NC State’s Kevin Keatts NCAA Presser Before Seton Hall: BULLETED

Yesterday NC State head coach Kevin Keatts had his press conference out in Wichita with the media before Seton Hall, and the possibility of a matchup against Kansas. You can watch it in full above, but here it is in BULLETED format.

(I won’t rehash anything that Keatts said to the NC State media before flying out to Wichita. You can check that out here.)

• Have to play with toughness against Seton Hall. They’re physical. Get in the paint. Score. Delgado (6’10”) is probably one of the best post players in the country, doesn’t get enough credit. Have to keep them in front of us, but match physicality.
• When you take over a program you need a signature win for guys to buy into your system. For us, that was Arizona.
• 1 of the things I talked about in my original press conference when I took the job was getting this program back to where it had been in the past.
• We’re probably one of the Power 5 teams that doesn’t have a superstar. Don’t have a guy that every night can go for 25 or 30. A different person could lead us in scoring every night. We’ve had to learn to play and compete together.
• Would have loved to win the ACC Tournament, but it’s been good to have a couple of days off. These guys had back-to-back summer school sessions, we went on a trip to Italy, and the season started. Haven’t really had a break.
• Thinks Omer Yurtseven is the most improved athlete in the country. He’s tough because he can score over either shoulder. A pick-and-pop guy. Become solid on the defensive side.
• Excited to have had the opportunity to coach Al Freeman. He’s the only guy on the team with significant NCAA experience (Baylor 3 years). He’s matured over the season and turned a corner. His breakthrough game was Wake Forest. He told me after the game, ‘Coach, I understand what you’re talking about how to be a leader.’ At the beginning, he thought being a leader was shooting the ball everytime he touched it. Now he’s passing the ball and knows when to score, and is playing defense.