By Sam Federman
Just days after he was fired as head coach at NC State, Kevin Keatts was in Washington D.C., watching from the balcony as his former assistant had his breakthrough as head coach.
Takayo Siddle worked for Keatts at Hargrave Military Academy, then again at UNC Wilmington from 2014-2017, where the pair made back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, and then he came to NC State with his mentor.
When the UNCW job opened in 2020, it was Siddle who finally got the chance to lead his own program.
And in year five, his Seahawks are headed to the NCAA Tournament after defeating Delaware 76-72 in the CAA Championship Game.
UNCW started CAA play 2-2, but ripped off nine wins in a row, and 12 wins in 14 games to close out the regular season and earn the second seed in D.C. Siddle has coached some great Seahawks' teams over the last five seasons - winning 20+ games in each of the last four - but this one ranks highest in KenPom, and 106, and is, fittingly, the one to get the job done in March.
The Blue Hens - who were the 12 seed in the tournament - won four games in a row to make the final, and came back from 15 points down to take a four point lead in the second half, but couldn't hold on.
After a 24 point semifinal performance against Charleston, Donovan Newby scored 17 to lead UNCW in the final.