Kevin Keatts: "I Like Where Our Guys Are Mentally"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts fielded questions from the media on the ACC's weekly teleconference.

Opening Statement...
Thanks for having me.

We just finished our third game yesterday of our three-game road swing and came out of it 2-1. I thought we did some good things during that swing. When you look at the way we played at Syracuse, I thought we play really well. Particularly we shot the ball well, making at least 11 threes in that game. I thought we had some guys who played and performed well. It was good to see some of the guys play better basketball.

Obviously we had a tough game yesterday at Boston College, but unfortunately at the end it didn't go our way. I thought we had a really good, inspirational second half where we played well and put ourself in a position to win.

You're obviously a team in a situation where you need to not just play well but win games here down the stretch if you're going to keep yourself in that NCAA Tournament discussion.  How is your group handling that pressure?
I thought we've played well as of late. Going on the road the last few games and being able to win two out of three says a lot about our guys right now.

We don't talk about it a lot because I'm not sure if those guys can handle that pressure right now. We really just try to concentrate on the next game, and we understand that coming down the stretch we've got some really good teams.

We're going to play against at least two of the teams that are above us in the top of the standings, and we understand that in order for us to be successful, to have the chance to advance, we've got to be able to win some of those games.

I like where our guys are mentally. Our league has a lot of parity in the league and us sitting at 7-7, we have some great opportunities right in front of us.

How many teams in the ACC do you think are NCAA caliber teams right now?
Look, I play in the league, and I think everybody can beat you and everybody should go.

I wish the committee would go back to taking a look at the eye test. This league is as good as any league in the country.   It's unfortunate, because when you look at the league from last year, we got less than 50% of our teams in, which was seven, and I thought the league deserved to get at least nine in last year.

Then when you look at this year, I think it's outrageous... everybody is saying that now we have three teams that are locked in and then a bunch of teams that are trying to get bids, and the most that you ever hear is a possibility of four or five out of 15 teams.

That’s not fair.  When you look around college basketball and compare this league to any other league in the country, I think we’d be fine.  I hope the committee definitely looks at all of our programs and looks at the fact that there is parity and there may not be a big-time superstar, but these guys, all of our teams that will get in the NCAAs are capable of making a big run in March.

You play Duke and you haven’t had much time since last game, but have you been able to look at them? What are your impressions?
Well, I think they're good.

I spent this morning watching some of their games, and when you look at them, they've got a little bit of everything. They have a really elite point guard who runs a show and one of the better defenders in the country... legitimate post play in Carey. When you add Cassius Stanley and Wendell to the mix... and the guards are come off the bench, they can beat you in a lot of areas.

They're long and athletic.  They get out in transition and play. It's a very good basketball team.

It will be a tremendous challenge and a tremendous opportunity for us, because in order to beat those guys, you have to play well. If you look at them on the season, there’s not many games where they haven't played well and many games where they haven’t won.

I just watched the Notre Dame game and Notre Dame was right in the game, but because of Duke's ability to score so quickly, the game kind of got out of control. That's what they can do. They can score quickly and you've got to try to control the game and make sure that you don't let it get away from you.

No Zion Williamson, but it seems this team is deeper than last season or perhaps several of his recent teams.
They may not have quote, unquote a Zion or big-time superstar, but they still have McDonald’s All-Americans who are really good basketball players. 

In some respect, it's made them probably a better overall team. When you played against the Duke team last year, even though it was tough to defend, you knew who you had to defend.  With these guys, on any given night these guys can be really good.

They are playing together... it seems like this is a close bunch and that happens when you need to depend on your teammate so much during the season.