Kevin Keatts ‘still trying to figure out’ who’s on NC State’s roster

New N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts was on Jon Rothstein’s “College Hoops Today” podcast on Tuesday.

Keatts covered some familiar ground about his start on the job and talked for about 13 minutes (starts at the 6:35 mark, ends at 19:09).

The most interesting part was when Rothstein asked Keatts about his impressions of the players he inherited from former coach Mark Gottfried.

Keatts didn’t go into any detail about specific players but rather mentioned the obvious point about not knowing who will be in place for the 2017-18 season.

N.C. State is still waiting on forwards Ted Kapita and Omer Yurtseven, who entered the NBA draft without hiring an agent, and from the NCAA on guard Terry Henderson’s sixth-year waiver.

“I’m still trying to figure out who’s on the roster,” Keatts said. “If you ask me that question two weeks from now, I’ll probably have a better answer.”

With those three players in limbo, N.C. State has five open scholarships. The Wolfpack is in play for three transfers — Devon Daniels (Utah), C.J. Bryce (UNCW) and Sam Hunt (North Carolina A&T).

Hunt, a 6-2 guard from Greensboro, is the only graduate transfer in the group and would be the only one who would be eligible to play right away. Hunt led the Aggies with 12.7 points per game last season.

Bryce, a 6-5 guard from Charlotte, was the leading scorer (17.4 points per game) for Keatts’ UNCW team this past season as a sophomore. He would have two years of eligibility left but would have to sit out the 2017-18 season.

Daniels, a 6-5 guard, averaged 9.9 points as a freshman for the Utes and would have three seasons of eligibility but would have to sit out the upcoming season.

Keatts didn’t mention any of the transfers (not that he can under NCAA rules) in the interview. He just said the roster was “a work in progress” and “we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

As for adding more high school recruits to the class – guard Lavar Batts is the only one currently – Keatts repeated what he said at his introductory press conference.

“I don’t want to take a kid, just to take a kid to fill a roster spot,” Keatts said. “I want to make sure that they fit the culture of the school and the way we play.”

This story was originally published May 9, 2017 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Kevin Keatts ‘still trying to figure out’ who’s on NC State’s roster."