NC State has a lot of questions coming into the 2017-2018 basketball season. With a new coach at the helm and a roster with a lot of fresh faces, this Wolfpack team is going to feel a lot different than years past.

One of the major questions we are hearing is about style of play. We know Keatts is going to prioritize defense and wants to get up and down the floor, but how will it be implemented?

Taking a look at personnel is the first way to get an idea of how Keatts’ teams are going to play. Usually, this starts with the point guard.

NC State currently has two point guards on the roster that will be logging major minutes. Markell Johnson and freshman Lavar Batts.

You are already familiar with what Johnson brings to the table. He’s fast, he’s athletic and he really can attack. While he’s not really a polished scorer, he’s certainly a high-end distributor. Batts is much of the same. Super athletic, great vision and lightning quick. Both are more traditional point guards who create to pass instead of creating to score.

Gottfried went all-in on scoring PGs

We’ve watched Gottfried take NC State down the road of making the point guard position his primary scoring slot. First, there was Cat Barber and last year you had Dennis Smith Jr. Both supreme talents and great scorers, neither one has success leading the team to big numbers in the win column. If you ask us, it’s because the days of the scoring point guard are slowly coming to an end in college basketball. It’s proven to get guys into the NBA draft, but it’s also proven to, more times than not, lead to sub-par seasons.

When you study basketball you quickly understand that understanding roles and working as a unit are the keys to winning games. To have players buying into their roles and relying on each other as a team, you need good chemistry. The problem is, everyone wants the glory in one way or another. They want to be involved in their team’s victories. This is where a quality pass-first point guard pays dividends. A point guard who can understand pace, situation and gets the ball to the right guy at the right time not only creates more efficient scoring opportunities, they create good team chemistry. Guys set stronger screen and cut with more conviction when they know they’ll get the ball in a good position to score. Guys play harder and make better decisions when they aren’t playing for themselves, but playing for their teammates and keeping each other accountable.

None of this is possible when your point guard is dominating the basketball, looking for his shot. With Dennis Smith and Cat Barber, you had a two man game most of the time. The number one option was the pick and roll. If that wasn’t there then they, by default, started looking for their teammates. But nobody likes to be the fallback option.

Say what you want, but this was the reason that the team broke into factions over the past few seasons. Some liked the direction of the offense, and some didn’t. The post players obviously did not. They were relegated to garbage buckets and rebounding while Gottfried went all-in on Dennis Smith Jr and his ability to create his own shot.

Keatts is betting on team basketball to build his program

Enter the Johnson and Batts. Both are pass first point guards, but both can score when they have to. This is going to be one area that we believe is going to quickly change the look of NC State basketball. It’s going to be more team-oriented, more guys will be involved and chemistry will likely not be an issue. This type of PG has the ability highlight everyone else’s skill set and get everyone involved in the action.

Sure, NC State lost a ton of scoring. No more Smith, no more Henderson, and Rowan exited via transfer. So why is it that we believe NC State will find more success with Johnson and Batts running the show? Well, because we think you’ll finally get to see what Abu is capable of, and instead of contested 3s you’ll see a lot more clean looks from beyond the arc. You’ll get to see what inside-out basketball looks like and you’ll get to see a team that actually moves without the basketball, knowing the harder they cut the more likely they are to get an easy bucket. You’ll finally get to see what team that enjoys playing together looks like.

The run of watching elite scorers make their money off the dribble was fun for a while and it did provide some jaw dropping moments, but I think NC State fans are going to be a lot happier watching a team that shares the ball and plays together. That is the type of team Keatts seems to be building and it’s going to start with Johnson and Batts.

We’ll get our first glimpse of NC State basketball next month when they take their team trip to Italy.