Kevin Keatts showing who Kevin Keatts is... mediocre to bad at this level. Don't care though, that run last year was worth it.

1/16/2025 9:55:31 AM

I hope this isn't true, but I'm assuming when I'm an old man, I'll reconnect with old college-buddies and be like "Remember 2024, wasn't that fun!?!".

1/16/2025 10:10:05 AM

That one play near the end of the game near the goal/baseline when Hill tried to tie up the ball but he was clearly like 3 feet out of bounds (even Hellen Keller could’ve seen it), KK was barking at the refs for way too long afterwards saying it should have a been a jump ball. I’ve noticed he does this frequently, arguing overly obvious calls.

1/16/2025 10:50:32 AM

We can talk about his coaching and all that. But this roster just kinda sucks. Which is, of course, his responsibility.

1/16/2025 1:48:53 PM

Having BHH out the last two games hasn't helped.

I assume James would have made a difference this season?

1/16/2025 1:50:30 PM

Yea, woulda prob gone undefeated

1/16/2025 2:00:14 PM

Hang a banner

2024-2025 National Champs**

** assuming a healthy Mike James


I think it would be fine.

1/16/2025 3:56:44 PM

When we were up 15 vs VT I was thinking "at least we aren't one of the worst teams in the league......."

1/18/2025 8:14:11 PM

I will never understand the “we’re stuck with Keatts now” crowd. Oh no, we’re stuck with a coach that has proven he can win the ACC and go on a run in March!

I don’t mean that KK should have a lifetime contract and can never be fired or improved upon. But you always always always would take last year’s run with KK still as coach over firing him and not getting last year’s run and rolling the dice on a new coach. On Twitter and listening to Ovies + Giglio there seems to be people that genuinely believe we’d be better off long term to have fired KK before the ACCT last year. I don’t get that.

To be clear, I think KK deserves plenty of criticism for this year and throughout his tenure. But we are unequivocally better off by having not fired him midseason or pre ACCT last year. Last year’s run didn’t solve all of his flaws as a coach. But it also proved that he’s capable of going on a run and coaching elite level basketball. That’s something no coach here has been able to say since Valvano.

The frustrating part is not (yet) parlaying last year’s run into better talent and a higher floor.

1/19/2025 1:29:00 PM

I really like TRT analysis

https://www.trinityroadtimes.com/post/kevin-keatts-and-the-application-of-basketball-philosophy


https://www.trinityroadtimes.com/post/examining-kevin-keatts-end-of-game-play-calls

Long story short our players are no good

1/20/2025 6:32:31 PM

Bttt

1/25/2025 1:21:59 PM

Hill and McNeil helped us claw back into this game. Then Hill sits on the bench from 4:30 to 2 mins. And McNeil sits on the bench from 4:30 to :30. It makes no sense

1/25/2025 2:00:49 PM

I suspect Hill is actually part of the issue, especially at the end of games. He can drive to the paint really well, and pads his stats at the rim on fastbreaks or when the defense gets lazy. But he's too damned short/small to finish well against ACC players when the defense is dialed in. Defenses are just collapsing in and then he almost always takes a shot, no matter how bad it is. Once he gets in the paint, he rarely passes and isn't great at drawing a foul either.

Would love to have seen McNeil in there taking a quick 3 at the end though -- if nothing else the dude was showing he could draw the defender in for a foul, which would have been the perfect play with 18 seconds left. That end of game sequence was so bleh. Do we even have a quick-fire 3 point inbound play? Do we even have a playbook?

1/25/2025 2:52:35 PM

He actually does finish well against ACC players at the rim though. The problem is we have no one who can shoot. Also it's not his fault refs don't blow the whistle when he does get fouled.

Also why would Hill pass off his drives when he's the most effective scorer on the team and literally no one can fuckin shoot?

1/25/2025 2:58:36 PM

Hill definitely is limited but he’s our only reliable scorer. The problem is he’d be way better as your #3 scoring option. Not the #1 guy.

