Three years. Three ACC Championships. A Sweet 16 and an Elite Eight appearance for the ages.

What the NC State women’s basketball team has accomplished over the last three seasons has been nothing short of incredible.

Not long ago, just making the NCAA Tournament used to be a challenge for this program. Now, NC State expects to compete for championships on a yearly basis.

Over the team’s remarkable run the last three seasons, there has been a core of players who were perhaps most responsible for bringing the Wolfpack to new heights: Elissa Cunane, Kayla Jones, Raina Perez and Kai Crutchfield, who formed the 2022 senior class.

But as is the rule with college athletics, nobody can stay in school forever. Last year’s senior class has now departed, leaving a void to be filled within the program.

“We lost a lot of great talent, a lot of great experienced players that have been in our program, so now it’s a fresh start,” said head coach Wes Moore. “We’re excited about a new opportunity, and that’s why that rearview mirror is really small and your windshields really big. We’re focused on the future and looking ahead.”

Despite the loss of so much talent and experience, NC State still expects to compete at the highest level this upcoming season. But how can a team that lost so much expect to reach heights such as the team has never experienced?

If there’s one head coach in the country who knows how to accomplish such a feat, it’s Moore.

Entering his 10th season as the Pack’s head coach, Moore knows how to get it done — he’s a winner. He has changed the narrative about NC State from a place where championships are a rarity to where championships are the expectation.

But this could very well be Moore’s tallest task of his tenure in Raleigh thus far. With the loss of a core that made up the identity of the program’s winning culture, it’s still championship or bust this year for the Pack.

For starters, even though last year’s senior class made up a bulk of the production, Moore still has lots of talent and experience returning for the 2022-23 season. That begins at the top with the team’s two returning leading scorers from last season, junior guard Diamond Johnson and senior wing Jakia Brown-Turner.

Johnson and Brown-Turner were responsible for two of the biggest moments of the season last year for the Pack. For Johnson, her moment came when NC State took on then-No. 3 Louisville in a top-5 clash. With the Pack trailing by 14 heading into the fourth quarter, Johnson led the team on a furious comeback, scoring 14 points in the final frame alone and helping the Pack outscore the Cardinals 31-8 in the last 10 minutes to get the win.

“I want to keep growing,” Johnson said. “Last year, I was Sixth Player of the Year. This year, I wanna gun for Player of the Year, win more rings and just keep winning with my team.”

Brown-Turner shined in the Pack’s final game of the season against UConn in the Elite Eight. Down by three with 6.2 seconds left in overtime, Brown-Turner showed she had ice in her veins and drained a corner 3 to tie it up just before the clock hit zero.

“I just feel like it’s a new beginning,” Brown-Turner said. “I love having a new beginning, a fresh start. It’s a new team, and it’s something that people are not used to seeing. For the past couple of years, it’s been the same five. Now it’s a new team, and I feel like we’ve just got to bring a lot of energy and excitement to the game. … The past players have won championships every year, and I feel like it’s our goal to just keep it going.”

Johnson and Brown-Turner have been a part of big moments, which have no doubt prepared them for taking more of a leadership role with this year’s squad.

The team received big news in August when, after reports that she would not be playing this season, it was announced that senior forward Jada Boyd will be back for another year with NC State. This is huge, considering Boyd’s significant contributions to the team over the Pack’s conference championship runs, having won the ACC Co-Sixth Player of the Year in 2021.

Also looking to play bigger roles on the team this season will be senior center Camille Hobby, junior guard Madison Hayes and sophomore guard Aziaha James. Hobby is used to playing big minutes as she has often played in years past when Cunane was either hurt or in foul trouble, while Hayes is known for always hustling and playing great defense.

Still, while the returning pieces make up a portion of the new team, there was space yet to be filled. Moore knew he had to go to the transfer portal to bring in fresh talent, which is what he did.

The Pack brings in a trifecta of talented transfers this season: graduate center River Baldwin, graduate forward Mimi Collins and sophomore guard Saniya Rivers.

Baldwin comes from within the ACC having played her prior three seasons at Florida State, where she played 81 games, including 19 starts. She averaged six points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game and 17.9 minutes per game in those three seasons, was a McDonald’s All-American in high school and will help fill the void left inside by Cunane and Jones.

Collins began her college career at Tennessee then played the last two seasons at Maryland, where she started 38 of 61 games, including 15 in the 2021-22 season. This past season, she averaged 7.9 points per game, 4.8 rebounds per game and 21.4 minutes per game, and like Hobby and Baldwin, will be tasked with becoming an in-the-paint presence for the Pack.

Rivers was a member of the national championship-winning South Carolina Gamecocks last year as a freshman and returns this season to her home state. She was the No. 2 ranked guard coming out of high school and a McDonald’s All-American. In addition to a void in the frontcourt, there is also a deficit in the backcourt with the departure of Perez and Crutchfield, and Rivers will look to be a significant contributor in that area this season.

The talent is there for NC State. Now it’s all about putting it together and consistently winning games. While a team with so many new faces and new roles may take some time to gel, the belief within this program is that this team is capable of winning championships.

“We’ve got a nucleus of experience that has been there and been through the battle, knows what it’s about and our culture, our system,” Moore said. “We added some really good players. Now, you gotta become a team. These players are gonna have to step up and take on roles that they haven’t had in the past, as far as leadership. … We’re trying to win ACC championships, we’re trying to get to a Final Four, we’re trying to win a national championship.”