Following a men’s basketball season riddled with disappointment and only one storming of the Belltower, NC State announced on Sunday that it would host its own postseason tournament over the next two weeks, in which it will be the only team receiving an invitation.
The decision comes after scrutiny from die-hard fans and Twitter-fanatics alike, complaining that this season has been filled with nothing but bad losses and the occasional triple-double by freshman phenom Dennis Smith Jr. With fans trapped in the whirlpool of mediocrity, NC State’s athletic department sought to find a solution that would satisfy fans’ urges to witness a win.
“It really was a no-brainer for us to do this,” said Chad Pendleton, assistant vice-communications director of marketing and post-season ticket sales. “Our fans have showed passion all season long and we just really think that they should have an opportunity to watch us win a game.”
According to a news release from the athletic department’s website, NC State’s roster will divide itself into two practice squads and each will continuously play for two weeks straight, with only water breaks after every four games. The players on each team will be randomly selected through coin tosses, and each team will send a representative to participate in a 1700s-esque duel for the rights to Dennis Smith Jr.
All games in the Valvano Invitational will be played at the newly renovated Reynolds Coliseum, and tickets will be distributed to students who have complained the least about Mark Gottfried on social media in the past year.
“I’m really excited to have one more chance to watch us shoot the basketball,” Erik Boone, a sophomore studying sociology, said while cradling his copy of ESPN’s “Survive and Advance” documentary. “Yeah, I’ve been kind of bummed out this season with the exception of the Duke game, but I’ll take any opportunity that I get to watch Shaun Kirk play.”
Not all students were happy with the newly created tournament, however, with many feeling as if it’s a waste of student fees, despite the event being funded by Wolfpack Club donors.
“It’s just wasteful spending in my book,” said Ann Randall, a senior studying political science. “The university loves to raise its fees and tuition way up and then they spend it on dumb s— like this. It’s infuriating.”
Upon being told that the event wasn’t funded by student fees, Randall’s comments didn’t seem to change.
“Ultimately, now they’re just wasting the hard-earned money of billionaires.”
Nonetheless, the announcement of the Valvano Invitational has caused a ruckus on campus, with hundreds of students storming the Belltower on Sunday night to celebrate the ordeal. Wins and losses have been thrown out the window with the fact that it’s impossible to be eliminated from the tournament which generated positive buzz and echoes of “Wolfpack” chants that extended all the way to the Harris Teeter in Cameron Village.
“We can’t lose at all,” Boone said. “That’s worth the free admission alone.”