Styles and MOC are significantly worse shooters than they were last year. Dennis Parker hasn’t shown a ton of improvement. He’s a fine energy and defense guy, but doesn’t show much skill offensively. Mike James hasnt played all year and he was supposed to be one of our top scorers. This is just a roster full of role players. No shooters, no game changers, no go to guys.

At the end of the game Styles and Taylor both had decent looks at 3. They just bricked them. Feels like the issue is just poor roster construction rather than KK doesn’t know how to draw up plays

1/25/2025 3:03:07 PM

MOC was an awful shooter last year until the last 10 games. Like under 30% awful. Then he hit>50% in the postseason. He's always been a bad shooter and he shouldn't play 10 minutes a game, much less 30+

1/25/2025 3:05:14 PM

Yeah idk if the stats I’m looking at include postseason or what. But he was 37.5% on 3. But yeah he was way better in March.

1/25/2025 3:10:21 PM

I mean college stats aren't separated, but if you go back through the game logs the difference is striking. Also he was a 30% or less shooter for his entire career before his little heater to end last year. He just isn't a good shooter.

He was 14/49 prior to the acc tournament (28.6%) and 16/31 (51.6%) in the 10 games in the acc/ncaa tournament. He shot 30.1% during his 3 years at stanford.

1/25/2025 3:20:01 PM

Quote :

"Also it's not his fault refs don't blow the whistle when he does get fouled."

That's part of the game though, players that are good at drawing fouls do things that help them get the whistle

Quote :

" Also why would Hill pass off his drives when he's the most effective scorer on the team and literally no one can fuckin shoot?"

Technically he's not though. Taylor (.533), BHH (.526), and Pass(.606) all have higher eFG%. He's at .519. I'm obviously not gonna champion BHH being the go to guy. But IMO Hill just looks good on the basic box score and he is pretty good at a couple of things, but is being used/allowed to play in such a way that actually is less effective than the team as a whole could be.

^ agreed on that point. I too haven't done the math, but I distinctly remember being terrified of him shooting 3s most of the season. And then about halfway through the postseason, dude turn on like Shabazz Napier mode or something.

[Edited on January 25, 2025 at 3:24 PM. Reason : .]

1/25/2025 3:22:39 PM

^^The point remains. We have guys that are mostly bad at shooting and a couple dudes that are just underperforming what we expected/needed from them.

Also. We let that freshman from Turkey go off for a career high against a veteran back court of BM and BHH. Just pathetic stuff.

^ idc what the eFG says, I want Hill with the ball over Taylor. Taylor gets out of control too often. Leads the team in turnovers.

[Edited on January 25, 2025 at 3:25 PM. Reason : A]

1/25/2025 3:24:12 PM

I agree that both Styles and Taylor are underperforming. But i will disagree that Hill is an issue with this team. With the way this team is built, he should be the primary ballhandler, or at the very least be given a touch on every possession. Hill's eFG% is negatively affected by his poor 3 point shooting but he's shooting better from 2 than everyone except Diouf and T Parker who both have played extremely limited minutes. That's why i say he doesn't have trouble finishing against ACC players. You don't shoot 54% from 2 as a 6'4 (my ass) guard if you can't finish at the rim. There are definitely things you can criticize about his game (3 point shooting, free throw shooting for example) but finishing at the rim is 100% not one of them because he is very, very good at it.

The biggest problem with this team as constructed is playing O'Connell 30 minutes a game.

1/25/2025 3:36:26 PM

I agree with ^. I don’t know that JT is underperforming much. He just is who he is. He’s an ok scorer but turns it over too much. He’s a 3 and D guy that can score in transition but struggles in the half court. He should not be asked to be anything more than a 3rd option like he was last year

1/25/2025 4:00:11 PM

Ah yeah i didn't realize he was actually shooting 36% from 3 now.

So yeah he's fine.

1/25/2025 4:12:04 PM

Quote :

"ou don't shoot 54% from 2 as a 6'4 (my ass) guard if you can't finish at the rim. There are definitely things you can criticize about his game (3 point shooting, free throw shooting for example) but finishing at the rim is 100% not one of them because he is very, very good at it. "

I'm not trying to say he's *bad* at finishing at the rim. I'm more saying I think that he hasn't been showing the skills/size/discipline to compensate when he gets beat against the quicker, larger players and defenses that he's seeing in ACC play. And I suspect that's causing a lot of issues with getting other guys involved and in rhythm with the offense because the ball is in his hands so much.

