For what it’s worth …
Jon Rothstein has rolled around to the ACC in his preseason look at the ’24-’25 season and interviewed Kevin Keatts in his most recently published podcast. He’s got the Pack at sixth in the league – but with 8 new players, he’s just guessing. However, by ranking us 6th he’s giving us some love without really knowing what he’s talking about. That’s what a Final Four run will do for you.
His rankings aren’t much of a surprise, however I was surprised to see Wake listed so high.
- UNC
- Duke
- Wake Forest
- Clemson
- Miami
- NC State
- UVA
- Pitt
- Syracuse
- Georgia Tech
- Louisville
- Notre Dame
- Stanford
- SMU
- FSU
- Virginia Tech
- Boston College
- Cal
The interview with Coach Keatts was very much a rehash of many other interviews he had after the season.
What was the secret of the post season run?
- “With so many transfers, it takes longer, sometimes the whole season, to get the team playing well together”
- “We focused on cleaning up mistakes”
- “We committed to defense”
- “We made sure they understood their role and were good at it”
How does the team look for next season?
- “Five returnees playing with swag”
- “Returnees are setting the tone”
- “Michael O’Connell has taken the biggest jump – leadership”
- “I think we’re going to have 8 starters”
- “Ismael is going to be good”
- “I expect a couple of our freshmen to eventually break into the rotation and make some shots for us.”