Kevin Keatts meets with the media to talk role changes, team chemistry and next year’s freshmen

Kevin Keatts joined the ACC Zoom call yesterday to talk with the media about his team’s current struggles, how some players need to get back to their roles of being more multi-dimensional, how the team chemistry is a bit off and what how he envisions next year’s freshman fitting in.

KK: Good seeing you guys.

Media: What do you think has been the biggest difference over the last three games specifically, where you’ve been right in the matchups and then it just hasn’t gone your way at the very end, and how have you been able to keep your team kind of motivated, not keeping their heads held down, to kind of rejuvenate this with still plenty more games to play the rest of the season?

KK: Yeah, I think it’s, you know, its about 10 possessions in every game that I think that really decide a game. I know a lot of people say “Man, you know just one or two… just got to get back to winning the hustle plays. And what I mean is that our guys are playing really hard, but 50/50 balls here and a bad foul here, and a bad shot here. no communication in defensive transition and you lose a one-point game.

It’s weird because some of it is that, and then honestly, some of it is that we’ve had a little bit of bad luck as far as with the balls that bounced a different way and all that other stuff.  The great question about how we are keeping our guys in it is because they can see that if we clean up a couple of things, then we can be on the other end of those games, as opposed to losing those.

Media: Kevin just a little bit off topic, but William and Mary is bringing back Tony shaver on Saturday, after a six-year absence. You competed against some of his best teams when when you were at Wilmington. What were your impressions of him as a coach, and his teams, the way they played?

KK: Well first of all, I’m excited to hear that. You know, Tony, when you think of William and Mary, Tony was there for so long and he’s done a tremendous job at William and Mary. Aand his teams were always good. I mean, they shared the basketball, they could really shoot the basketball, they would always spread you out. Tony may laugh at this when I say this, but more offensively than defensively. You had to be able to score a lot of points in order to beat his team and man, he’s a good basketball coach and he’s had that program for a while and that was a program that obviously, the academic standards were so high and so he had really really good basketball players that knew and understood the culture of William and Murray. I’m excited that they are bringing him back.

Media: Kevin, you guys have sort of a mini bye. I don’t know what you label it in basketball here without a midweek game, but what are some things you feel like you guys can work on, or try to clean up, this week, because I’m sure you you probably feel it’s beneficial to have one of these?

KK: There becomes a point in every game that I think you, as coaches, you say “Man, are we doing everything not to beat ourselves?” And I always go back to the Virginia Tech game, where there’s a loose ball on our end of the floor after we missed missed a shot and there aren’t a lot of seconds left on the clock. All we had to do is dive on the ball and then it would be our possession and then they have to foul us. We just got to finish those situations and it’s weird, because we did in two of those. Notre Dame and Florida State.  And then we’ve been on the other end in the other four. I don’t know that anybody else in the country has had six or seven one-possession games. And some of it is that we just didn’t finish the game the way we needed to, and some of it was the other team made a few more plays than we did.

I think we need to get a little bit sharper offensively. We were one for nine from three and some of those were really good shots and they were shots that I want some of our guys to take. It seems like our defense has been really holding us down lately. We’ve done a good job holding guys in the 60s, other than Virginia Tech, and offensively I think we need to get back to a little bit more ball and player movement. We really have taken care of the basketball, we just haven’t scored the ball like we’re capable of.

Media: And just a quick followup. I know you guys recruited Dontrez for a while now. Looking at his game, his volume at times can be limited to shooting the ball. Is he a guy who you feel like relies on others to get to get opportunities? Is he more of an individual scorer?  How do you label his game?

KK: I just think Dontrez, like several of our guys, have to get back to doing multiple things. I think sometimes these guys will settle for jump shots. He’s a really good driver, he’s a really good offensive rebounder, but we haven’t seen that lately. Most of them been, you know, 15 foot fadeaways and three-point shots. And yes, he can make those shots and we’re happy for him to take some of them, but I just think he has to get back to his roots, and do a little bit of everything.

Media: It’s a lot easier to have a connected team when you’re winning. When you’re in a a stretch like you are right now, how do you feel like the the team is with its communication and and with its relationships outside of games?

KK: It’s a thin line between winning and losing. I mean, it’s crazy because, you know, we could be and we could play “woulda/shoulda” if we wanted to, but if we’re on the other side of that maybe we’re 12-6. Butt it’s a thin line between winning and losing. You’ve got to almost trick your mind because you can play that same game and lose those four, but you play the same game and win it, and you feel a lot better. Not that you played better in the game, you just made one more shot than the other team. So what I’m trying to get our guys to understand, and which help our relationships and help these guys keep working, is that one or two possessions,  three or four possessions, and we’re on the other side of that. So it’s not like you’re getting beat really bad in games. You’re losing games at the end, and some of it is has to do with the other teams making more plays than you. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to be able to to see that you’re in those games to win those games.

You would much rather be in the game than losing by 15 to 20 every night.

Media: You were able to see Zymicha Wilkins recently, and you obviously know what kind of shooter RJ Greer is and then having Bryce herd enroll a year early. What is it like now for a high schooler or a high school senior to join what is most likely veteran teams?

KK: It’s tough, and some of it comes down to the amount of competition that you’ve competed against. I hate to say that, as a guy been at a. prep school for 12 years. I felt like our guys were prepared to step into any college program and play. That’s because they were challenged every day, and we had 11 or 12 D-1 guys on that team. Some guys are just a little bit further than the others because of who they’re playing against. It can be tough but it can be rewarding. Bryce (Heard) would have been in his class, and he would be having a very good senior year. But he’s getting valuable experience playing against older guys in practice and then, you know, RJ and Zymicha both play for really good high school programs. So I think they both will be ready to come in and contribute right away and I’m really excited about those guys coming here.

Media: Multiple times this year you’ve talked about looking for consistency night in and night out. Is that a byproduct of just having a team with so many new faces? Especially using the portal, or is it just something that is different about this team than you’ve had in the past?

KK: Well it’s that everybody on our team is in a completely different position than they were last year. You really look at it at the end of the year. We returned one starter and both Ben and JT played a six or seventh man role. So we’re asking those guys to be in a different position. Even Michael at times. We’re asking him to score and then you get down to Breon Pass and Dennis Parker Jr. You know, Dennis was out at the end, but Breon played a limited role for us too. Then you add eight new guys, so really one of those things where we’re one of the teams in our league that is not returning a lot of folks and it’s really showing with us.

Chemistry hasn’t been great. I think we’ve got a little bit more defensive chemistry than we do offensively, but I’m looking for consistency.  I need guys like Ben, Brandon and Dontez to get back to rebounding the basketball. I told them after practice today, and I think I was right when I say this,  I think Marcus Hill is leading us in rebounding in ACC play. That shouldn’t happen and that’s not that’s not a knock against Marcus. It’s just that we have to get guys back to playing a bigger role and doing their jobs.  And by doing their jobs they will really help us win games.

Media: You talk about how you lost a lot from last year’s team. You came in with a lot of guys in their first year in the program. You stand to kind of look similar going into next year, is that something that might change the way you look to build a team moving forward? Just trying not to lose as many guys in the same year?

KK: I don’t think we’ve got any control over that. If you can retain some of your players that’s great, but certainly that’s not all on decisions that are going to be made just by the coaches. It’s more of a group decision and family decision with players. All that other stuff, in a perfect world, yes, I would like some of that. But I can’t say that that’s going to happen. It’s probably one of those things that every year in college basketball, you’re going to have at least 6 or seven guys. For me it’s been tough, because I haven’t been able to return my leading score for about seven years, and you hope at one point that you can maybe do that.