IMO he's a bit of a black hole on a lot of plays. Like, there have been many instances where he gets deep into the paint, but the defense has him contained and he should choose outlet passes, or pass through/around the double team to Middlebrooks/BHH, or just pulling the ball back out. But in many of those cases, he is taking a low percentage fade away floater and/or getting blocked. And while he's doing that, the rest of the team is like, "welp, might as well watch this happen -- or maybe I'll try and box out if I'm feeling randy." And its happening more in ACC play. His 2-pt percentage and overall percentages have dropped a couple of points already.

I just have a hard time buying that all these other dudes forgot how to shoot the basketball. I think at least part of the problem is Hill is being given way too much rope in ACC play at the detriment of the team learning to be efficient enough together to win games. It wouldn't be the first time. I felt like we had a lot of moments like that with Turquivian Smith too but Smith had also had a ton of amazing games in ACC play where he went nuclear from 3 and/or was able to figure out how to use his slashing/driving to draw in the defense and then create a ton of easy opportunities for his teammates.

Who knows for sure. This is all conjecture. Maybe everyone else on the team really is just one steaming pile of brick shots and Marcus Hill is just doing the best he can to carry the team.

1/26/2025 10:56:40 PM

big ben can't finish at the rim. everyone else looks like finishers compared to him.

1/27/2025 10:12:41 AM

22 point underdogs

SHOCK THE WORLD

1/27/2025 11:10:34 AM

[Edited on January 27, 2025 at 12:11 PM. Reason : .]

1/27/2025 12:09:49 PM

Marcus Hill is 8th in the ACC in FG% in conference play at 50.5%. he's 5th in the ACC in FG% in all games at 50.0%. yes his 2pt% has slightly dipped to a lowly 52.1% (which is still incredibly good for a guard) but he's also shooting a respectable 33% from 3 in conference play and is by far our most efficient player in ACC games.

But yeah he's the problem.

1/27/2025 12:45:46 PM

Nah, he's the answer.

Only issue is, he's the only answer.

Only one that can create his own shot, via hero ball.



Check out the assist totals for each game. YIKES. That has always been my biggest issue with Keatts squads, assists.

1/27/2025 12:47:46 PM

You have more assists when the shots fucking go in

[Edited on January 27, 2025 at 4:32 PM. Reason : #heroball #aauball #codedlanguage]

1/27/2025 4:30:49 PM

Quote :

"my biggest issue with Keatts squads"

Mine, ranked
1) Dunks
2) assists
3) Fg %
4) wins

1/27/2025 4:53:00 PM

5) Haircut - I think he should grow his hair out and put in differently-oriented pony-tails, like a lot of our team does.

[Edited on January 27, 2025 at 4:58 PM. Reason : ]

1/27/2025 4:57:42 PM

I was actually mad I didn't sandwich wins with something else, making it last kinda highlights the joke too much, better to have it just be anonymous on the list. Damn maybe next year.

1/27/2025 5:39:45 PM

^^^^lol

1/27/2025 7:00:22 PM

We’ve got a few Jimmies but zero Joes this year and you can’t win with a shitty coach if you don’t have any Joes capable of going on a month long hot streak at the end of the season to bail you out. We need to fire KK, hire Joel Justus back as HC, and put that extra $2 million a year saved to fund a 100 ft tall Ripken statue/memorial outside of Carter Finley. Would be a way better use of our shoestring athletic budget.

1/27/2025 8:45:14 PM

I really liked how McNeill came in and hit two 3’s and then got sent straight to the bench. He got all of 8 minutes of playing time.

2/2/2025 8:10:09 AM

Leonard Hamilton is resigning at the end of the season, which means Keatts will then be the 2nd longest tenured coach in the ACC.

2/3/2025 3:05:46 PM