The NC State men’s basketball team held its annual media day Tuesday at the Dail Basketball Center. To open the event, head coach Kevin Keatts took questions from the media.
Question: Lennard Freeman didn’t play last year; what are you getting back with him on the court this year?
Kevin Keatts: He plays so hard. Going back to last year, I thought NC State as a team … struggled to rebound the basketball. Lennard is a very good rebounder, he plays extremely hard, he’s probably in the best shape of his life and I think you guys will be able to see that once you have a chance to watch him play.
Q: What was the decision-making behind adding the two graduate transfers?
Keatts: When you bring in a grad transfer, meaning they’ve graduated with a bachelor’s degree, they fit in the academic purpose of the school, and they certainly do that. We needed help. … We lost Terry Henderson and we lost Maverick [Rowan] and we needed some guards that would be able to come in and play. And certainly, as you guys know, we play in the best conference in college basketball so if you can stay older, then certainly it bodes well for you.
Q: What differences have you noticed in Omer [Yurtseven] the last couple weeks?
Keatts: I think his confidence is back up to where it should be. I talked about this when Omer came in and having to sit out the first semester and then get thrown into the ACC, I didn’t think he played with confidence. His team was over there in Italy and he was able to come over and hang out with us. He didn’t get a chance to see us play but I think the difference in him is he is playing with a lot of confidence, pride and passion.
Q: What has progression been like with this new team?
Keatts: Well it’s different because when you look at it, I’ve got three legitimate guys with great size that I want to put into the office. And there’s going to be times when Omer and Lennard are on the floor at the same time with this particular bunch. Obviously we want to play the way we want to play, and it’ll be fast, but it’ll be a different version than what it will be in the future because I have big guys that can contribute to the program.
Q: On the players handling the change to a new system.
Keatts: Well, it’s a challenge. When you take over a program, and everybody says “well, these are not my guys,” the day that I took the job, they became my guys, and it was tough because I had to convince Omer that the situation here would be a little different than it was last year. I respect that he went through the process because I thought that was good for him. He didn’t just come back to NC State because I recruited him, he listened to what the NBA guys told him and decided to come back to school. It was a challenge because I didn’t recruit these guys and everybody wanted to make sure they had an equal opportunity. I told every guy that I didn’t have starters, you determine that. We’ll look at every practice and determine who starts and how many minutes they’ll play. So far, I think they’ve bought into that.
Q: What have the strength and conditioning workouts been like?
Keatts: Well, they’ve been good. Lifting weights, as you know, but we’ve been doing a lot of events. If you guys were in here a week ago, we did a tug of war where we divided them up and we had a big rope and they did different things. I’ve never been an “on the track” type of guy so I don’t take guys outside for conditioning because I don’t think you play that way when it comes to basketball so they’ve been doing a lot of up and down stuff. Our strength coach, Pat Murphy, does a great job with those guys, but a combination of on the floor and weight training so that we can play the way we want to play.
Q: You’ve coached with Rick Pitino at Louisville before, is there any negative connotation based on your association?
Keatts: Well, I just found out today, and if it’s okay with you, I’d love to keep everything on this year’s team and everything coming up. But, I haven’t had a chance to talk to them and I found out just when you did.
Q: You’ve mentioned wanting [Abdul-Malik Abu] to get 100 dunks this year; how has he improved since last year?
Keatts: Maybe 95, but not 100. He’s worked extremely hard on his game. The challenge I’ve had with Malik is I want Malik and Lennard to be leaders. They are guys who have been in the program for four years and I want them to take ownership of the program. Certainly I need those guys to have big years for us to be successful, and then you have the two grad transfers coming in, I want those seniors and graduates to help bring the young guys along. He’s developed his 15-foot jump shot, he’s starting to put the ball on the floor a little bit. We’re trying to get him out to 15-18 feet where he can shoot the ball, but also take guys off the dribble.
Q: What are your thoughts on the national anthem protests? Is that something you guys have talked about?
Keatts: That’s a great question. I have not because, obviously, me having them two hours a week and I’ve been out recruiting, I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to our guys. Last year, when this stuff started, and I was at Wilmington, we sat down and we talked about it as a team. I let everybody express what they felt about the flag and what was going on in society. My grandfather was in the military, I spent 12 years at Hargrave Military Academy; so military, first responders, they mean a lot to me. I haven’t had a chance to sit down with this group of guys to get their take with what is going on. I won’t get into it until I have a chance to talk about it with this particular group of guys.
Q: Where do you stand with Braxton Beverly getting cleared?
Keatts: We submitted the waiver two weeks to today so we haven’t heard anything back. I will say this, we feel ok with it because they haven’t come back with any questions. We are anxiously waiting. As far as what he can do, he can practice, he can participate, the only things he’s not allowed to do at this point is competition.
Q: How do you feel about the point guard position?
Keatts: The guy that needs to play well is Markell Johnson, when you think about the fact that he’s played in a lot of ACC games. Historically, freshmen struggle in the league, and I would like Markell to step up and give the opportunity to Lavar [Batts] and if Braxton gets cleared. It’s a tough league for a freshman to start. As great of a player as Dennis [Smith Jr.] was, and he was great, as a team NC State … didn’t win a lot games in the conference.
Q: Does a day like today regarding your profession cause you to reevaluate the way you do things?
Keatts: Once again, I want to keep this on the players. I haven’t had time to think about anything today, other than our guys and make sure they are in the right places.
Q: NC State struggled on defense last year, how have you been able to implement defense so far?
Keatts: When you have 10 practices, you aren’t going to have the defense you want to have. I thought we played with energy and passion; guys got on the ground to get a basketball, a couple guys took charges. So, those type of things, as a coach, I’m proud of. Now we can go back in practice and drills and concepts. What we did in Italy, I tried to put in enough defensive stuff, just to get through those three games.
Q: How have you interacted with fans?
Keatts: A lot. I’ve been able to go out and talk to a lot of the fan base and on campus with the student body. I think everybody wants the same thing. They understand where we are as a program and where we need to go. I think everybody wants a program that they can be proud of, that plays with energy and passion all the time.
Q: How have you been able to help Torin [Dorn]’s confidence?
Keatts: I think TD is playing with a lot of confidence. He believes in the system. He’s a guy that’s going to see a lot of minutes at the small forward position but if we get in a situation where we have to go small, you’ll see a lot of times where he is the power forward, or what I like to call the fourth guard. I think he’s doing great. I like the age of our team. The tough thing is our older guys haven’t won a lot of games and we have to figure out how our experience can take over.
Q: What are differences between being at a power five school compared to a CAA school?
Keatts: I think it’s very similar. Coaching is coaching. Obviously, I know you guys, but when you get between the lines, you are focused on what you do best. For me, my background is coming from Hargrave and then being a head coach, and then getting the opportunity to be a head coach at Wilmington. I don’t do anything different. My teams traditionally compete hard. They play hard on both ends of the floor. There’s not much difference in that part of it.
