GREENSBORO -- On an afternoon when enough of N.C. State's recently banished bad habits popped up to cost the Wolfpack a game it had every chance to win, it was hard to see at times just how far this team has come in a month.
Nevertheless, it was easy to see, despite the bad decisions and worse discipline that led to a 57-54 loss for Georgia Tech on Saturday, that the Wolfpack deserves to play on despite the loss. It's an open question whether N.C. State has done enough to earn an NIT bid at 19-15, but the answer should be yes.
The Wolfpack took a two-point lead into the final TV timeout, and merely holding serve over the final three minutes and change would have sent N.C. State into today's ACC championship game against Duke with a chance to play in the NCAA tournament.
Instead, the Wolfpack will wait and see if this past month has shown enough growth to impress a different selection panel tonight.
"We came in here with one object and that was to win, but we came up short," N.C. State freshman Scott Wood said. "Hopefully we showed some committees enough that when Sunday comes, our name will be called."
Before the season, less than a month ago even, the mere thought of an NIT bid seemed unreasonably optimistic. At the moment, it seems legitimately realistic.
With wins over NCAA tournament teams like Marquette, Florida State, Duke, Wake Forest and Clemson, the Wolfpack has a credible résumé - one sufficiently padded by the two wins in Greensboro this weekend.
And really, there should have been a third. After scoring a mere 19 points in the first half, the Wolfpack rallied to erase a 10-point deficit in the second half and hold that late lead before it all fell apart.
Over the final 3:27, N.C. State had three of its six turnovers, hoisted up odd shots and gave the Yellow Jackets the momentum when Javi Gonzalez lost the ball, then grabbed Derrick Favors' jersey and held on for the ride.
By the time the tempers from the intentional foul fizzled and N.C. State got the ball back, Georgia Tech had doubled its lead to six points, enough to move on and face the Blue Devils today.
Gonzalez justified his actions by pointing out Favors is a 50 percent free-throw shooter and it only cost his team a point when Favors missed the second free throw, an argument that overlooks the Georgia Tech possession that ensued. His passion was commendable, the execution lamentable.
Which is exactly the way the ACC tournament ended for the Wolfpack, which worked as hard as it had at any point this season to get into this position, only to let those old mistakes pop up again at the worst time.
"If there are four or five possessions we could take away, we'd probably win by five," Wood said. "It's just one of those things where if we can use our brains, we'll be all right."
The Wolfpack had just enough brain cramps to put Georgia Tech in a position to win, but it shouldn't mean the end of N.C. State's season.
The Wolfpack has earned that much.
"It tells me that we certainly have grown," N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said. "I knew they would, but they've stuck together. We're definitely moving in the right direction."
Left for dead in February, N.C. State should now be considered very much alive.
