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We’ve heard it. You’ve heard it. Kevin Keatts, the current UNCW head coach, is on the list of head coaches that are being vetted by NC State.

From everything we’ve heard, Keatts would take the job if offered. But WILL NC State offer? Let’s take a look at the situation and give you a breakdown of our thoughts.

Most of you know Keatts from Hargrave, where he coached former NC State point guard Lorenzo Brown. During Brown’s recruitment, we had the chance to speak with Keatts on numerous occasions. He is a good basketball mind and gave a lot of good insight into the recruiting process.

After Hargrave, he went to Louisville to become to the top recruiter for Rick Pitino’s squad. While there, he landed some impressive classes and started to make a name for himself. After his run with the Cardinals, Keatts took his first head coaching job at UNC-Wilmington. His work there is why he is currently on the Wolfpack’s radar.

In his three years at UNCW, Keatts has taken a struggling program and put them back on the map. Wilmington has finished 1st (or tied for first) in all three seasons under Keatts. He also won coach of the year in his first campaign.

So why is NC State considering him? Well, first off, he is an up and coming star in the coaching ranks. The key phrase, however, is ‘up and coming.’ Winning in the Colonial conference is one thing, but winning in the ACC is another animal. Wilmington’s competition isn’t that strong, but his recruiting ties to the area and his ability to build a program has NC State’s attention.

Honestly, I find the amount of buzz around him to be fair, but not fully substantiated. We’d think that Keatts would be a top tier (maybe #2 or #3) candidate for the Wolfpack if he had both shown success at Wilmington and also shown success at another stop. Basing your hire on 3 years in the Colonial conference is fine, but we’d like to believe that the NC State position is prestigious enough to warrant a little more evidence of success.

Sure, Dayton’s Archie Miller only has 6 years at one stop, and VCU’s Will Wade has 4 years of experience at two stops, so it’s not like they have that much more. However, both Miller and Wade have found success in a much more competitive conference and we believe that is worth something. Miller and Wade are pretty much believed to be NC State’s top two mid-major candidates at the moment, with Keatts looking like the #3.

We think Keatts is a good candidate, sure, but we think he’s a tick below Miller and Wade based on experience and proven success. So why is there so much buzz about Keatts?

Let’s break that down. Keatts is thought to be the most attainable candidate. Talk is that he wants the NC State job pretty bad. True or not, that is a reason that the N&O and multiple national writers are talking seriously about Keatts being a real potential for NC State.

The other reason we think you’re hearing Keatts name mentioned so much is because we are seeing it being floated a lot more by sources close to NC State. What does this mean? It certainly doesn’t mean they think Keatts is a top 2 or 3 candidate, does it? You have Miller, Wade, Drew, Holtmann and a few more that would obviously be bigger splashes than Kevin Keatts. So why all the chatter?

We believe that NC State is doing all they can to not replicate the failure in PR we saw during the last search. People were talking Rick Barnes, Sean Miller, Billy Donovan, and many more huge names (many of which ended up being pipe dreams). Debbie Yow offered up a letter during the latter days of the search that basically tried to walk back NC State fans expectations before she announced the ‘out of the blue’ hire of Mark Gottfried.

We believe that while it may have worked at the time, NC State fans felt blindsided by the hire. They didn’t have time to vet him on the message boards and social media or come to a consensus on whether or not they liked him for the position. Now, it shouldn’t matter what message board fans think, however as you’ve seen, fan perception does end up playing a role. Gottfried was never ‘their guy.’ So when the going got rough they didn’t feel a invested connection with him and were quick to create a rallying cry for his ouster. We’re not trying to say it was undeserved, but had it been Rick Barnes or Sean Miller with the same record we believe the fans would not have come to such a quick consensus on ‘time being up.’

At the end of the day, what we believe is going on is that, yes, NC State does think Keatts would be an acceptable hire and would be someone who could turn the program around, but we also believe they know he’s their ‘floor guy’. They likely aren’t going to hire Keatts over Archie, Wade, or any of the other more proven options, but they are doing their best to get his name under consideration early, so if in fact, they end up missing on their top names, fans aren’t breaking out the pitchforks after being blindsided for a second time.

Take it for what it’s worth. We don’t have any insight into the true motive for Keatts’ name being floated so prominantly, but we’ve been doing this for a while now and get a feeling that this just might be the case.

Discuss.

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Wolfer96
Wolfer96
7 years ago

May have to put ETSU’s Forbes on coaching search backburner. Doesn’t have a lot of Div I head coaching experience but the success of the programs while he was an assistant is impressive: TAMU, Tenn, Wich St.

Wolfer96
Wolfer96
7 years ago

Butler’s Holtmann pulled out the “4 corners” to beat the press. Tyler Lewis playing well for Holtmann. Guess we’ll have to wait to talk to him as Butler just beat Winthrop.

Wolfer96
Wolfer96
7 years ago

I hear Yurt7 is testing NBA waters. I think they’ll tell him what I would tell him… go back and work on getting stronger. When he committed to playing in college I don’t know that he fully thought that through. A mediocre 7 footer coming out of Europe has a better chance of getting drafted than someone who played in the States because the NBA does not vett foreign players very well.

