The red N.C. State train will roll on into March Madness as its season will continue in the NCAA Tournament.
The stirring five wins over five days in the ACC Tournament netted the Wolfpack an automatic berth and a first-round game against Texas Tech (23-10) on Thursday in Pittsburgh at 9:40 p.m. on CBS. The Wolfpack (22-14) is the 11th seed, and Texas Tech is the sixth seed.
The Wolfpack’s berth just might be the most remarkable achievement in the 71-year history of the tournament.
NC State is one of five ACC schools that made the tournament that includes North Carolina, Duke, Virginia and Clemson.
Left out of the Big Dance was Wake Forest, which did get an NIT bid and will play Appalachian State at Joel Coliseum on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
For the Wolfpack and Coach Kevin Keatts, the win over North Carolina late Saturday night was stirring enough because it needed to win to earn the automatic berth. NC State was not on anybody’s radar for making the tournament as the 10th-seed heading into the ACC Tournament.
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That all changed, and the mantra that D.J. Horne leaned on early in the tournament was simple: “Why not us?” he said. The phrase carried the Wolfpack to its first ACC championship since Jim Valvano’s 1987 squad.
“When we got on the plane to come to D.C., we talked about winning one game at a time, and there would be a big picture, and it would be a prize at the end of it,” Keatts said Saturday night. “You could tell our guys were getting a lot stronger every game that we played. It’s weird because we’re the team that played, and we were the ones who played every game, but it seemed like every second half we got a little bit stronger than the other team. Thank God for our opportunity, believing in our faith.”
Now, NC State will try and carry over that momentum into the NCAA Tournament, much like Valvano did with his 1983 team that was dead in the water in the regular season but rebounded with a stirring ACC Tournament championship then won the national championship. Most everybody remembers the Lorenzo Charles dunk on the final play off a Dereck Whittenburg missed shot that stunned Houston for the title.
Toward the end of the season, there were rumblings about Keatts’ job status, but Keatts said his team never wavered.
“We never listened to anybody outside of our locker room because our locker room is the most important thing,” Keatts said. “And these guys will have memories for the rest of their life that they can always know that they were ACC champions and won the tournament.”
NC State certainly will has momentum on its side heading into the NCAA Tournament.
“I said it (Friday), there’s no better time to be playing your best basketball than March, and I’m just glad that we figured it out now,” Horne said.
Despite the loss the Tar Heels still nabbed a top-seed in the tournament and has the firepower to make a long run in the tournament. The Tar Heels will face the winner of the First Four game between Wagner and Howard on Thursday in Charlotte at 2:45 p.m. on CBS. The Tar Heels are the top seed in the West Region.
Coach Hubert Davis of the Tar Heels watched his team jell late in the season to win the regular-season title. They fell short of winning the tournament title, but the reality is the next tournament starts this week.
“We’re a No. 1 seed because of the work this team has done this season,” Davis said Sunday night. “I’m proud of how they have worked all season, how they’ve played, how they have prepared and how from the start of the season they have wanted to be a team. To be given an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament is a big deal. I know the importance of being able to play close to home, so playing in Charlotte for potentially the first two rounds and being closer to our fans is a big deal for us. But it’s just fun coming into the tournament.”
Duke, which lost to NC State in the quarterfinals, also are capable of making a run in the tournament. Coach Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils can lean on Kyle Filipowski and Mark Mitchell as the tournament begins.
The Blue Devils (24-8) are the fourth seed in the South Region and will take on 13th-seeded Vermont (28-6) on Friday in Brooklyn at 7:10 p.m. on CBS
“For me, it’s even more of a wake-up call because we could have just had more one game left to the season now,” Filipowski said last week after losing to the Wolfpack. “You may have high expectations just with winning the ACC and things like that, but you’ve got to really see the reality of it and see that every team is really fighting for their lives. We just have to want it more than any other team that we play against.”
Also in the tournament from the ACC is Clemson, which will play New Mexico in the first round. Virginia is also in but will play in a First Four game against Colorado State in Dayton, Ohio. If the Cavaliers win, they would play Texas in the opening round.
Wake Forest lands in NIT
Coach Steve Forbes and the Demon Deacons will play in their second NIT in Forbes’ four seasons. Two years ago the Demon Deacons won two games in the NIT before losing to Texas A&M on the road.
The Demon Deacons will play Appalachian State on Tuesday at Joel Coliseum in a first-round game. The Demon Deacons were quite impressive at home, going 16-1.
The Mountaineers and Demon Deacons have some recent history. Last season, the Mountaineers lost to the Demon Deacons 67-66 when Andrew Carr hit a short jumper as the buzzer sounded for the game winner.
The Mountaineers are 27-6 and are coming off a 69-67 loss to Arkansas State in the Sun Belt Conference semifinals. The Mountaineers were 16-2 in conference play this season.
In nonconference play early in the season the Mountaineers beat Auburn 69-64 in Boone.
Also in a conference game earlier this season, the Mountaineers beat James Madison 59-55 in Harrisonburg, Va. The Dukes are in the NCAA Tournament with an impressive 31-3 record and were the Sun Belt Conference tournament champions.
Instead of Madison Square Garden, the semifinals and final will be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis with the semifinals April 2 and the championship on April 4 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.