Kevin Keatts is a winner. Is NC State a top-25 team?
Kevin Keatts cared about winning against No. 7 Auburn on Wednesday night but not because of how it could potentially affect N.C. State’s position in the national rankings.
“When they hand out a 1,000 shirts that say, ‘Kevin Keatts is a winner,’ you better win that game or that shirt is not going to be good,” Keatts said.
No problem. On the night the school gave away t-shirts with Keatts’ likeness and his catchphrase, the Wolfpack made its coach look good with a 78-71 win over the Tigers. Markell Johnson scored a career-best 27 points but for the most part the Wolfpack (10-1) won with defense.
Auburn turned the ball over 25 times and made 20 percent of its 3-point shots (5 of 25).
“I thought we fought for 40 minutes, that’s what I’ve been asking them to do,” Keatts said. “It was a great program win for us and we want to continue to build on this.”
As for how a win over a top-10 team might bring some national attention and a spot in the top 25, Keatts was less concerned.
“If it happens, it happens,” Keatts said. “Honestly, and I said this before the game —and I know you guys don’t believe this — I really don’t care about rankings. If I’m in the top 25, OK. If I’m not, OK.
“I just look at the end ranking when it’s time to pick the teams for the NCAA and I want to give our team the opportunity to win the ACC regular season and tournament.”
Keatts has some cause for skepticism. The Wolfpack did not crack the top 25 last season despite wins over Arizona (No. 2), Duke (No. 2), North Carolina (No. 10), Clemson (No. 19) or Florida State (No. 25).
Keatts now has a 5-3 mark against teams in the top 25, including a 4-1 record against the top 10, in two seasons at N.C. State.
With Duke and North Carolina constantly in the national spotlight, there is a tendency for national media types to only pay attention to N.C. State when it has a coaching search.
“Are you sure we’re going to get national exposure?” Keatts asked, half-joking.
“I think we’ll be fine. We’re going to stay in the moment. I’m going to take their phones away so they can’t pull up Twitter and Instagram. Some of you guys who still use Facebook, I won’t let you Facebook them and all of that other stuff.”
N.C. State hasn’t been ranked in the AP or coaches’ poll since the 2012-13 season. A 79-78 home loss to Miami (as the No. 19 team in the AP poll) on Feb. 2, 2013 is the last time N.C. State was ranked.
Strength of schedule has been a sticking point for the Wolfpack, in particular this season. It has played (and beat) five teams in the 300s of the KenPom rankings. It also has wins over three Power 5 teams. Penn State (No. 43 in KenPom) beat Virginia Tech earlier this season. Vanderbilt (No. 56) beat Arizona State this week. Both Virginia Tech and Arizona State were ranked in the top 25 this week.
N.C. State’s strength of schedule ranks No. 348 in the country (out of 353 teams), according to KenPom. Texas Tech (10-0), No. 12 in the AP poll, is the only team that ranks below N.C. State in SOS (No. 350) and is ranked in the top 25.
The Wolfpack hosts USC-Upstate (4-8, No. 327 KenPom) on Saturday. The new AP rankings will come out on Monday. N.C. State is No. 8 in the NET rankings, the tool the NCAA will use to select and seed teams for the tournament. The Wolfpack checks in at No. 21 in the KenPom rankings.
This story was originally published December 20, 2018 at 12:10 PM.
