KenPom Projects NC State to Finish Regular 12-6

After defeating Wake Forest 90-84 on Saturday, KenPom.com now projects that NC State will win their final 4 regular season games.

If the Wolfpack does this, they will finish the regular season with a 22-9 regular season record, along with a 12-6 conference record.

If Kevin Keatts finishes his  first ACC slate with 12 wins, it will be nothing short of historical.

Mark Gottfried never did it. Lowe didn’t. Not Robinson. Heck, even Jimmy V.

The last NC State head coach to lead his team to 12 ACC wins was Norm Sloan back in 1973-74, when the Wolfpack won the ACC, and the National Championship.

In fact, since the creation of the ACC in 1953, only 4 NC State teams have ever accumulated 12 ACC wins in a single season:

1973-74: 12-0
1972-73: 12-0
1958-59: 12-2
1954-55: 12-2

All 4 of these teams went on to win the ACC Tournament.

Did I mention that this is Keatts first year at the helm in Raleigh?

You can’t count this team out. A couple of weeks ago, KenPom projected that NC State would lose 6 of their final 8 games. They started the season ranked 109th. Now they sit at 47th.

Obviously, NC State still has to go out and win the next four games. Projections are just projections, but you have to love what Keatts has done with this team.