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NC State’s Kevin Keatts Talks Before Season Opener: BULLETED

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5 years ago

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NC State Head Coach Kevin Keatts spoke with the media today before the men’s basketball team kicks off the 2018-19 season tomorrow night against Mount Saint Mary’s. You can watch it here, or read a BULLETED breakdown below.

  • Excited for some of our players. I’m sure there will be a lot of nervous energy. Was thinking about it today…we’ve got 3 guys, really 2, CJ Bryce and Devon Daniels, who haven’t played in over a year.
  • Tried to improve on some things that we didn’t do well in the Chowan exhibition. Our guys are obviously tired of practicing against each other. They’re all excited about playing basketball tomorrow.
  • We’ll play a very good team that’s got a lot of tradition, Mount St. Mary’s. Last few years they’ve done a tremendous job and they play a very similar style to us where they try to get up and down.
  • I’m looking for chemistry and I’m looking for a lot of different lineups.
  • From exhibition, I wanted us to do a better job of blocking out. I thought we gave up a few more offensive rebounds that I would like. That being said, when you give up offensive rebounds, you don’t get a chance to get out and run as much. I know we scored 111 points, but I want to try to get out in transition a little bit more.
  • In recruiting, I think you have to, #1, obviously sell your program and your system. Obviously we’ve got a tremendous program that I think that fans obviously love and players love to play in. You talk about a great university and we certainly have that…academically and also a great place to go to school in Raleigh.
  • Braxton Beverly is doing better. We actually threw him into one or two drills to try to shoot the basketball. He’s still a ways away and I don’t know that I have a timetable for you guys. I don’t know where he’s at. In my mind, I wish he could play tomorrow, but I’m looking at probably two or three weeks out… hopefully. I’m going to listen to the doctors and trainer to tell me when he can play, and I hope it’s sooner than later. We need him. We love his leadership. I know he’s obviously a good player and can make shots, but I think we miss the leadership more than anything.
  • The two guys who played for me last year have to do a great job shooting: Torin Dorn and Markell Johnson. CJ Bryce has also played for me for a couple of years and Devon Daniels I would like to see play well. I think those four guys have to play well and I think everybody else has to follow.
  • Wyatt Walker is free spirited, a high-energy guy.  Everybody loves him, and I think his leadership and how hard he plays… everybody could follow that.
  • I told our team the other day, what we did last year was a very special year, especially with some guys who were coming off a year that they didn’t have a lot of success. We don’t take it for granted that we won 11 games in the ACC. It’s hard to do on any given year.That being said, that’s a totally different team and I’m excited about this group.
  • I would say yes, this is more my style of team. We have the pieces to play the way we want to play, but I don’t want to cheat last year’s team. Those guys bought into my system and we actually played our style. What I said earlier was that we probably had about 75 percent of our system in and hopefully now we’ll get up to 90 to 95 percent now.
  • I think the three bigs that I played in the exhibition game, help me sleep a little better knowing that they can contribute in different ways. When you look at Wyatt, he did a tremendous job rebounding the ball, and he’s a great passer. You can’t ignore the way DJ played. DJ did a tremendous job going 7-for-7 from the field.
  • In college basketball, if you can stay older or in this situation you can stay experienced, I think that’s better. We have some older guys but what we don’t have is game experience, so having him (Torin Dorn) as a guy who’s been through the wars and obviously played in the system… is huge for us because his leadership is going to be important for guys that have never really went through a season of NC State basketball.
  • I know we want to be an uptempo team and we want to get out and transition, but unfortunately the other team has scouting reports. We know we’ve worked really hard trying to be efficient in the half court and we expect to see early on, especially with Braxton out, a good dose of some zone sometime and then some man-to-man. So we’ve worked on trying to be better in the halfcourt.
  • No, I just want him (CJ Bryce) to play.  If he can average 17 points a game at this level, then I’m great with them. I try to create an atmosphere where our guys can play loose. I give them tremendous offensive freedom without getting crazy. I hope he just plays the way he plays.

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Matthew is Co-Owner of Pack Insider. He writes for all sports, with a focus on football and recruiting, and is in charge of business strategy. He is an NC State alum who majored in business. Matthew is also the lead pastor of The Point Church in Cary, NC.

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NC State Basketball

Boston Transfer Center Caitlin Weimar Commits to NC State

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2 days ago

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April 26, 2024

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Boston Transfer Center Caitlin Weimar (6’4″) has verbally committed to NC State for her final year.

