NC State women’s basketball has become accustomed to success in the last few seasons.
While NC State just recently began racking up ACC Tournament championships, the program had consistently been knocking at the door for years prior to its three-peat, finishing the regular season in the top-four of the conference each year since 2017.
Yet this year is a little different.
For the first time since 2016, the Wolfpack (19-10, 9-9 ACC) hasn’t earned a double-bye in the ACC Tournament. Instead, the Pack comes into Greensboro as the 8-seed, its lowest seeding since the 2015 season.
That is the result of a 2022-23 season that — while boasting some pretty incredible wins — hasn’t lived up to the standards the program has set in the last three years.
After coming into the season ranked No. 10 in the preseason polls and climbing as high as No. 6 in the top-25, this hasn’t been the season the Pack had hoped for or was expecting. All things considered, it may not be that surprising with the amount of turnover from last year, but head coach Wes Moore has turned this program into one where greatness is the standard.
However, as the team has proven on several occasions this year, NC State has a lot of potential, and there’s no better time to start playing its best basketball of the year than right now.
It all starts on Thursday, March 2 when the Pack plays the 9-seed Syracuse at 2 p.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum. In their only matchup of the season, NC State narrowly defeated the Orange 56-54 up in New York.
While NC State is pretty safely in the NCAA Tournament field as a 7-seed, according to ESPN’s Charlie Creme, Syracuse is the “last team in” and will be playing for its life this week. The Pack has beaten the Orange in their last six matchups, but this will be the toughest yet.
If NC State can get past Syracuse, it will play the 1-seed and ACC regular-season champion Notre Dame on Friday, March 3. That may seem like a tall order, but the Pack actually handed the Fighting Irish one of their three ACC losses this season.
NC State played arguably its best game of the season when it hosted Notre Dame on Jan. 29, outplaying the Irish for nearly the entire game and holding on for a 69-65 win. The Pack showed its potential and looked like the team many were expecting in that win, and if the rematch is anything like the matchups the two teams have had going back to last season, fans will be in for a treat.
The Vegas odds won’t be on NC State’s side to make it past Friday, but if the Pack does, there are a number of giants that could be awaiting the team on Saturday and in the championship game on Sunday, among which are 2-seed Duke, 3-seed Virginia Tech, 4-seed Louisville and — most interestingly — 7-seed North Carolina.
If not Notre Dame, the teams most likely to win the championship are Duke and Virginia Tech, which is bad news for the Pack should it run into either of them on Sunday, especially because they both swept their respective regular season series against NC State.
What would be the most entertaining and hyped-up matchup — if it were to happen — would be a showdown against UNC in the championship game. There’s been no love lost between the two teams over the last couple seasons, and while the Heels did win the first contest of the season, the Pack got them back in epic fashion with a thrilling overtime comeback that served as one of the most memorable wins of the season.
If NC State and Carolina meet in the ACC championship game, you can bet it will be must-see TV.
The question for the Pack heading into this year’s tournament will be which team will show up. Will it be the team that suffered head-scratching losses to Boston College, Georgia Tech and Virginia, or will it be the team that stole the show in wins over Iowa, Notre Dame and Carolina?
One thing for certain from the last few seasons is that the Pack turns up to another level in Greensboro. NC State fans show up in droves to give their team a home-court advantage, and the team itself has developed a winning mentality — and essentially claimed ownership of the Coliseum.
Just as Miami made a Cinderella attempt in last year’s tournament before falling to NC State in the championship, the Pack will look to do something similar this go-round. While the championships of the last three seasons are impressive enough, another ring this year would be the most impressive yet.
Tip-off against Syracuse on Thursday is scheduled for 2 p.m. with the broadcast on ACC Network.
