failed to capitalize on this now seemingly once-in-a-career opportunity.
Keatts didn’t seem to have any problems recruiting his “superstars” in past years with what now are probably fewer resources than are available now, following last year’s breakthrough NCAA Tournament run. He also evaluated talent poorly. The intended “superstars” he did shell out on, such as senior guard Marcus Hill and senior forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, have limited skill sets, and when they are given minutes, it’s unclear how Keatts intends to utilize their skills.
Aside from that, NC State has effective scorers on its roster who are being given minuscule minutes.
Saturday’s game against Wake Forest gave us a taste of what we’ve been missing all season — freshman guard Paul McNeil, leading the team with 24 points in 28 minutes. This is the best show of the consistent scoring efficiency he’s offered all season in the games he’s had significant minutes in, with 12 points against Louisville in 14 minutes, shooting 71.4% from the field and 66.7% from 3. Against UNC last Wednesday, he scored 14 points in 14 minutes. His consistency begs the question of why Keatts hasn’t consistently played this “superstar.”
In the three games that freshman guard Trey Parker has played 20 minutes or more, he was among the team’s top scorers. In the most recent match-ups against Duke, Stanford and Louisville, he scored 15, 19 and 13 points, respectively.
With the season now essentially lost, what is the harm in playing these promising young players more? With the time they’re being given and their capacity to succeed in a program, it shouldn’t be surprising if they decide to take their talents elsewhere after the season.
Limping into its final stretch of the season, the Wolfpack carries but a shell of the excitement surrounding the program nearly a year ago. Although last year’s regular season wasn’t pretty, the team found a way to win a conference title and automatically advance to the NCAA Tournament. Now, the reigning champs likely won’t even have the chance to defend their ACC Championship.
Coach Keatts, how much in NIL funds will be enough to have a successful season? And at what point are you going to be able to recruit “superstars” again? Are we, a founding member and current reigning champions, really going to miss the ACC Tournament?
