Inside NC State’s rise from 10th-place in ACC to Final Four appearance

As NC State coach Kevin Keatts ascended up the blue and yellow Werner ladder after the Wolfpack clinched a spot in the Final Four inside the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sunday afternoon, his national sensation big man had a message for everyone around. “Give him his respect,” graduate forward DJ Burns repeated four times while the seventh-year coach took a moment on the metal frame of the ladder. Keatts then turned around, gave a fist pump to the thousands of fans clad in red and white that made the trip south, before he cut the last thread of the net.  Keatts then waved the net around on the top step, and Burns repeated himself one more time to make sure his message was received.  Well, it was.  His coach, who uttered “Kevin Keatts is a winner” at his introductory press conference in 2017, proved that he is. But to get to this point — the Wolfpack’s first Final Four appearance since 1983 — Keatts and the rest of the red and white had a bumpy road.  The Pack, which at one point seemed like it was going to not even live up to its preseason No. 7 pick in the ACC poll, used the postseason as a blank slate. That ended up serving as the biggest motivator for a team playing with nothing to lose. It culminated with a trip to college basketball's final weekend in Phoenix.