What’s Kevin Keatts plan for next season?

Corey Smith packed pride joining us here on the Adam Goldstone alongside Luis Fernandez.

I'm Dennis Cox Corey. Thanks for your time We've seen Ebenezer Diwana now is in the transfer portal We know turquavion Smith is likely going to go to the NBA darko joiner out of eligibility What's Keats gonna do again to get into the transfer portal to try and rebuild that backcourt once again? The biggest thing that you know that Kevin Keats can do this year is you know stick to the same plan that you had last year there's connections on this coaching staff obviously, there's connections with guys that they've gone after in the past as most people have noticed now at this point NC State is recruiting Dontress styles a former UNC player that you know happens to be You know a pretty popular name in the state of North Carolina. They went after him, please So that's a that's a guy that you know, they had a prior connection with and they recruited really hard out of high school So they're kind of going right back into that and that's that's I think what what they're gonna try to do this offseason is do That but also, you know go with the connections of the staff that they have all the three guys They brought in from last year that helped them to bring in, you know A lot of the guys they had this past offseason So Corey two-part question here one what fast-food establishment do you think Kevin Keats enjoys the most number one and two? We see the success that people like DJ burns and Jarkel joiner who have come in through the transfer portal at state You know, what? What does that do for a recruiting perspective for for the wolf pack as they, you know Continue to fill out this roster by going into the transfer portal again Yeah, if I had to go with fast food of choice for Kevin Keats, maybe Bojangles or maybe fillet one of the two That feels on brand. Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah. He's a pretty classy guy So we're gonna go with that with that but I mean, yeah You know the the big impact of this past offseason are bringing a guy like DJ burns in You know and several of the others that they had come in the big thing There is when you look at the the immediate impact that they had a guy like DJ burns You know that potentially has another year coming into this year the thing is when you when you get those kinds of guys and you get the you know, The the immediate fit that they have in your system and the scoring that they had That I think helps to attract other players too because you look back at this past offseason They had to basically start from scratch and find new guys And that was that was what they're able to come up with somehow or another The thing is going into this offseason, you know, they're more organized as far as NIL is concerned It was there was some disorganization last offseason and trying to get things together But you know now that you show off what you were able to do with guys like DJ burns And you know, obviously Jack Clark in a limited capacity do sama-hortridge in a limited capacity That makes it more attractive for transfers to come in to How does the coach like Keats really any other coach? I asked this to Ross Martin earlier of inside Carolina How does the coach balance? bringing in freshmen Guys that you can develop Versus for example like a Traquego smithy an impact guy as a freshman and as a sophomore versus Supplementing the roster with the portal because you could play the portal game every single year You could turn over your roster six seven eight new guys every year if you want to but also at the same time It's six seven eight new guys every year and it's hard to have continuity in that regard How does it doubt is Keats or any any other coach balance? Bring you in the freshman having guys in your program for several years to keep your culture and finding the guys that fit the program Delicately is the best way to say it.

That's a that's the best term. I've heard use that honestly Yeah, cuz honestly, you know you look at what NC State for example NC State is bringing in next year and they only have two guys that they have coming in and those were replacing the two obvious Scholarships they had that were gonna be gone The way they've done it this season is you knew that your Quavion Smith you knew that Jarkelle Joyner were gonna be gone You expected Dushan the Hortons to be gone, but it doesn't sound like he's necessarily Gonna be leaving simply because of the fact that you have a chance for a medical waiver with him We'll see where that ends up leading. But you know, the big thing was they said, alright We're gonna bring in Trey Parker and Dennis Parker to top, you know, 75 guys for next year You have a dynamic player in Trey Parker that they feel like can help them You know, if not next year down the road and then Dennis Parker is another guy that you know Coming from a state champion program up in Virginia. He's been loaded for several years He's a really strong scorer played in the MBPA top 100 last year and showed out there So you're bringing in guys that you feel like can immediately help you in that sense And you know, so you have to balance that with the fact that you know You're gonna you know, you just have to look at your roster makeup Who are you who's leaving who's supposed to be coming in and that's what Keith's did this past offseason You knew that guys like Sean Phillips that you were hoping was going to come in Decommits and goes elsewhere. Well, alright, we know we need a big man Let's go out and find DJ burns and do some horses because those guys can replace Mandy Bates and Sean Phillips the Expectation of one coming off the bench and one being in the starting rotation So I think this offseason that's exactly what they're gonna do again is is fill those voids that you have with Inexperience, you know as of right now and try to build that in experience So that by the time you get there You can actually be able to kind of figure out what your roster makeup is gonna be For each and every single season like again example LJ Thomas for NC State this past offseason Really developed, you know wasn't able to get on the court a ton But the hope is that you get him back next season and he can be you know A really really key player at that, you know that shooting guard rotation Do you go out and find somebody that can immediately fill the void that to Quavion Smith left or do you say? Hey, we we get somebody that can be in competition with him to step in and take that void That's a great example of that because he did really take advantage of the opportunities that he did get even though there weren't as many Out there.

So, okay. Let's let's look at state as a whole like big picture type thing right now All right, so you come in this year over perform. I think a lot of people's expectations for this Wolfpack team You get to the NCAA tournament again and you get a tough draw in that first round go a team against Creighton who you know We've seen making the sweet 16 now What do you see this NC State team? How do they take that next step as a program under Keats? I know that's a very big picture question.

