CHARLOTTE — NC State coach Kevin Keatts has a new group of transfers expected to transform what the Wolfpack will achieve this season.
Read below the Q&A from ACC Tip-Off with Keatts:
Question. Last year you guys were one of the best transition teams in the country. Is that something you guys want to do again, and do you think this team could be like that?
Kevin Keatts: Yeah, I think you've been listening in on my practice a little bit. We were good last year, and I didn't realize that until after the year. I think we were right at 15 points a game in transition. With this particular team, because we lost Jarkel Joiner, we lost Terquavion Smith. I would love to play a little bit faster than that. But we've got to run. We've got to figure out how to get some easy baskets as much as we can. So I would love to play that way.
Q. Talk to me a little bit about MJ Rice coming to North Carolina State. How important is a player of his caliber to be on State's squad, and then how important is it to get a kid from the triangle to NC State?
Kevin Keatts: Yeah, you know, I've known MJ Rice for at least five years and have followed him and recruited him and always admired the way he played. Super fast, very athletic, tough, gets in the paint. He can really finish around the basket. When he went into the portal we had a really good conversation about coming home. Here's an opportunity to play in front of your home crowd, your family and everything else, and he decided to come to NC State. Tremendous player, McDonald's All-American. I want you to think about that. He went to Kansas with the opportunity to play, and unfortunately it didn't work out in his favor. They had pretty good players who played in front of him. I think eventually you're going to see a guy that's hungry and has the opportunity to kind of show people what he's really about.
Q. Commissioner Phillips earlier today said that he's not in favor of inviting all 18 teams to the ACC Tournament. I wondered as a coach what your thoughts are on what the size of the tournament should be and if it would be good for bad not to have all the teams there.
Kevin Keatts: Well, I think we should invite everybody, and here's my thought on that. I think what makes — if I asked you guys and said, tell me what makes the NCAA Tournament so special, and everybody is going to say, when the 16 seed is able to beat the No. 1 seed, or 15-2. I just think when you play in a conference, somehow I hope that we can figure out how to let everybody go, even if it means extending Tuesday one game or even adding a Monday to it. You think about this now, we'll eventually get to 18 teams, and that 18th team has the opportunity to upset someone where they start on a Friday, and Saturday night they're in a championship. I just think it makes for a great story. I don't know where we will end up with that, and certainly whatever the presidents and the president and the AD and Professor Phillips decide is best, but if you're asking me personally, I'd love to see everyone go.
Q. Kind of feeding off the MJ Rice question from earlier, has there been any update at this point on his potential return to the team, and what would it mean to this team to have him back in the rotation, as well?
Kevin Keatts: Yeah, you know, MJ is back working out with our strength coach, Pat Murphy, and trying to get him into some type of basketball shape. Certainly you've seen him multiple times and he can play multiple positions. He's physical and can defend and everything else, so it would be very good to have him back into the rotation. There's no timetable. I don't know what that is. Everything is going to be a day by day situation. But he is doing some things with our strength coach.
Q. Going off of the fact that you want every team in the ACC when it expands to 18 to be in the ACC Tournament, what are your thoughts on the mega conferences now and the fact that we're ballooning to 16, 18, some trying to potentially get to 20?
Kevin Keatts: You know, I decided a long time ago not to even get involved with that. Like I have no idea what we're going to look like in two years, next year, the year after that. I didn't get — when I took the job at NC State I didn't get the choice to say whether I'm playing at Boston College or I'm going to Miami. I'm going to go wherever they tell me. It's just about that, a lot of the decisions as you guys know are based on football, and that's what it is, and it's revenue and it's everything else. I just want to do my part at NC State.
Q. This will be your seventh season as a head coach, but it's the seventh time that your leading scorer hasn't come back. I don't know if there's a question there?
Kevin Keatts: Are you trying to make me cry?
Q. I guess part of the question is, and I know it's the wrong way to put it, but how do you find peace with that? How do you get used to it? What is it about your rhythm as a head coach that still allows you to be successful knowing that that's what you're up against?
Kevin Keatts: Well, I'm an opportunity coach, and so though we lost Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner, I don't know which one was which. I know they were both around 17 points a game. I am really hoping — I hope they're listening a little bit. I'm hoping we can get something from DJ Burns. Maybe he can be the leading scorer or guy who's leading or Casey Morsell. It's an opportunity; in today's world you're going to lose some really good basketball players, and you've got to figure out what you're going to do.
We went out and we recruited seven transfers and one freshman. Maybe one of those guys can lead us and do it in a different way. I think we've got really two good veteran guys who had a really good year for us last year. One of the reasons why we made it to the tournament and won 23 games. But to answer your question, I didn't even know that until somebody — I got here and somebody told me that right now. Now that I know, I've got to start looking at that a little bit more. Maybe I need to cut back on some of those leading scorers' shots that they're taking.
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