RALEIGH, N.C. — A.W. Hamilton admits to being biased when it comes to N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts.

Hamilton played basketball for Keatts. He coached with Keatts. He was on Keatts’ initial Wolfpack staff.

Hamilton now is head coach at Eastern Kentucky, so his days are full. But he talks with Keatts often each week, he said. He looks forward to it, learns from it.

Hamilton is as happy as anyone that Keatts and the Wolfpack are headed to the Final Four. Having played Purdue this season, he also is aware of what awaits Keatts the Pack in the NCAA Tournament semifinals this week.

“I said this in 2017 when he got the job there that I thought Coach Keatts would win a national championship,” Hamilton said Monday in an N&O interview. “I think he’s the best coach in the country. He’s got the ‘it’ factor. He’s got it and those kids, they believe so much. They believe in each other. They believe in Coach.

“You can just feel it when you watch them. It’s just incredible what they’ve done, but it’s what he’s always done. The run those kids are on, it’s historic. They’ll be talking about this run forever.”

Nine straight postseason wins can do that. The first ACC championship at N.C. State since 1987 and the first Final Four appearance since 1983 will do that.

“What Coach has done, and you look at the NCAA Tournament, not many teams are playing inside/out basketball,” Hamilton said. “How he has adjusted and is playing through DJ Burns, nobody in the NCAA Tournament has figured out how to guard him.”

Then again, Purdue does have a 7-foot-4, 300-pound All-America in center Zach Edey.

“One heckuva player with his size and his touch,” Hamilton said. “He can go over both shoulders and does such a great job with his post catches.”

...continued

©2024 The News & Observer. Visit at newsobserver.com. Distributed at Tribune Content Agency, LLC.