Wolfer96
Wolfer96
7 years ago
Reply to  Wolfer96

Prime example Georgio Papagiannis. Almost came to State then decided to stay in Europe and got drafted. Don’t even know if he’s played a minute this season.

wolfpack74
wolfpack74
7 years ago
Reply to  Wolfer96

The NBA should tell him that yoou can’t even play at the college level, how in the hell do you think you can play at the NBA level? He is a mid development league player right now at best. Stay in school under a decent coach until you average a double double. Most overrated player of all time at State.

Wolfer96
Wolfer96
7 years ago

I don’t think it would be a good move for either party. Keats is too inexperienced and has not coached in a challenging enough level to make this kind of leap. It could be a disaster for both State and Keats’ career if he fails badly. We should have learned our lesson about recruiting. It’s only part of the answer. Good coaching at a high level is the bigger part of the equation.

NC State Basketball

NC State has Won 5 ACC Championships this Year

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NC State has won 5 ACC Championships this year, which is the most of any athletic program in the conference this year.

The Wolfpack has won ACC Titles in Women’s Cross Country, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Wrestling, Men’s Basketball and Gymnastics.

The last time NC State won 5 ACC Championships in one year was 1979-80.

As far as I can tell, here’s a look at the Wolfpack Conference Titles from 1979-80:

Football
Women’s Basketball
Women’s Cross Country
Men’s Swimming & Diving
Men’s Tennis

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NC State Basketball

NC State is 1 of 4 Schools to Have Both Men & Women’s Basketball Teams in Sweet 16

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NC State is 1 of 4 schools to have their Men and Women’s Basketball teams BOTH advance to the Sweet 16, along with Duke, Gonzaga and UCONN.

NC State and Duke are the only two schools in the country to send both Basketball teams to the Sweet 16, and also send the Football team to a bowl game.

This marks only the third time in school history that BOTH teams made the Sweet 16.

Years NC State’s Men & Women’s Teams Made the Sweet 16

1985
1989
2024

Despite the fact that the Men’s team has made the Elite 8 six times (1950, 1951, 1974, 1983, 1985, 1986), and the Women have made it 2 times (1998 & 2022), in the three occasions they both went to the Sweet 16 in the same year, neither team advanced to the Elite 8.

In 2024, Why Not Us?

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NC State Basketball

#3 seed NC State Holds on Against #6 Seed Tennessee, Defeating the Vols 79-72 to Advance to the Sweet 16

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#3 seed NC State held on last night, defeating #6 seed Tennessee 79-72 in Reynolds Coliseum to advance to the Sweet 16 for the 5th time in the last 6 tournaments.

The Wolfpack led by only 1 after the 1st Quarter, but they looked like they had things under control at halftime, leading by 18 points.

At one point, NC State led by as much as 20 points in the 3rd Quarter, but the Lady Volunteers weren’t about to give up.

With 4:19 left in the 4th, Tennessee cut the lead to 2 points, but NC State might have bent, but they wouldn’t break.

Junior Guard Aziaha James led the way with 22 points and 7 assists, which were both team highs. She scored 7 points in the final 3.5 minutes, helping to squash tue Last Vols’ comeback attempt.

Junior Guard Saniya Rivers had 20 points (6-14 FG) and 6 boards.

Freshman Zoe Brooks was clutch off the bench, chipping in 16 points and 6 boards.

This marks the 16th time the NC State Women’s Basketball team has advanced to the Sweet 16.

The Wolfpack will play #2 seed Stanford on Friday night at 7:30pm on ESPN in Portland.

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NC State Basketball

A Historical Breakdown of the Series Between NC State & Marquette

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#11 seed NC State will play #2 seed Marquette in the Sweet 16 on Friday night, which will mark the 6th time the two teams have played one another.

The first time the Wolfpack and the Golden Eagles played one another was also in the NCAA Tournament, and it just so happened to be the 1974 Championship game, with NC State winning the game 76-64, giving the Pack their first National Championship.

Wolfpack led the way with 21 points, and Tommy Burleson had a double-double of 14 points and 11 boards, with 7 blocks, which is tied for the 8th most in school history in a single game.

NC State also had 12 steals in the game, which is the most by a Pack team in an NCAA Tournament game.

The next time the two teams would meet was on January 21st, in Reynolds Coliseum. The Wolfpack won 89-76, and it was a night for the history books for Point Guard Chris Corchiani. In that game, set ACC career records for assists with 861 and steals with 276.

The following year, the Golden Eagles picked up their first win against the Wolfpack, winning 66-42 in Milwaukee.

It would be over 15 years before NC State and Marquette would play one another again, and this time it would once again be a home-and-home series in back-to-back years.

On December 22nd, 2008, the Wolfpack lost a close one at home, falling 65-68. Wolfpack Forward Brandon Costner hit all five 3-Point attempts in that game, which still stands as the best 3-Point Percentage in a single game in school history.

The following year, on December 5th, 2009, the Wolfpack would claim the lead in the series again, defeating the Golden Eagles 77-73 on the road. NC State big man Tracy Smith had a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds. Point Guard Javier Gonzalez had 15 points and 7 assists, and Wing Scott Wood knocked down 4 of his 6 three-point attempts.

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