WOLFERETTI: The Great Mike O’Connell Debate

Mike O’Connell will go down as a legend in NC State basketball history.

The shot he hit to send the Virginia game into OT, during the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, will forever be seen as THE pivotal moment of NC State ACC Tournament Championship run, which sent them onto their Final Four run.

Here is the run-up to the moment and the shot…

O’Connell was insane during this period. After shooting just 32% during the season and averaging around 6 points per game, he went crazy. He scored in double digits in every one of NC State’s ACC Tournament games and shot 9-16 (56%) from long range.

But it wasn’t just O’Connell’s scoring that was helping NC State win basketball games. He was also the calming factor for a team that early on was too sped up. Early in the season NC State wasn’t getting the ball down to Burns enough, at this time Keatts was using a combination of DJ Horne and Jayden Taylor at guard and O’Connell was only playing about 25 minutes per game. Once Keatts decided on O’Connell as his lead guard, things slowly changed. Suddenly Burns was getting more touches, and the team was playing through the big man a lot more often. He got the ball where it needed to go.

If you had O’Connell shooting like he did during the ACC Tournament, and you had the pieces around him that would allow him to facilitate to scorers like you did last season, then playing MOC 31 minutes per game would make total sense.

In fact, coming off of the Final Four run, I think committing to him as your PG for the following season (his senior season) was a good idea.

However, that was assuming you’d be following your blueprint from the run, slowing things down and dropping back defensively, playing through a high-end post scorer, and having a 3-level scorer alongside him, much like you had with Horne.

Keatts was unable to add those pieces, and it’s been a problem for O’Connell.

The senior PG is averaging 6.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists. He’s playing 31 minutes per game. He’s shooting just 37.9% from the floor and 30.5% from 3pt range. He’s doing this on a team that is struggling at 9-12 and 2-8 in conference (16th place).

NC State doesn’t have a multi-dimensional scoring guard. They don’t have a consistent pure shooter. They have two 6’6 4’s and their big portal get in the frontcourt, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, is playing just over 20 minutes per game.

Look, you won’t find a bigger fan of the unathletic, slow-pace, coach-on-the-floor, low-turnover, distributor-type PG, than me. In my younger days, I was this player. I looked up to players like this. I understand the value they can bring, and how that skill-set can be the difference between winning and losing.

But at the same time, I know how helpless a player like this can become when they don’t have playmakers around them. And right now, that’s what you’re seeing happen to the great Mike O’Connell.

This isn’t his fault. He was never built to play fast-faced, ball-screen-oriented offense where he needed to be a threat to score.

But for some reason, despite being 21 games into the season and it becoming very clear that what you’re doing isn’t working, Mike O’Connell continues to be put int his role for 31 minutes per night.

In fact, after the Clemson game, Keatts was asked about O’Connell.

Reporter: You talk a lot about how the veterans are impacting Trey Parker and Paul McNeil. Can you talk a little bit about Michael O’Connell’s game? He had three points, two assists, and three rebounds in 28 minutes.

“You know, Michael’s never been a scorer. Even if you go back to last year, he had those moments at the end of the year where he scored the basketball for us. I think that was – I don’t want to say that’s a tease for us, but that was an addition to what we already had.” said Keatts.

“He makes us run. He’s one of the reasons that we have been a low-turnover team throughout the year. So he has a value.”

“He has a need on the team, but if we’re looking for him to score, then we have to go to the bench and get somebody else, and that’s why we’re – Trey is starting to play more minutes because he provides a little bit more scoring than Michael does.”

I think his answer says a lot. I think in the first sentence Keatts admits that maybe the staff believed this would be the O’Connell he’d get going forward. One that could emerge as a scoring threat when needed.

In the second sentence, he makes the case for O’Connell helping set pace and protect the basketball. Which I touched on earlier. O’Connell does give you these things, but after 21 games it hasn’t equated in many wins. So maybe the tradeoff really isn’t there. What you lose in pace and ball security, maybe you gain more somewhere else.

In his third sentence, he admits that scoring is an issue and it’s why we’re seeing Trey Parker play more minutes.

But NC State is still losing and as much as it may pains Keatts to do it, it’s time to limit MOC’s minutes. It’s time to try something else, shift your values and open yourself up to new lineups, and new strategies. Sticking to the set course isn’t working. It’s time to start changing things up, things you may have been completely against coming into the season.

Marcus Hill on the ball, playing off the pick-and-roll.

Dontrez Styles at the 3 and Diouf at the 4, playing bigger than you have all season.

Trey Parker and Paul McNeil Jr playing more minutes.

Maybe putting Trey at the 2, and getting him the ball on the wing off the Iverson cut. Seeing how he responds to being a scoring guard (because he’s really never been a PG). Or giving McNeil real volume to see if his insane high school scoring can translate.

There are a lot of options, but the only option NC State fans don’t want to see is the option of doing nothing.