NC State Basketball: New coach, new year bring opportunity for Wolfpack

By John Woodcock | Jul 26, 2017

CHAMPAIGN, IL - NOVEMBER 29: Markell Johnson /

NC State Basketball has a chance to catch the rest of the ACC by surprise if they can undo the mistakes of last year.

There are a lot of unknowns heading into the ACC college basketball season. Is this Jim Boeheim’s last year? Did the Tar Heels lose too much from the 2017 title team? Did Duke add enough impact freshmen? Will the Wake Forest core group survive the loss of John Collins?

Every team has its own issue, but there is one team poised to make a move in the conference during this time of uncertainty.

That team is the NC State Wolfpack. The Pack have labored the last few years in the underachievement of the Mark Gottfried roster. At times it seemed like the team was ready to break out, and other times it seemed like the team was ready to implode.

In both, it was never an issue of talent on the roster.

Last year the team appeared unable to break whatever ceiling seemed to exist and that is mostly a result of Gottfried’s coaching. He took a team with tournament experience on its roster and added the future number eight pick in the 2017 NBA Draft (Dennis Smith, Jr.), and that went nowhere. The trouble signs were on the horizon early as BeeJay Anya was overweight all season long. It showed a lack of passion.

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Passion is one of things that brought Kevin Keatts over from UNC Wilmington. The former Louisville assistant quickly turned the Seahawks into conference champions with a strong recruiting touch and the ability to get the most out of his players. His style mimicked the famous pressing defense of Rick Pitino.

Keats quickly brought his energy to campus and found converts. Torin Dorn, a former Charlotte transfer, was excited about the arrival of the new coach. Omer Yurtseven decided to return to campus. Terry Henderson tried to get a sixth year of eligibility to play on this team but failed. Instead, a couple of graduate transfers joined the team, as did injured senior Lennard Freeman.

A month from now, Keats will take this group (minus Yurtseven) to Italy to play some exhibition ball. There he will try to mold this roster into his image. Which brings us back to the coming season. Why should NC State, a team that lost its top three scorers, move into contention for a bye or two in the ACC Tournament?

The answer lies in the underachievement of last year. State left so much basketball on the court. Yes, the point guard will be Markell Johnson and not Smith. However, there were times that State was content just to let Smith do whatever. Freeman will bring a hard-nosed rebounder back into the post rotation. Then there is Yurtseven, who wants to make a big impression on NBA scouts sooner rather than later. Keats can give them the management that they sorely needed last year.

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Of course, the other factor is the rest of the league taking a step back. Wake Forest, UNC, Virginia, Louisville, and others could all be more beatable this season. A combination of the two should bring the Wolfpack back into the upper half of the league this upcoming season.

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