For very different reasons, North Carolina State’s Kevin Keatts and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley are the headline names at this week’s NCAA’s Tournaments.
Sunday Keatts’ NC State team won its ninth straight game, defeating ACC rival Duke 76-64. The win put NC State in the Final Four for the first time in 41 years. They will play Purdue Saturday in Phoenix. It also further helped Keatts financially. This run has triggered a host of bonuses in his current contract, most notably a two-year extension.
Just a few weeks ago there were people calling for his job. After finishing 17-14, NC State had to play in the opening round of the ACC Tournament.
But after winning five straight there, they’ve won four more to reach the Final Four. Keatts has become the toast of the town in Raleigh, as well as the only ACC coach to take a team to the 2024 Final Four.
By contrast, Dawn Staley is known nationwide as coach of the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks. A multi-gold winner as a player and coach, as well as a national title winner, Staley’s Gamecocks will play NC State Friday in Albany, New York after defeating Oregon State 70-58 Sunday.
Staley’s team has a chance to be the first undefeated national Champions since UConn in 2016. It’s also the fourth straight Final Four appearance for South Carolina.
That both these schools have Black head coaches also is a sign of how much, at least on n one level, things have changed regarding mainstream Southern college basketball.
Both NC State and South Carolina once had all-white squads as did their conferences, the ACC and SEC respectively.
Today, Black players dominate teams in both conferences.
Keatts and Staley embody positive change and progress in athletics. Whether either, both or neither wins titles over the weekend, they’ve proven themselves big winners on and off the court.
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