NC State Basketball
Upcoming 3 game stretch could dictate NC State’s postseason fate
No matter how you slice it, Kevin Keatts has done some pretty impressive things with the pieces he was given in his first year in Raleigh.
NC State sits at 12-6 on the season and has 3 wins over Top-25 teams, two of which have been the current #2 team in the nation (Arizona and Duke).
The means that NC State isn’t going to have to convince the tournament committee that they have enough quality wins to get a bid come March. However, what they need to prove is that they can win consistently and get to that 19 or 20 win plateau.
Here is what Jon Rothstein of CBS thinks it will take.
NC State has now beaten Arizona, Clemson, and Duke. If Kevin Keatts gets this team to nine ACC wins, it will be very tough to keep them out of the NCAA Tournament.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) January 12, 2018
To reach 19 regular season wins, they will need 9 total ACC wins. As of now, they have 2, but this upcoming 3 game stretch could be the most important of their season.
They kick it off vs. Wake Forest at home on Thursday night. The Deacs are 8-9 on the season and have lost 5 of their last 6 games. This is a should win / must-win game that the Pack can’t afford to drop.
They then turn around and play #25 Miami on Sunday in Raleigh. This will be a tough one, but it’s one that is at home and a matchup that is winnable. Miami has lost 3 of their last 4, one of which was at Georgia Tech.
After that, it’s on to next Wednesday when they face off against the 0-6 Pitt Panthers. This game is on the road, which makes it tougher, but Pitt is 0-6 in the ACC, 8-11 on the season, and just this past week announced they will be without their leading scorer Ryan Luther for the remainder of the season (broken foot).
Say State were to run off 3 straight wins. That would give them 15 wins on the season and 5 in the ACC. That means they would likely only need to win 4 of their remaining 10 games. That stretch would look like this…
Now, of course, that 10 game stretch isn’t easy. There are definitely some tough matchups in there, but coming away with 4 of those is doable, and would put the Pack at 9 ACC wins and 19 total wins. A single win in the ACC tournament, at that point, would likely take the Pack off the bubble and put them squarely in the tournament.
Even if State were to come out of this 3 game stretch 2-1, it still would put them in a position where winning 50% of their remaining games would get them to where they need to be.
Sure, this is all hypothetical, but the importance of this coming stretch shouldn’t be understated. We believe that how the Pack handles this next week could very well dictate their postseason fate.
Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James (6’5″/200) is a priority for NC State, according to a source.
News broke about James entering the Transfer Portal back on March 25th, and NC State was quick to reach out. Kevin Keatts and his staff recruited the former 4-star prospect out of high school heavily, but he ultimately chose the Cardinals.
After redshirting his first year in Louisville due to torn achilles, James has been a starter for the Cardinals the past two years.
This past year, James averaged 12.6 points per game (3rd on the team) and 5 rebounds. He’s extremely physical and aggressive, taking 47% of his field goal attempts at the rim (making 46%). As a result, he draws a lot of fouls, ranking 10th in the ACC in Fouls Drawn, and 4th in Free Throw Rate. James made opponents pay this year when they put him on the line, making 81.8% from the charity stripe, which ranked 15th in the ACC.
James shot the ball better as a Redshirt Freshman, than he did this past season. His Effective Field Goal Percentage in 2022-23 was 55.8%, which ranked 19th in the ACC, and his True Shooting Percentage of 59.6% ranked 14th.
He does have the ability to knock down a three, making 34.8% for his career.
NC State already hosted Indiana State Transfer Guard Ryan Conwell last week, and while the Wolfpack coaches like both players, from what I’m hearing, James would be their preference.
NC State hasn’t had James in for a visit, but that could happen soon.
James has 2 years of eligibility remaining.
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