Kevin Keatts Breaks Down His #5 Recruiting Class: BULLETED

Head Coach Kevin Keatts took time to break down NC State’s 2020 Men’s Basketball Recruiting Class after the Alcorn State game yesterday. You can watch what he said about the #5 class in the nation here, or check out the bulleted breakdown below.

• I’m excited too about our future. It’s an exciting class. I’m ecstatic about those guys. I know we are headed in the right direction.
• We signed 5 really good basketball players that I think can certainly help us in the future.
•  All five of those guys fill a need for us.
• When I took the job, I wanted to get some homegrown guys that could be able to certainly help us win a championship someday.
  • 4 of those 5 guys are from the state of North Carolina, and that was a priority from our staff and me.
• Give our staff a lot of credit.
  • Our assistant coaches did a tremendous job recruiting those guys.
• When you look at the guys that we have in the program…
  • Thomas Allen is sitting out. He’s going to be a really good player from Nebraska.
  • Dereon Seabron, who is an academic redshirt, has a really good chance to be good.
• I’m pumped about this class. It was one that we needed to have.
• There’s not a guy that we recruited in this class that we really wanted, that we didn’t get.
  • They were all guys that we prioritized and knew we were going to have a chance to get.
• Not only are those guys good basketball players, but they’re good people and all of them are coming in with really good academic background.
• I would love for those guys to develop a relationship before they get here, because I think if they do they’ll come in as a strong unit and get better in a lot of areas.

In-State recruiting…

• It’s becoming popular for guys in state to come to NC State.
  • That’s one of the things I wanted to happen.
  • We’ve lost some of those recruiting battles.
  • It’s always been tough, because we’ve got some pretty good programs in this state.
  • A lot of times some of those guys have decided to go elsewhere instead of coming to NC State.
  • We won a couple recruiting battles here.
• I’m excited that all 4 of the in-state guys felt like this program was good enough for them to come here.
• It all started with Manny Bates.
  • He could have gone to a lot of programs, but he decided to stay in state and I’m happy for him.

Ebenezer Duowona compared to Manny Bates…

• He’s a little bit more skilled offensively at this point than Manny.
• He actually can step out and do a few more things than Manny, but he’s a tremendous shot-blocker similar to Manny.

Been recruiting these kids since he arrived…

• A majority of these guys that we signed, we started from the day we got here recruiting.
• We started building a relationship with them.
• We started selling them on the opportunity of coming to NC State and getting a great education.
• We started talking to them about a lot things, about our fan base.
• We talked to them about the opportunity to play our style of play.
• We talked about being an alumni of NC State.

Josh Hall…

• 2 or 3 years ago I think he was in team camp, and that kid has gotten a lot better.
• He’s grown, he’s gotten more talented, he’s put on a little bit of bulk. He’s gotten a lot better.
• Cam Hayes texted me when Josh committed and said ‘Man, I did a great job.’ I was like ‘what are you talking about, Cam.’

Nick Farrar…

• Nick Farrar is a kid that came out of nowhere.
• I’m disappointed in Nick tonight a little bit, because he played against Broughton and it was KJ’s first varsity game and Nick came and beat him bad.
• We’re going to have a little extra suicides for him when he gets here.
• You can never beat the coaches son on his 1st game ever, and Nick won the game.

Cam Hayes…

• Cam Hayes is a talented guard.
• He reclassified back up to his regular class.
• He can play the 1 and the 2.
• He’s a really great basketball player.

Shakeel Moore…

• He’s probably one of the best defensive guards in the country.
• The last time I watched him before this weekend, he’s a guy that stepped out and made 7 3’s.
  • That’s not who he is. Certainly you know that he’s able to do those types of things.