There is no doubt that being an NC State basketball fan can be difficult, as it has been 37 years since a national championship has been brought home to Raleigh.
But the championship drought may not be as long as some have thought, as both women’s and men’s basketball are on an upward trend.
NC State remains a powerhouse in women’s basketball and has the potential to continue to do so. The Wolfpack will only be losing one starter to seniority, guard Aislinn Konig. Coming in for the Pack are two more four-star recruits in Genesis Bryant and Dontavia Waggoner. With such a young team, this is only the beginning for State. Reaching an impressive No. 4 ranking this season, the ceiling is high for what this team can accomplish in the years to come.
As men’s basketball was starting to leave fans skeptical of its tournament chances, and maybe of all hope in general, the Pack stepped on its home court and beat Duke by a 22-point margin, NC State’s largest margin of victory over Duke since 1978.
That night, the Wolfpack hit a season high 8 for 13 at the 3-point range, 25 points for Devon Daniels and a half-court buzzer-beater for Markell Johnson. But not only was it a season high for some stats, but it was a high for hope too. After that match, NC State’s ability to perform was ingrained into everyone’s heads. Jimmy Valvano’s famous words of “don’t give up, don’t ever give up” have emerged once again.
Usually any skeptical NC State fan would take the win and carry on, but with a seventh-ranked recruiting class coming in just a handful of months, it will be the Pack’s highest recruitment ranking in years. While the team will be departing with two starters in senior guard Markell Johnson and redshirt senior guard C.J. Bryce, four-star recruits Josh Hall, Cam Hayes and Shakeel Moore will be making their debut and potentially fighting for starting spots.
One thing NC State has struggled to do in men’s basketball is sign and keep high-level basketball recruits. With basketball powerhouses Duke and North Carolina right down tobacco road, it is difficult to draw those recruits down to Raleigh. In addition to competing with our tobacco road rivals, NC State has to compete with the NBA to keep players. Just last year, the Wolfpack lost four-star recruit Jalen Lecque to the NBA before he was able to even step foot on the court in PNC.
But with new hopes rising from the fans and some talented recruits on the way, Wolfpack fans could be in for some exciting years to come, hoping for a sea of success in this seemingly never-ending drought.