Weimar took an Official Visit to NC State a little over a week ago.

She is the reigning Patriot League Player of the Year, and has been named Defensive Player of the Year the past two years. She has earned 1st Team Patriot League Honors the past two seasons.

This year, Weimar averaged 18.7 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.8 blocks. As a Junior, she averaged 15.5 points and 10.0 rebounds. She shot 55.5% this year, and 59.7% last year.

With the exodus of River Baldwin, picking up a commitment from Weimar is massive.

With the addition of Weimar, NC State now has 2 scholarships available heading into the 2024-25 season.

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NC State Basketball

Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill Commits to NC State!

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3 days ago

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April 25, 2024

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Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill (6’4″/185) has committed to NC State!

Hill took an Official Visit to NC State this past weekend.

This past season, Hill averaged 20.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game for the Falcons. He earned 1st Team All-MAC honors. Even though he was only at Bowling Green one season, he had one of the best seasons in school history, scoring 698 points, which ranks 5th all-time in program history for a single season.

For his first two years of collegiate ball, Hill played for Southern Union State College (JUCO) in Alabama. In 2022-23, Hill earned 3rd Team NJCAA All-American honors, and ranked as the #32 overall Junior College prospect.

247Sports ranks Hill as a 4-Star Transfer Prospect, and the #81 overall player in the Transfer Portal, and the #11 Shooting Guard.

Even though 247Sports and ON3 consider Hill a Shooting Guard, NC State is recruiting him as a Point Guard.

Hill is the 4th player to transfer to NC State this offseason, joining Louisville’s Brandon Huntley-Hatfield & Mike James, and Georgetown’s Dontrez Styles.

With the addition of Hill, NC State now has 1 scholarship remaining for next season.

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NC State Basketball

NC State’s Mohamed Diarra Will Not Return to NC State for Final Season

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4 days ago

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April 24, 2024

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NC State Forward Mohamed Diarra will not be returning to NC State for his final season of eligibility. Rather, he will give 100% of his focus to pursuing his professional career.

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Diarra is declaring for the NBA Draft, and will explore that possibility as far as it goes, but the likelihood of him playing professionally in his home country of France are high.

Diarra was a significant player for NC State all season long, averaging 6.3 points and 7.8 rebounds (team high), but his impact in March was tremendous, recording 10+ rebounds in 7 of the Wolfpack’s 10 postseason games, and five of those performances were double-doubles.

Wolfpack fans will always remember the grit and mental toughness that Diarra put on display in the NCAA Tournament, playing game-after-game while fasting for Ramadan.

The Wolfpack’s frontcourt just got a little bit thinner. In the past two weeks, NC State has lost Diarra and Ernest Ross.  Ben Middlebrooks is returning, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield transferred in from Louisville. Dontrez Styles transferred in from Georgetown, and while he is more of a Small Forward, in certain lineups, he could play the Small 4 position. With all that being said, I fully expect NC State to try to find another post player in the Transfer Portal with Diarra’s exodus now official.

With Diarra not returning in 2024, NC State now has 2 scholarships available for next season.

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NC State Basketball

Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James Commits to NC State!

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5 days ago

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April 23, 2024

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Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James (6’5″/200) has announced his commitment to NC State!

 

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This past year, James averaged 12.6 points per game (3rd on the team) and 5 rebounds. He’s extremely physical and aggressive, taking 47% of his field goal attempts at the rim (making 46%). As a result, he draws a lot of fouls, ranking 10th in the ACC in Fouls Drawn, and 4th in Free Throw Rate. James made opponents pay this year when they put him on the line, making 81.8% from the charity stripe, which ranked 15th in the ACC.

James shot the ball better as a Redshirt Freshman, than he did this past season. His Effective Field Goal Percentage in 2022-23 was 55.8%, which ranked 19th in the ACC, and his True Shooting Percentage of 59.6% ranked 14th.

News broke about James entering the Transfer Portal back on March 25th, and NC State was quick to reach out. Kevin Keatts and his staff recruited the former 4-star prospect out of high school heavily, but he ultimately chose the Cardinals.

After redshirting his first year in Louisville due to torn achilles, James has been a starter for the Cardinals the past two years.

He does have the ability to knock down a three, making 34.8% for his career.

James has 2 years of eligibility remaining. With James’ commitment, NC State currently has 1 scholarship available for next season.

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