Portal-Built N.C. State Comes Together Just in Time, Creates Heroes on the Fly
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Michael O'Connell needed some groceries, as college kids on wont to do. But when you hit a huge shot to keep N.C. State's strange season alive, just grabbing some food comes with some stops along the way.
He's a local hero these days after hitting a last-second shot against Virginia in the ACC Tournament, and people notice. They won five games in five days to win the league tournament, and it got them in the NCAA Tournament the only way they could. Since then, they've won four more games in the NCAAs — three as an underdog — and O'Connell is savoring every minute of it. They play Purdue on Saturday night in the national semifinals at State Farm Stadium in suburban Phoenix.
"Yeah, I've gotten a lot of attention around town,'' said O'Connell, who transferred after three seasons at Stanford, earning an economics degree along the way. "People will stop me and say, 'hey you're Michael O'Connell, the kid who made the shot?' and they'll want to talk about how cool it was. I was at the grocery store one night, and this guy recognized me and wanted to talk all about it, kind of like you guys (the media) do. We talked all about it. It was fun. I guess that's always going to be my moment.
"It's hard to explain this feeling; it's just an unbelievable experience. Just the fact that we're about to advance to the Final Four is something you dream about as a kid. To do it for the University and the fans that have been waiting for it for a while is just unbelievable."
This entire N.C. State team — built almost completely out of the transfer portal — has had its share of moments in the past three weeks. They went from a 17-14 team that was going to be lucky to make the NIT to winning the ACC and becoming a Cinderella story as a No. 11 seed that's brought back a lot of memories of the 1983 Wolfpack team under Jim Valvano that stunned the world by winning that NCAA title.
If it seemed like they flipped a switch from some average team to to a title contender, well, they have. N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts, who's spent seven seasons at the school without winning any titles, conference or otherwise, was on the hot seat before the ACC Tournament started.
Now, nine wins later, he's a coaching darling. He scrambled to put this team together, adding eight new pieces — seven transfers and a freshman — and they all needed to learn about each other quickly last summer.
Keatts had a bonding plan, and it worked.
"Yeah, we have seven transfers and one freshman and I'm trying to figure out how to get some
type of chemistry in the summertime,'' Keatts said. "The year before we took a foreign trip to Bahamas, and had 10 days of practice and a chance to play against really good teams.
"We didn't have that this year, so we did a lot of team-bonding things. We went back to my old stomping grounds in Wilmington, North Carolina and stayed three or four days there, just doing stuff on the beach, hanging out and practicing down there. We tried to create some type of chemistry because I'm one of those coaches that feels like if you have great chemistry off the court, you're going to have it on the court. We did a lot of team-building things. We brought some people in to talk about our team, talk about teamwork, all of that stuff.''
It's taken time for all the pieces to work. They went 17-14 in the regular season, and had a losing record (9-11) in the ACC regular season, finishing 10th in a league that was considered to be down this year.
Keatts was on the hot seat, and his team, which all came from somewhere else, hadn't done enough to make the postseason.
They made it anyway by beating five teams — Louisville, Syracuse, No. 11 Duke, Virginia and No. 4 North Carolina — to win the ACC title. They got a No. 11 seed, but then upset Texas Tech, beat fellow Cinderella Oakland in overtime, then stunned NCAA No. 2 seed Marquette and No. 4 seed Duke in the South regional to reach the Final Four.
Now everyone knows big center DJ Burns, the Winthrop transfer. And they know DJ Horne (Arizona State), O'Connell (Stanford), Jaedyn Tayor (Butler), Casey Morsell (Virginia), Mohammed Diarra (Missouri), Ben Middlebrooks (Clemson). The seven transfers are the Wolfpack's seven top leading scorers.
Horne is the Wolfpack's leading scorer this seaon, averaging 16.8 points per game. He's on his third school, spending two years at Illinois State before playing two years right down the road at Arizona State. For his fifth year, the Raleigh, N.C. native went back home.
