When Keatts returned to Hargrave, Hamilton was his assistant coach. When Keatts became an assistant coach at Louisville under Rick Pitino, it opened the way for Hamilton to take over as the Hargrave head coach and run a program of his own at the Chatham, Virginia, school.

“Coach changed my life,” Hamilton said.

Then came N.C. State.

Hamilton joined Keatts in 2017 in taking over a program that was part of a far-flung national investigation of college athletics begun by the FBI. Keatts’ staff inherited the mess left by former Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried that resulted in allegations of NCAA violations stemming from the recruitment of Dennis Smith Jr.

“The way Coach maneuvered that was amazing,” Hamilton said. “We were recruiting at even a high level then. Getting Manny Bates was a huge deal. Braxton Beverly, some of those guys. Al Freeman. You look at that first class we put together and it was a really good class.

“The year I was there, we made it to the NCAA Tournament and I think we tied for third in the league. Won at Carolina. In the Battle 4 Atlantis we beat Arizona. I think N.C. State fans could tell what Coach was capable of and what he could do with that program.”

But the NCAA investigation had its effect on the program. It wasn’t until December 2021 that sanctions were announced. Then came an 11-23 season in 2021-22.

“I went through four years of not getting a recruit, losing recruits, not knowing what the NCAA was going to do with us,” Keatts said. “Year one, two and three were not year one, two and three of normal years because of the scrutiny we had.”

But look at the Pack now.

“They’ve already etched their way into the history books by winning an ACC championship,” Keatts said of team. “We’re going to hang a banner.”

N.C. State has two national championship banners hanging at PNC Arena. In 1974 and 1983, the Pack reached the Final Four and came back with the trophy.

“I do hope history repeats itself because we’ve got a great history,” Keatts said.

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