As it prepares for yet another Sweet 16, the NC State women’s basketball team faces what is perhaps one of the most important stretches in program history.
In the past five seasons, the Wolfpack has qualified for four consecutive Sweet 16s, won three straight ACC Tournament championships, and this year won the ACC regular-season championship. It has been a historic run, to say the least, and this year’s senior class is one of the most accomplished in school history.
The only thing that this senior class and team needs now to forever cement themselves as NC State legends is to win a national championship. As the Pack knows all too well, however, doing so is extremely difficult, and it will be no different this go-round.
The competition this year is as tough as ever. To start out, NC State plays its Sweet 16 game against Notre Dame, who handed the Pack its only loss in ACC play this season and is coming off an absolute beatdown of Oklahoma in the second round, winning 108-64.
If it makes it past Notre Dame, the Pack will play the winner of No. 3-seeded Indiana and No. 2-seeded UConn. NC State beat Indiana earlier this season on the road, but the Hoosiers handed the Pack a heartbreaking loss in last year’s tournament and has the exact same starting five.
UConn is the preeminent powerhouse of women’s college basketball, having won 11 national championships, and is once again one of the best teams in the country this season with reigning national player of the year Paige Bueckers. Plus, NC State would be playing in UConn’s backyard of Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the Huskies would likely have a home crowd advantage as the No. 2 seed.
Simply put, NC State has a tough road ahead if it wants to reach its first Final Four since 1998. The Pack cruised by its first two opponents of the tournament, but there are no easy games from here on out. Every team is going to give the Pack hell, but if NC State wants to win a national championship, that’s what it’s like; it’s hard as hell.
The Pack has a lot riding on this NCAA Tournament. On top of the team wanting to cap off this historic five-year run with a national championship, NC State fans are also desperate for a national championship. NC State has not won a national championship in a major sport (football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball) since 1983, and with every win, the pressure mounts for the Wolfpack women to end the drought.
NC State sports fans have also complained about a lack of respect shown by the NCAA and the national sports media, which has been exacerbated by the NC State baseball team’s exit from the 2021 College World Series and this year’s decision to put the women’s basketball team in the Bridgeport region with UConn despite being a No. 1 seed. Truth be told there’s only one way to gain that respect, and its winning it all.
At a certain point, the Pack is going to have to break through. This year it’s going to be tough, but it’s tough every year. If there’s any Wolfpack team that has been capable of breaking through, however, it’s this team.
This could very well be the last season in the foreseeable future that NC State has a legitimate shot at winning the national championship. This is the last run for senior center Elissa Cunane and the rest of the senior class. Every game, every minute and every shot from the previous five years led to this.
What happens next will define the program. NC State has proven the last few seasons that it is a good program. Head coach Wes Moore has done a remarkable job getting the program back to national prominence. However, if NC State wants to elevate its status from a good program to a great program, it has to win it all.
