NC State hopes Final Four run gave it something to build off next season

GLENDALE, Ariz. — NC State has come a long way since graduate forward Casey Morsell, the Wolfpack’s longest-tenured starter under coach Kevin Keatts, arrived in Raleigh. The team went 11-21 (4-16 ACC) in his first season, and it seemed like the red and white was far away from competing for a national championship. 

But then things started to change. The Wolfpack made the NCAA Tournament a year ago, which marked the team’s first appearance in the Big Dance since Keatt’s first year in Raleigh. 

NC State followed that up with a rocky regular season this year, but it put together a remarkable run through the postseason. The Pack, which was 17-14 before the ACC Tournament, won nine straight games to win the league crown and make its first Final Four appearance since 1983. 

That momentum the Wolfpack was able to create is what it hopes it can continue moving forward after it raises its banners commemorating the season at PNC Arena next November. 

Graduate forward DJ Burns, the national sensation of March, thought this year’s team set the foundation for the future. 

“The city, we were just glad we could bring the [basketball] culture back to Raleigh and State fans,” Burns said. “They’ve been waiting a long time. We hope we gave them something they can build on next year.”

NC State’s run to the Final Four likely will provide momentum in the recruiting space to reload for next year’s team. The Wolfpack already boasted a top-60 recruit in four-star Paul McNeil, but now it will be able to have a little more pull in the transfer portal. 

In fact, that has already been seen by the Pack’s coaching staff. It landed Louisville transfer Brandon Huntley-Hatfield in the week leading up to the Final Four contest, signifying a destination for transfer portal recruits. Huntley-Hatfield, who played like the Cardinals’ best player for much of the season, might be just the beginning for NC State in that department. 

Wolfpack assistant Joel Justus noted the Wolfpack had seen an increase in interest from portal recruits after it beat 2-seed Marquette in the Sweet 16 in Dallas. 

“It’s a little bit easier to get return phone calls,” Justus told TheWolfpacker.com outside the team’s locker room at the American Airlines Center. “And when you call someone, they’re answering. I think we’ve got to do our job with these guys in that locker room and make sure they finish the season off. And then there will be time for the portal.”

While recruiting in the transfer portal, which will be key this offseason with one open scholarship spot at the moment, NC State hoped that the nine scholarship players with eligibility to return to the court will take this experience and use it moving forward.

Graduate guard Michael O’Connell, who arrived in the preseason from Stanford, thought the run was a pivotal teaching lesson on what a team’s bond can do when its back is against the wall.

“I guess the biggest thing for the team is to build off of that, come in and build up that team chemistry,” O’Connell said. “You’ve got to make sure we’re sticking with that. It was something that helped us down the stretch in that area. If we were winning or losing, we always stuck together and I think the biggest thing is getting back in the gym and getting better.”

NC State found a way to mesh eight new faces, five of which were used on a consistent basis during the Final Four run. Now, with most of the Wolfpack’s roster expected to return for next season, the red and white will continue to be able to build off that chemistry.

While the team’s connection is solid, the Wolfpack’s momentum from the Final Four run could continue through being on the national stage. It was the final ACC team left standing by the last weekend of the year, and it got there in a miraculous way.

For coach Kevin Keatts, the Wolfpack has a “story” now, and it wants to capitalize on that.

“When you’re in any sport, you want to have a story,” Keatts said. “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,” Keatts continued. “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 weren’t having success, they believed in me and they believed in the staff. They stuck together. They shut out all the outside noise with the Internet and everything else, and came out as champions.”

NC State learned a lot from its run to Phoenix and there was a sense of gratitude in the locker room afterwards.

Morsell, who has seen the rise of the NC State program firsthand, thought the Wolfpack’s trajectory will be sky high moving forward.

“I think this is huge for the program,” Morsell said. “One of the things I told the coaches was to keep going, build on this. NC State is in a great position, much better than when I came in. NC State has a bright future, so build on it, keep going. This university has all the resources and tools to hang a championship banner.”