What NC State basketball’s Kevin Keatts said about magical Final Four run, roster moves

The N.C. State basketball season doesn’t start for another four months, but the preparation has already begun for what the program hopes is continued success.

Head coach Kevin Keatts reflected on the 2023-24 season Thursday and the unlikely run the Wolfpack needed to win the ACC and make the Final Four. He also looked forward to the future of the program, which features a number of transfers and incoming freshmen.

He wasn’t able to fully appreciate the magnitude of the accomplishment until rewatching the game film — in reverse chronological order — and hearing from fans. From losing four consecutive games to close the regular season, which Keatts jokingly said was done on purpose, to reaching the Final Four.

“I love it. I don’t take it for granted. What our team and our staff did was simply amazing,” Keatts said. “To lose four games at the end of the season, to everybody crying and complaining, to go to the ACC championship and beat five (previous NCAA) champions. Everybody would have been satisfied with that.”

Now, Keatts hopes to replicate similar success in the upcoming season. The Wolfpack will feature five transfers and two freshmen, in addition to five returning scholarship players. The returning players include forward Ben Middlebrooks and guard Michael O’Connell, both key cogs in the Final Four run, plus 6-6 sophomore guard Dennis Parker, Jr.

The lineup isn’t set, it’s July after all. Keatts and the N.C. State staff, however, feels good about the pieces it will take into the fall.

“It’s a marathon and everybody today wants a sprint,” Keatts said. “The teams who may play well early may fall off at the end. We had a great start. If you look at our season, we started off in the ACC with a great win against Notre Dame and then we had an OK [middle] and unbelievable ending. That’s how it was supposed to be like. You’re preparing your team for March…and I just think we locked in everybody playing their role.”

Here are Keatts’ thoughts on a number of team-related topics:

Last season’s final nine games

“You could see our confidence started to grow. If you go back, we didn’t make many mistakes. That was on the offensive end and the defensive end. One of the things we talked about when we got on the plane (to Washington for the ACC Tournament) was, we’re going to limit our mistakes. We’re going to play together. We’re going to play as one. The one thing I thought I guys did a great job of leaning on was our culture.”

Impact of Final Four run

“I don’t think the overall process has changed for us. I think everybody is paying attention more to what we’re doing. If you look at us, the way we played, I’ve always been known as a guy who is a guard’s coach and guards are gonna have a chance to have a lot of freedom, but now post guys are looking at me. DJ Burns changed the way Kevin Keatts coaches. We threw the ball inside so many times. I think from a recruiting standpoint, we’re still recruiting the same guys we typically recruit.”

Keatts’ impression of the returning players

“Our returners have swag now. We put them against the new guys a few times and the difference in the new guys — they’re so talented, but, here’s the thing, they never played together. Those guys have swag. Michael’s running around. He’s making all types of shots. Ben’s picking and popping. Dennis Parker — who didn’t get a chance [to play] because he was under the weather, but watching it, and understanding how important it was, and how we looked — those guys are playing on a high level right now. The way we keep [the success] is the other guys have to follow what they’re doing.”

Who is developing into a team leader

“Michael (O’Connell). It took Michael, it took him all year long. He said something in the ACC Tournament and I looked around like, ‘Who’s that?’ He was just so quiet.”

The example returners are showing

“We play so hard and we compete. We don’t do everything right all the time, but when we get cooking, we’re pretty darn good. The reason why is because we play so hard. With those guys here, our returners are setting the tone for the other guys to show them how we compete here. We’ve got guys coming from a lot of different programs and some great coaches and they do things in a different way.”

On UNC and Georgetown transfer Dontrez Styles

“He’s going to be really good. We recruited him for five years. Then he realized that we were the best place for him after winning the ACC Championship and going to the Final Four. I think he likes that part of it. He’s kind of a four-man that can play some three and four and really can shoot it.”

Whether anyone can replace DJ Burns

“If you watch the Summer League, there’s only one team that throws the ball inside and it’s the Cavaliers. I will say this, he’s a throwback and he’s completely different. At some point, we made a decision during the season that it was important to play through him, so we essentially had two point guards on the floor. We had Michael O’Connell and DJ (Horne) and all of the guards were getting so mad they couldn’t get any assists. He’d catch the ball at the 3-point line, he’s dribbling six times and then he’s making all the assists. We decided to make him the point guard and Michael O’Connell the center, so Michael made all the shots and DJ kind of passed to him.

“I don’t have that. We’ll never have that again. Ben (Middlebrooks) and Brandon (Huntley-Hatfield) are both pick-n-pop guys. They both want to shoot the ball from 3.

“I will never coach a guy that plays like him and has the personality. I might get the personality, but, in today’s game, we’ll never get one of those guys that plays like him.”

Six former NC State players in NBA Summer League

“I’m talking to those guys constantly, texting them and just, you know, encouraging them. I don’t have any advice because I’m not their coach now, so do whatever your coaches are asking, but I can be there to support them. I’m sitting there, I think it was like 10:45 or 11 o’clock, and I’m like a proud papa.”