I was recently asked, how does NC State fourth-year head coach Kevin Keatts rate as a developer of talent?

It’s certainly a limited sample size, but my answer is simple: I think so far it looks pretty good.

That may be hard to see during a tough season like the one the Wolfpack is currently enduring, but hear out the evidence, first.

• Guard Markell Johnson averaged 4.0 points, 2.3 assists and 0.9 steals per game while playing 20.4 minutes per contest in 30 games, including three starts, as a freshman, which was the last season that Mark Gottfried coached for the Wolfpack.

The following year, the first for Keatts, Johnson averaged 8.9 points and a league-high 7.3 assists to go with 1.7 steals. As a junior, Johnson contributed 12.6 points, 4.2 assists and 1.1 steals while shooting a career-best 48.8 percent from the field, including 42.2 percent on threes, and 74.7 percent at the line.

Johnson made 12 of 48 three-pointers as a freshman. That junior year, he was 68 of 161.

Although a shooting slump as a senior diminished some of his numbers, he still averaged a career-best 12.8 points and 1.9 steals and was leading the ACC with 6.8 assists when the season was shut down prematurely. He was named second-team All-ACC.