Since Debbie Yow became the Director of Athletics at NC State in 2010, athletics at the University have experienced success like never before. NC State finished 15th in the Learfield Directors’ Cup, which measures which university athletics programs were the best across the country. The 15th place finish was the best in school history.
The women’s basketball team hasn’t had the national success or the rapid improvement like wrestling, swimming and diving, or either soccer team; however, head coach Wes Moore has developed a program that is consistently at the top of the ACC and is emerging on the national landscape with a breakthrough 2018-19 season.
Moore is in his sixth season with the Wolfpack after a 15-year run at Chattanooga, which included nine NCAA Tournament appearances. He took over a Wolfpack program that hadn’t been dancing since 2010. Kay Yow passed away during the 2008-2009 season, and the Pack went 28-48 in ACC play from then until Moore was hired. NC State is 53-29 in the toughest conference in the country since Moore took over, including a 2-0 start this year. Moore only has one season with less than 10 wins in ACC play.
Unlike other sports, it is very difficult to break into the upper echelons of women’s basketball. Teams like Connecticut, Notre Dame and Baylor have been powerhouses for years. There are newer programs that are looking to join that group, like Mississippi State and South Carolina. It takes years of great recruiting classes and building up teams to reach that elite level and stay there. Good news for NC State is it appears Moore has the Pack on a track to reach that elite level sooner rather than later.
Coming into the year, NC State was ranked No. 17 in the preseason AP poll, despite the departures of Chelsea Nelson and Akela Maize who graduated, plus a preseason injury to starting graduate point guard Kaila Ealey. Nevertheless, the Pack is off to the best start in program history at 15-0 and is up to No. 8 in the AP poll.
In the closing moments of a win over Duke on Jan. 3, leading scorer redshirt junior guard Grace Hunter went down and was later diagnosed with a torn ACL and is now out for the year. Can Moore continue this potentially historic season without Hunter and Ealey? He hasn’t given any reason for us to believe he can’t.
Graduate guard Kiara Leslie and junior guard Ace Konig provide hope this year, averaging 14.5 and 12.6 points per game respectively, and have plenty of tournament experience.
It’s hard not to wonder what could’ve been if Hunter and Ealey had been healthy. An ACC Championship and run at the Final Four certainly weren’t out of the question. The Pack has only played one game without Hunter, a win over Boston College, so how the team responds when the competition ramps up will show a lot.
Whatever happens, this season won’t affect the future of the program. Freshman center Elissa Cunane has the look of a future superstar, averaging 12.7 points and 5.2 rebounds in only 20 minutes per game in her first season in Raleigh. Sophomores forward Kayla Jones and guard Kai Crutchfield are very solid off the bench and could start for many ACC teams.
On top of what’s currently on the roster, ESPN ranks the Pack’s 2019 recruiting class 8th in the country.
Moore is going to do all he can to work his magic in 2019 to get the most out of this depleted roster, and this is still a team that could match last year’s achievements: a fourth-place finish in the ACC and a trip to the Sweet 16.
Debbie Yow has made many terrific hires, but Moore doesn’t receive as much recognition as men’s basketball’s Kevin Keatts, wrestling’s Pat Popolizio and men’s soccer’s George Kiefer, among others, but one could argue he is just as deserving. If Moore can continue on his current path for this season and in the future, he could stake his claim as Debbie Yow’s best hire, which would be an incredible compliment.
