NC State Basketball is in Program Purgatory

Photo credit: Steve Murphy / Inside Pack Sports

It’s crazy how quickly things can change in life and in sport. Heading into the 2024 ACC tournament, NC State was playing on Tuesday in Washington, DC as the 10-seed against a Louisville corpse. The Wolfpack had lost 10 of their final 13 games after a solid start to the season. In his 7th year at the helm with only 2 NCAA tournament appearances to show for, the rumblings were loud and clear: Kevin Keatts would need a miracle to keep his job. Of course we all know what happened next. Keatts got his miracle (Michael O’Connell’s buzzer beater in the semifinals vs Virginia), which allowed DJ Burns and DJ Horne to steal the hearts of America all the way to the Final Four. It was a magical March for NC State, and well worth it for a starving fanbase, but at what cost?

The program’s first ACC championship since 1987 alone kicked in an automatic extension for Keatts. That plus the Final Four run was validation for a tenure that up to that point had been solid, but lacked any real super high moments. You saw them immediately reap the benefits, getting a scheduling bump with non-conference games against Purdue, Kansas and Texas, along with the announcement of their first ever Maui Invitational trip next November. There was all of a sudden a ton of positive vibes and juice pumped in, but Keatts hasn’t been able to capitalize and it feels like they’re right back in the same spot.

While they got a noticeable scheduling bump, the same can’t be said for the portal and recruiting. NC State brought in some nice pieces; Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Mike James from Louisville, Dontrez Styles from Georgetown and Marcus Hill from Bowling Green. But none of those guys are necessarily needle movers, and James hasn’t even played a single minute this year due to injury. There are 3 true freshmen who all seem to have some promise but can’t consistently crack the rotation. They also returned 5 guys from last year’s squad, but all of them are better suited as role players and it’s shown this year.

After last night’s horrible loss to Virginia Tech, they’ve now blown two double-digit second half leads in ACC play. They were either tied or leading in the final minute at home against Texas and UNC, but lost both due to poor late game execution. Sure, you might not have the dudes, but a fair amount of blame can and should fall on coaching in those 4 losses that negatively swung their season.

So NC State was basically one week away from firing their coach, and now after the run, they find themselves 9-8 (2-4) with zero good wins and also zero optimism. They'll likely need another miracle to make the NCAA tournament. It’s crazy to say 10 months removed from the Final Four, but it feels like Keatts’ goodwill is already starting to run thin. I mean, you can’t fire a guy right after he just took you to the Final Four. You just can’t. But with poor roster construction once again and another middling squad, I’m not sure I see the vision for the path forward. Welcome to basketball program purgatory.