N.C. State’s Kevin Keatts: ‘This is way bigger than basketball’
Just like the rest of the country, Kevin Keatts is spending a lot of time at home these days.
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed the country on hold and things at N.C. State are no exception. Keatts hasn’t been around his team since the ACC tournament a few weeks ago. The day the Wolfpack were set to take on Duke in the quarterfinals the tournament was canceled and the same happened with the NCAA tournament shortly after.
Since then the members of the team have been in limbo. In an ideal situation, Keatts would like to be preparing for an NCAA tournament game. But he’s reduced to his home office, having daily zoom meetings with players, staff and administration.
How long will this last? Only time will tell. But Keatts and the rest of his team, like everyone else in the country, has had to adjust.
On Monday, N.C. State started online classes and Keatts met with players, via zoom, to stress the importance of getting back into “the academic mode of it.” He’s also been in constant contact with the five members of his class of 2020, keeping them updated on what’s going on.
“Just making sure everyone understands that this is a tough situation,” Keatts said, “This is way bigger than basketball, but we’ll all get through it.”
NEXT YEAR
Four seniors played their last game on March 11, a 73-58 win over Pittsburgh in the ACC tournament. When Markell Johnson, C.J. Bryce, Pat Andree and Danny Dixon walked off the floor at the Greensboro Coliseum, they probably thought they had a lot more basketball in front of them.
They had one game for sure, a rematch with Duke the next day. Beyond that, maybe a run to the ACC title and a spot in the Big Dance. Worst case, another trip to the NIT was around the corner.
But all that changed in less than 24 hours. Keatts had to deliver the news to his seniors that they wouldn’t get a chance to chase that ACC title and later found out their N.C. State careers were over. The biggest hit will be losing Johnson, the starting point guard three seasons, and Bryce, the UNC-Wilmington transfer who led the team in scoring as a senior.
Keatts doesn’t know when his team will get back together, but he fully expects them to be intact whenever that happens.
“I don’t have any indications that anyone is not returning,” Keatts said. “After the season ended I had a conversation with pretty much every guy on our team, including the seniors, and the fifth year guys.”
Keatts did say that Devon Daniels and D.J. Funderburk will go through the process with the NBA. Underclassmen can declare, go through the draft process and return to school if they don’t hire an agent. The idea is to get feedback from NBA teams about their status.
Funderburk started 15 games and averaged 12.8 points and 6.8 rebounds. Daniels was arguably the team’s best offensive player the last month of the season. He averaged 12.7 points, boosting that number to 15.2 the last 11 games of the season.
At this time, with so much uncertainty, will there even be a process for them to go through?
“I don’t know how that process will look,” Keatts said. “I don’t even know if those guys will have some workouts. We’ll wait for that feedback to determine what happens with those two guys.”
Even though he expects everyone to return and has a big class coming in, Keatts hasn’t ruled out bringing in graduate transfers or adding players from the transfer portal. In case Daniels or Funderburk get good feedback from the NBA, the recruiting can never stop for Keatts.
“You have to continue to recruit,” Keatts said. “Just in case some of those situations happen.”
DAY TO DAY
Keatts said everyone should take a step back and put athletics on the back burner until we get through this ordeal.
But each day Keatts remains in constant contact with athletic director Boo Corrigan and chancellor Randy Woodson, just to try and figure out what’s next or what the future might look like.
“We get information and we get updates, at least one or two daily,” Keatts said. “As they find out they share with us.”
Keatts said he feels badly for seniors who played spring sports. He doesn’t know what’s going on with the recruiting calendar, but if he had to guess, there would be no recruiting in April. Keatts has spent most of his days at home, having zoom meetings and playing video games with his son, who won’t play him anymore because Keatts isn’t providing much of a challenge.
He has valued the time to be around his family more than he normally would in March. The latest craze on social media has become TikTok, mini music videos or dance routines that can be produced on your phone. The Keatts family has completed one, but the coach said it won’t be released just yet. Thursday was his night to cook and lasagna from scratch was on the menu.
Aside from failed dance videos and his famous dish, it’s still plenty of meetings with coaches and administration to keep him plenty busy.
“Even though you’re at home,”Keatts said. “It seems like you’re working every hour. That’s pretty good and that keeps me busy.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 4:07 PM.
