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Look we all know this year the focus is on system and learning to play together. I like the hustle and effort and if we get that for the entire season I will be very happy. It will takes KK until year three to have a pretty competitive team on the floor.
Watching this game I am thinking it will be a long year.
When a bad team loses its top three scorers, the next year is nearly always going to be a long one.
Bill,
It is early and I would expect the team to improve. Hopefully substantially. Those are just my first impressions.On a night when the offense was sluggish/out of sync, they pulled away by creating opportunities on DEFENSE! The previous 5 years this game would have come down to the wire and may have even been a loss. I hope they’re good enough to at least make the bubble, but I’m going to enjoy watching the defensive effort and a selfless offense regardless of the results this year.
I have always thought this style has a Sweet 16 ceiling. Other than one Arkansas team, that has proven to be true. I do think teams with a lot of one and drones may be more vulnerable to this style than experienced teams.
I am tempted to agree. There have been others – Kentucky played this way with Pitino, so did Providence (with Pitino), and Louisville won a championship. I do think, if you are going to play this way, you better be able to score in bunches – because most “good” teams simply aren’t going to give up the ball enough to beat them. As ugly as it is to watch, the UVa/Butler style of defending is more likely to yield solid results (but it also has its own post-season pitfalls because most talented kids don’t want to play this style.)
It’s going to be interesting to see what we do when Abu comes back. We shouldn’t expect too much though for a while – Abu is going to have to get in shape – and these injuries tend to linger.
The biggest thing he does is give us that explosive presence that really can do a lot of damage in Keatts system…and yep, gives us so much more offensive firepower, rebounding, and open ups options for Keatts which are limited right now.
Several well respected coaches, including Bennett, have commented that Keats’s style of pressure is very different than what other teams have utilized in the past, like Richardson’s “40 minutes of hell” or Smart’s, etc. I don’t think you can really adequately look to the past, and project how successful Keats will be, this year or in following years.
When Richardson was running 40 minutes of hell, most teams were still using the traditional lineup of 2 guards, 2 forwards, and a big. And there weren’t frequently 4-5 capable ballhandlers on the court. Purnell had a little success at Clemson, but nothing to boast about. Smart’s team got hot, and that style of play can creep up on other squads in tournament play, if they’re not accustomed to playing against it, they lack depth, or quality ballhandlers.
But in a league like the ACC, where you’re going against some top teams and talent every night, and you’re facing rosters where there may be 4-5 guys on the court every night that can handle the ball, I’m also not convinced this style of play will work. But I’ll enjoy watching.
The hustle is great. We haven’t seen that in many years.
However in five years if he is not winning the style won’t matter.
Nonetheless, he has a system that had won every where he had gone. The only question is can he do the same at this level.All points right on especially that last one.
I wonder if people have already forgotten our recent past in basketball. The last two years of Gottball (and really the last four) were an example of doing less with more, marching steadily downward. Maybe NC State fans are just trained to be pessimistic but ere are some scores from early games the last three years:
– 2016-2017: 2 pt win against Georgia Souther, 25 pts against St Francis, 13 pts against Montana, beat down by Creighton, 10 point win against St. Joes, 2 pt win against Loyola of Chicago, beat down by Illinois, 4 point win against Boston University, OT win against Tennessee State…..– 2015-2016: beat down by William and Mary, 18 pt win against S. Alabama, 23 point win against IUPUI, 3 pt loss to Arizona State, 11 point win against LSU, 8 point win against Winthrop, loss to Michigan…. 3 point win against high point, 6 point win against UNC-G, 6 point win against Northeastern
– 2014-2015: 3 pt win against S. Florida, 6 point win against Boise State, loss to Wofford, 8 point win against Louisiana Tech
Are we already expecting more, and a 20 point win feels like a loss? I have to be honest that I kind of felt that way after game 2 because I felt like we only really played well as a team for about 5 minutes and that’s when we went on the big run. I’d love to feel that way and still win by 20+ as opposed to so many years of just mailing it in.
