What does NC State need to do to make the NCAA tournament? Start winning. Now.
You have to scroll well down the NCAA basketball NET rankings to find N.C. State.
Not the Wolfpack women. They’re No. 7 in the women’s NET for now and could work their way toward being a possible No. 1 seed in the 2021 NCAA tournament by March.
But the Pack’s men’s team is No. 90 in the NET, tucked in between Liberty and Dayton. After a 64-57 loss Wednesday at home to Virginia, N.C. State is 7-7 overall and 3-6 in the ACC. The Pack has no Quadrant 1 (0-6) or Quadrant 2 (0-1) wins.
Talk about long shots for the NCAAs. One online oddsmaker gives the Pack a 3% chance of making it.
For the Pack, the best path to the NCAA tournament this season likely will be the old-fashioned way: through the ACC tournament. The Pack hasn’t won the tournament and the ACC’s automatic bid since 1987 — NCSU coach Kevin Keatts was 15 years old — but it’s a pandemic season, when the improbable can become possible and down is up.
And the tournament, if it’s played, will be in Greensboro. Good things have happened to N.C. State in Greensboro.
Or, there’s another way: start winning games. Now. Starting Saturday at Boston College. After that, Syracuse and Duke will be in Raleigh for ACC games.
Daniels injury a big blow
In the end, come March, the loss of Devon Daniels due to a torn ACL could prove to be a season-wrecker, as far-fetched as that might have sounded a few years ago. The 6-5 senior guard did so much for the Pack, scoring, slashing, rebounding. He had a little swagger to his game and wanted the ball in big moments.
The Pack also must rely a lot on freshman guards Cam Hayes, Dereon Seabron and Shakeel Moore. They’ll need to grow up, fast, smooth out their games and be bigger contributors even though the program’s COVID-19 problems robbed the three of nonconference games to help ease their way into college basketball.
“They’re thrown in the fire from the get-go,” senior guard Braxton Beverly said Wednesday on the postgame media call. “It’s hard to play four games and then hop right into the ACC. That’s hard for anybody to do.
“They’re learning. That’s all we can ask from them right now. They’re starting to get it more. They’re figuring things out, what we need from them, what they can bring to the table for us.”
Better play at ‘winning time’
The Pack, without Daniels, was in position to win the road game at Syracuse last Sunday and then the Virginia game. But “winning time” in the last five minutes of the game has been a big ask for the Wolfpack.
Virginia no longer has the lineup that won the 2019 NCAA championship. But Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett has instilled confidence in his team and players such as junior guard Kihei Clark and senior Jay Huff made big plays down the stretch as Virginia -- No. 7 in the NET rankings -- improved to 8-1 in the league.
“We talk about getting better, I think our team has learned a lot about themselves the last couple of games because we didn’t know how we were going to react going to Syracuse without Devon for the first time,” Keatts said. “We’ve got to get some more scoring from our guard position because we lost so much from Devon Daniels.”
Keatts went into his fourth season at NCSU believing he had the right basketball blend to be an NCAA team. He had seniors: Daniels, Beverly and D.J. Funderburk. Junior Jericole Hellems had experience and offensive ability, and sophomore center Manny Bates was turning his raw potential into being a solid ACC low-post scorer as well as a defensive stopper.
Thomas Allen, a transfer, was ready to step in. And then the freshman guards were eager to show what they can do with their speed and athleticism. The sight of Moore’s darting baseline drive and high-rise dunk against North Carolina at PNC Arena remains a highlight of the season.
COVID-19 caused games to be canceled and postponed. It twice caused issues within N.C. State’s program, pausing the season and robbing the Pack of practice time. The ACC did reschedule a postponed game at Virginia for Feb. 24, which will give the Pack at least a shot at a win that could enhance their NCAA positioning.
The Ken Pomeroy college basketball ranking (kenpom.com) has N.C. State at No. 73, a better position than the NET. For the Pack, that looks a little better.
In college basketball, crazy things can happen. Can’t they?
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 10:43 AM.
