DALLAS – North Carolina State coach Kevin Keatts knows something about sharks.
He swims among them in his state in the Atlantic Coast Conference with six-time national champion North Carolina and five-time national champ Duke each about 25 miles away in slightly different directions.
He works among sharks, who may have fired him by now, had he not got his team to win five games in five days to win the ACC Tournament two weeks ago for the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. No. 11 seed North Carolina State (25-14) has won three straight in the tournament and is now one win away from reaching its first Final Four since the 1983 national championship.
And guess who the Wolfpack plays in order to do that? Why No. 4 seed and neighbor Duke (27-8) on Sunday (5:05 p.m., CBS) in American Airlines Center.
North Carolina State coach Kevin Keatts during his No. 11 seed's 67-58 upset loss to No. 2 Marquette on Friday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. , got into an argument with the referee. (Photo by Carmen Mandert/Getty Images)
“It's funny, I was thinking about that last night. Well, we both could have flown home and played this game somewhere in North Carolina. Maybe it would have been a good idea to do it at PNC. “I guess,” he said Saturday at the NCAAs. Southern region press conference.
PNC Arena is North Carolina State's home arena. Call this your team's personal shark tank.
North Carolina State coach Kevin Keatts loves 'Shark Tank'
No wonder Keats' favorite TV show happens to be “Shark Tank.” This is a business reality show that basically features entrepreneurial contestants trying to sell their business models to five carnivorous venture capitalists.
“I think you have to carve out your own space, just like anywhere else,” he said of the difficulty of finding a niche at NC State, which is so close to the ultimate blue bloods, NC State and Duke. When asked, Mr. Keats said:
“I'm obsessed with 'Shark Tank,' and I watch it all the time,” he said. “And they talk about getting shelf space and how to put products on the shelves and everything else. One of the things I always said when I got this job was that I was compared to Duke and Carolina. It's just that I didn't want to.'' “I'm not me. We do things a little differently.''
It was a different path to go just 17-14 in the regular season and 9-11 in the ACC.
“But we did a good job,” he said. “Right now, we're doing well because we've carved out a space. And we're doing things our own way and we're not trying to be someone else.”
And North Carolina State officials were considering the possibility of waiving the 51-year-old Keatts ahead of the team's appearance in the ACC Tournament, resulting in a two-year extension to his contract. He came to NC State in 2017 after leading North Carolina vs. Wilmington to two NCAA tournaments. He is making his third NCAA Tournament appearance with the Wolfpack, his first two ending in first-round exits in 2018 and last year.
“I'm never worried about that,” he said. “Whatever is going to happen is going to happen.”
Kevin Keats just kept swimming
So he just kept swimming.
“I was going to do everything in my power to make everything right by those young men,” he said.
Now, it’s all gravy, right? NC State is playing with “house money” because it is the worst seed remaining in the tournament. mistaken.
![Kevin Keatts went from being in the spotlight at North Carolina State University to winning an ACC championship in a two-year extension.](https://images.outkick.com/static.outkick.com/www.outkick.com/content/uploads/2024/03/668/376/GettyImages-2090250292.jpeg?ve=1&tl=1)
![Kevin Keatts went from being in the spotlight at North Carolina State University to winning an ACC championship in a two-year extension.](https://images.outkick.com/static.outkick.com/www.outkick.com/content/uploads/2024/03/668/376/GettyImages-2090250292.jpeg?ve=1&tl=1)
North Carolina State coach Kevin Keatts celebrated his team's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament with a win over North Carolina in the ACC Tournament championship game on March 16 in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)
“We don’t think of it as house money,” he said. “We didn't come here to say, 'We've won enough, so just go out there and play and we have nothing to lose.'” “We think we have something to lose. We came here to win, so we're not counting on that. Of course, we understand what that looks like when you come in as a No. 11 seed and you're in the Elite Eight.” But honestly, they're here to win.”
And they dance and sing all the way to the bank. But they are free not for the money at home, but for the music.
“Oh, that's strange. We're loose,” Keats said. “We listen to a lot of music. I grew up in an era where there were great rappers and great rap songs. I know we have a lot of songs, but so many different songs. , we learned different rap songs like I've never seen before. Here's another thing: We just don't listen to rap. On game days, when we come home from shootaround, we sing gospel songs. We put on music, and we make as much noise as we do.'' “Like a rap song. They know every word to every word. We're free.''
And for now you can swim freely.