I flat out love this style of play. When Gary Williams really had things rolling at Maryland (and won the title), this is the style they were playing. It’s when he took the air out of the ball that things went the other way. This is a fun style to watch, a fun style for kids to play (which will help with recruiting), requires that everyone play (which helps with retention), and obviously works.
Are we going to take some lumps? Sure. We were an awful team the last 2 years, lost our top 3 scorers, have the 4th hurt right now, and are installing a whole new system with basically a new team. I’m not one for excuse mongering, but I would suggest realistic expectations (which even with my rose colored glasses are 3 non-conference losses and a .500 in league play).
When I watch the team, we seem like we’re 1-2 players away from being quite good. The pieces are coming together faster than I would have expected.
Bring on Bryant!
Pack streaks back from 12-14 pt deficit. Hicks and Beverly with the spark. Mr Hicks has been in the middle of good stretches in back to back games
The nice thing to see in the first half was after the bench had the big run to erase the deficit, the starters came in and they had corrected their defensive rotation errors from earlier. Hicks looks good. He has improved a lot.
Keatts coaches guys on little things at every TO. Haven’t seen that on the State sidelines in a while.
We’re going to get blown out of the gym a lot this year, but we will be a lot better in March than we are now.
I’ve seen three games and already feel confident that Keats is superior to Gott. I like his style and disagree with those who find it gimmicky with a ceiling. The press works well in half court so don’t need to full court superior teams.
Bobby Huggins does it best. His teams only ceiling is based on the talent he can recruit to WV. NC State gets better recruits. Hang on boys we may be a perennial top 25 program soon.
I don’t think it’s gimmicky. It’s good, solid, hard-nosed hustle.
What does concern me is the lack of defensive effectiveness at times. This is what concerned me when I saw UNC-W play last season. Big guys driving to the basket undefended. Saw it a few times tonight.
I still feel better about Keatts then when I posted that he wasn’t the coach for us a few months ago. But tonight I had flashbacks to that Elon game I attended last year, and in a lot of ways it looked similar.
Still like Keatts. I think he can be as effective a recruiter as Gott, and I feel he is a better coach. But I’d really like to stop seeing this pattern of lousy defense against big guys on the perimeter; guys that your personnel ought to be able to stop from driving to the basket.
Positive
Hustle. We play hard all the time
KK is always teaching and coaching. Never saw Gott do that.
Players never complain about calls.
KK has a plan and system that has workedNegatives so far
Poor defensive fundamentals at times
We don’t have the shooters to rely on the three ballThis team is more fun to watch than Gotta ever where.
Rick – he can’t find the defensive fundamentals in this team overnight.
Like I said, I can already see improvement in how kids are denying the basketball, taking better angles, not doing as many stupid reach fouls.
Regarding pressure, the problem is that this creates opportunities for teams that can handle the pressure. My concern is that pressure doesn’t tend to bother good teams that much. (When I played and coached I loved facing it because I knew lots of easy shots were available if you took care of the ball.
WVA and Louisville do the best job with this type of D abd sustain it in the half court and on the boards.
Missed the game and ya’ll last night…
Some of ya’ll know, It’s that time of year when Choir practice lasts forever….
Anyway, Team Defense ain’t ever gonna be a quick thing with new kids..
but all three of the early opponent have made as many or more Turnovers as they have Fields Goals…And it that young offense is averaging around a 100 a night…
That’s NOT bad….
No… those number won’t hold up in conference play… but they’re a good start…
It also appears we’re gonna see 9-10 guys play every game and the only one who can’t find the hot hand is Kirk…
Ya’ll have a good day… I gonna be in the truck riding around taking soil tests..
See ya!
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Just keep in mind that last year we were treated to watching that fat BJ Anya shuffle down the court like a heart Attack was coming. Keats is the man!
We’re going to get blown out of the gym a lot this year
We don’t have the shooters to rely on the three ball
I only saw the second half, but I wasn’t impressed with the half court offense. Hopefully things will improve when Abu gets back.
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