He's provided the scoring punch N.C. State from a year ago.
"He's a hometown guy so getting him back to Raleigh, I thought that was very important because he has the ability to score the basketball,'' Keatts said. "We lost Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner, who were really good players that led us to the NCAA last year. I knew I couldn't replace both of those guys, but I had to go out and try to replace one.
"When we looked in the portal, I watched enough stuff, enough synergy on DJ, I knew he could be a guy that could come in. We talked about our system. He averaged about 12, 13 points a game. I knew our system would be able to add four or five points to his average, so I'm excited to have him.
Jaeden Taylor is a 6-foot-4 guard from Indianapolis who played his first two seasons at Butler — including a game against N.C. State last year. He has averaged 11.2 points per game this year and shot 36.4 percent from three.
He's the perfect case of how this mass transfer system works. Sometimes it takes a while to define all the roles on a team, and lately Taylor's been better off the bench.
"He's really grown. When he came here, he was trying to do too much. Now he's comfortable in what he's doing, handling the basketball, getting on in transition,'' Keatts said of the former Perry Meridian High School star. "I'll tell you what, he's another guy that has been so important to our run.
"He's probably a little bit of an unsung hero. He started for us, and now he's coming off the bench. He's been really, really good for us defensively. I think he's one of the guys that really anchors our defense, really gets involved. He's had some stretches that may have not been talked about like some of the other guys. He's had five or six games where I thought he really played well.''
The Wolfpack are the complete opposite of Purdue, a veteran team that's been together for a long time. Zach Edey, the two-time national player of the year, has been there for four years. He's got a half-dozen teammates that have been their the whole time too. They are built from within for this tourney run, while NC State put it together on the fly.
It's almost as if N.C. State has been two different teams this year. That's what Matt Painter sees, and he's conveyed that message to his players, too.
"When we talk (to our players) about N.C. State, we want them to understand how good they are. My message to them about N.C. State was that we're playing an undefeated team. The team that was 17-14 doesn't exist anymore. The team that's 9-0 does. That's the team we're playing,'' Painter said. "If we played them six weeks ago, then we would be playing that team. If you go back and look, when they lost six out of eight or seven out of nine, it was coming out of them starting their conference season and being 5-1. It wasn't like they were struggling before. They just had that tough stretch right in the middle of their season going toward the end. Obviously winning those nine straight games has been impressive.''
Any time you can win five ACC Tournament games in five days, that's something to crow about. Especially since top-10 teams like Duke and North Carolina were in their way. Then they beat Duke again to reach the Final Four.
It's been a run. And it's on Purdue to stop it.,
"When you start to talk about who they beat in those nine games, it's pretty impressive,'' Painter said. "Duke twice, North Carolina, Virginia. Our guys, we've played all those teams in the last
couple years, so they understand that. Then you look at who they beat in the actual NCAA
tournament, and it speaks for itself. They're one of the best teams in the country right now and they can beat anybody in the country, including us.''
Related stories on Purdue basketball
- HOW TO WATCH: Purdue plays North Carolina State in the Final Four on Saturday. Here's everything you need to know about the matchup, how to watch and how to listen to the broadcast. CLICK HERE
- TOM BREW COLUMN: Playing the Final Four in cavernous football stadiums is great for attendance, but it does take some getting used to for the players, especially perimeter shooters. Purdue is a great three-point shooting team, so can they get comfortable quickly at State Farm Stadium? Here is publisher Tom Brew's column, live from Glendale, Ariz. CLICK HERE
- POINT SPREAD: No. 1 seed Purdue is a big favorite over Cinderella N.C. State in Saturday's national semifinal at the Final Four. Here's the latest on the point spread, plus a great history of what the Boilermakers have done against the number all season. CLICK HERE
Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist who's worked at some America's finest newspapers, including the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Indianapolis Star. He also owns the book publishing company, Hilltop30 Publishing Group, and he has written four books and published 16 others.