But what does that look like? Yeah, you know, I think the next step this upcoming year is, you know, not only getting back to the NCAA tournament But you know winning a game making a run potentially trying to get to a sweet 16, you know It's it's funny because we talked about this last offseason and it was you know All the questions were what does NC State needs to do to be able to you know For Keats to be off the hot seat and it was make the instill bit tournament and that seemed like, you know Such a distant thing based off of going 11 and 22 to 11 and 22 last season And then turning things around this season I think the expectation going into this year is to make the instill bit tournament again get a higher seed You know compete for the ACC championship Which is hopefully what you can do if you're able to bring in You know the types of guards that they're hoping to bring in and retain the players that they're hoping to retain So I do think there's a chance to be able to compete there and then at the same time You know try to get to the instill bit tournament again, you know get a higher seed, you know somewhere around I don't know somewhere between like a five and seven would be Obviously great because you have a much better match up there a team that you feel like you can beat And hopefully don't run into a Creighton team. That should have been a three seed Ended up being a six seed or knows if I succeed Yeah, you ended up being a three seed and and will more than likely make the elite eight and push for a final four so Corey Smith pack pride joining us here in the out of gold show with Luis Fernandez. I'm Dennis Cox We've seen Ebenezer Diwana is going into the transfer portal. Do you expect anyone else to be going into the portal or This guy like Casey Morsell DJ burns used her final years of eligibility and stay at state Yeah, I think a couple others will you know, I mean at least one right now But the thing is for NC State you have to go into, you know retain mode at this point Yeah, like you said Casey Morsell is a key player that they hope to get back DJ burns is another one that you know slipped up after the ACC or after the the NCAA tournament loss and said You know will be back next year Wouldn't definitively say that he was going to be back but you know did put himself in the the we conversation with the next year So yeah, you know, I do think you're gonna have at least one more go in and you know It's interesting because we we talked about this and we try not to talk about it in Definitive when it comes to you know, the transfer portal simply because of the fact that it could change based off of you know Who you get and and where guys see themselves in the pecking order, you know If you go out and you get a you know, another top line guard that can score You know 16 to 18 points and a guy like Breon pass or LJ Thomas looks at that and says hey I don't see myself in the rotation. They could enter themselves in the portal even if it weren't expecting to so I just think it's such a fluid situation that it's hard to really say, you know put a number on it right now But I do know the big thing for NC State too And we don't even talk about this is the fact that they get the extra scholarship this upcoming year you get that back That's right.

That's really this past season. So there is an extra spot to fill as well So they can go out with with some fluidity and know that hey, we have this one to burn But we also know that there's going to be a couple others that you know That might be gone and maybe to want to kind of starting that process. Hey, I do That's a good point. Do you think about how to get that scholarship back? how willing is NC State to play I like to call it play the NIL game in terms of using NIL money Not only to maybe again. I know you're not supposed to use it to entice recruiting and all that stuff. Let's be real How much are they willing to use NIL and their collective to? Not only get recruits in that are freshmen, but to get some of these guys out of the portal like hey You can come get this certain amount of money through our collective and then you have the potential to earn more during your time here Like DJ Burns, I don't know how much he got from the NIL collective to come to state But I I'm for darn sure that he probably is making more than when he initially was Starting off because the guy has become a star and face of the program or one of them I should say how willing is NC State to quote-unquote play the game? Yeah, I mean, I think they're very willing they were they were very willing last year to do it The unfortunate part is, you know things like the pack of wolves collective, you know, Savage Wolves another one that's emerged here recently There's several others that are out there, you know, there's a company that's called obsessed That's working with the baseball team right now and putting the other, you know, meet the back day for them The big thing for NC State was like I said earlier. It just wasn't very organized last year And yeah, you know they were having to depend very heavily on those connections and you know Jarkel joined her coming over from Ole Miss You know Levi Watkins was his coach there previously, you know Jack Clark was a guy that that knew the NC State program pretty well actually James Johnson got him before James Johnson left so, you know a couple of those guys came in through those connections the thing for like you said You know the big thing for NC State is you can not only say hey We're gonna give you this baseline from the collective But you can see the emergence of players like a Casey Morsell it took him two years But you know Casey Morsell even has had several, you know Several NIL opportunities because of a successful play after transferring from UVA, you know, obviously DJ burns the big one so you can not only go out there and say hey, this is what you're gonna get from us, but You know that you know Those opportunities are gonna come because out of the out of the you know, 10 to 12 players that might actually get on the court You have a pretty good shot of being One of the key faces of this team if you get into the starting rotation Let me ask you this core because it does sound like there's a little bit of you know smoke in this situation Don tres styles should he choose to come to NC State? What how would how would that make you feel? What do you what do you think that does from a rivalry perspective for UNC and state? How would that make me feel? No, I mean, it's you know, the the big thing here I think a lot of people are putting a lot of stock into this like hey NC State just wants to poke you and see or Just want I mean, honestly Kevin Keats when he recruited Don tres styles back in the 20, I want to say 2020 class I believe it was that that whole, you know year is a blur But you know when they went out and recruited him it was to be you know A very similar fit to a guy like Darian Seabron alongside to Quavion Smith like they wanted him to be that kind of like Drive slash to the basket type of guy can play with the ball in his hands And you know can play defense and that's something that he actually did pretty well at UNC.

So While I think a lot of people are going. Oh, it's just because of the rivalry. They want Don tres styles No, they want Don tres styles because of the type of player They feel like he can be just like UNC wanted him for the type of player They felt he could be but I think they want to give him kind of that second chance And and no better place to do it than at NC State and be able to you know Potentially beat UNC with him in that rotation. So I do think there's a little bit more than just the you know The fact that it's a rivalry because man, they really love Don tres styles coming out of high school You know, obviously the shot needs to improve but now you've seen what a driving type of player can do in this Kevin Keats system You saw it with obviously with Darian Seabron a couple years ago You pair that with some shooters you pair that with a big man download that can score and suddenly that really opens up this offense Regardless of what that past school was for sure. It definitely it's a good fit It's a good fit for NC State for both for both parties. It is a good fit Corey Smith PAC pride give him a follow on Twitter at our Corey Smith