Of the 68 teams placed in the bracket, the NC State men’s basketball team did not make the cut for the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday, but accepted a No. 2 seed in the National Invitational Tournament.
The Pack posted a 22-11 record overall, a 9-9 record in the ACC this season and beat Clemson in its first game of the ACC Tournament before losing to Virginia.
The main concern of the committee was the lack of big wins in numerous chances. NC State had a 3-9 record against quadrant one teams with its wins coming at home vs Auburn and over Penn State and Clemson at neutral sites.
Other concerns included the bad losses; the team posted a 4-2 record against quadrant three, losing to Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. NC State also posted a 1-8 record against the other ACC teams that made the NCAA Tournament.
The Pack did finish undefeated against the quadrant two teams at 5-0 and quadrant four teams at 10-0.
One of the evaluation tools used this year by the NCAA selection committee is the NET rankings, which replaces the old RPI system. The NET, and quadrant system, mostly focuses on the strength of the opponent and the location of the game.
The Pack ranks 33rd in the NET rankings and is the highest ranked team in the NET that didn’t make the tournament.
NC State Athletics Director Debbie Yow made her own argument and was obviously disappointed in a statement released on Twitter by Associate Athletics Director Fred Demarest.
“Based on the metrics sited above that the NCAA indicated they would use to evaluate team performance,” Yow said. “We are disappointed for our athletes, coaches and fans that our total body of work was not rewarded with selection to the NCAA Tournament.”
Despite all of that, the Pack will move on to compete in the NIT. It received a No. 2 seed in UNC-Greensboro’s section of the bracket and will host seven-seeded Hofstra.
It is certainly frustrating and disappointing to the NC State fan base that it missed a chance to compete in the Big Dance, but this team has a good chance to go far into the NIT. It’s not the NCAA Tournament, but it is an opportunity to bring home a trophy.
The first three rounds will be hosted by the higher seed while the semifinals and championship will be in New York at Madison Square Garden, so it does present a big stage with great competition including teams like TCU, Creighton, Alabama, Texas, Indiana and Clemson.
The matchup against Hofstra will take place on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Reynolds Coliseum. If NC State is able to win, it will host the winner of No. 3 Georgetown and No. 6 Harvard.
