Kevin Keatts: 'The way this story was written was unbelievable'

The NC State Wolfpack fell short of their ultimate goal, but Kevin Keatts recognizes his team’s run will live on for a long, long time.

After being written off several times throughout the 2023-2024 campaign, Keatts’ Wolfpack captured the ACC Tournament title, and rode that wave all the way to the Final Four. While their run ended there, the story NC State weaved over the last month will continue to inspire NC State into the future.

“It’s great. I mean, we have a story,” Keatts told the media, asked what the run NC State made means for the future of the Wolfpack. “When you’re in any sports, you want to have a story. Look at our story. I mean, the way this story was written was unbelievable because in order to win any championships, you have to have highs and lows. We started the season with great highs, in the middle there were some lows, but equally then some highs. At the end of the regular season there were lows. Look what this team was able to accomplish.

“I sit back, I just don’t know how you can win nine elimination games. I think all of those nine games, we only had one of them that was not a double-digit win, in the NCAA Tournament. These guys always believed. They trusted. Even when we wasn’t having success, they believed in me and they believed in the staff. They stuck together. They shut out all the outside noise with Internet and everything else, came out as champions.”

Sometimes it can be easy for Keatts to get lost among the tremendous coaches in college basketball. However, his impact won’t be soon forgotten by NCAA Tournament star DJ Burns, who waxed poetic about his coach earlier last weekend.

“I would say, man, he kind of changed the trajectory of what I had going on,” the NC State star center said. “I was up in Winthrop and didn’t really know how this was going to play out when I put my name in that portal. Honestly, I didn’t even at first think I was coming here.

“For this, it’s just an absolute blessing, and I think that man needs a lot more respect still.”

The run NC State made this past season could truly be the beginning of something special for Kevin Keatts and his Wolfpack. We’ll see how the program continues to build on it into the future.