NC State wants to end season on high note, regardless of March Madness draw
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Bracketologists unanimously have NC State in the NCAA field; seed and location vary.
- Team aims to maximize remaining games and preserve moments for program stakeholders.
- Players emphasize film study, internal work and preparation; Coach Wade stresses effort.
Louisville players ran down the hallway in front of N.C. State’s locker room on Thursday afternoon at Spectrum Center. Wolfpack senior guard Quadir Copeland walked in the opposite direction, his head hung and body language somber.
The Cardinals’ excitement ran contrary to Copeland’s frustration and disappointment after N.C. State fell to Virginia, 81-74, in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. It was the Pack’s third loss to the Cavaliers this season and the team’s fifth loss in the past six games.
Every NCAA Tournament predictor has N.C. State making the field of 68, according to BracketMatrix. The seed line ranges from No. 9 to No. 11, and its regional assignment varies, but bracketologists are in consensus the Wolfpack will earn a spot in the national postseason tournament. The News & Observer’s bracketology expert, Patrick Stevens, agrees.
Some predictions have the team going to Oklahoma City for the first weekend. Others say Buffalo. Frankly, the team has bounced around the bracket all season, and nobody is confident where the team will land, other than its resume is better than those of several other bubble teams.
Its resume — which includes 11 Quad 1 and Quad 2 wins, one ACC Tournament victory, Top 40 rankings in the NET and KenPom, and solid metrics — should be good enough in the eyes of the selection committee. That doesn’t mean the results, especially down the stretch, haven’t hurt the team’s reputation and, at times, the players’ spirit.
Despite the tough ending, though, the Wolfpack feels relatively confident it will have at least one more weekend together. It wants to make the most of it.
“We’ve got another opportunity to play, thankfully, so we’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity,” senior forward Ven-Allen Lubin said on Thursday. “This could be our last game. We just want to make sure that we’re prepared.”
‘Not getting these moments back’
Copeland squatted in front of the N.C. State band on Thursday morning during pregame warmups, after giving every member a fist bump. He threw up the “wolf” hand gesture as the group’s conductor and university professor, Paul Garcia, took a photo.
It only took about 20 or 30 seconds out of his routine.
Earlier this season, Copeland joined his teammates in taking selfies with a young fan at Boston College. He did his postgame interview after the Wolfpack’s 84-83 win at SMU alongside the usher stationed outside the locker room.
The team certainly wants to extend its time together, but Copeland and Lubin acknowledged the season holds meaning for a lot of people. They’re representing the name across the front of their jerseys, they said, not just the back.
“We had talks, just us. The guys came together and realized we’re not going to get none of these moments back,” Copeland said Wednesday after N.C. State’s 98-88 win over Pitt. “When we’re in these types of environments and playing these types of teams, everyone matters. The band, the cheerleaders, the people behind the bench, our crowd; everybody matters. The people that’s into [the game], the more help we’ve got, the more support we feel, the more people we’ve got behind us, we appreciate all of them.
“This is our last shot. Let’s go make something happen. We ain’t going to get none of those moments back. Looking at this five, six years from now down the line, we don’t want to have no ‘what-ifs’ or ‘what if we would have done this?’ Back against the wall, full throttle down.”
One last ride
N.C. State’s late-season slide has been tough for supporters to watch, and some have expressed that pretty clearly. It’s been tough to live through it, too, especially when a number of games were within the team’s grasp.
That’s been the most discouraging part. The Pack showed it can play high-effort basketball and can compete with some of the top teams. But that hasn’t happened consistently. If it did, the Pack wouldn’t be in this position, waiting to see if a bid stealer sends the Wolfpack to Dayton for the First Four. It wouldn’t be aggravated by the fact it let a Top 4 finish in the ACC slip away.
But, head coach Will Wade always says he “lives in reality.” That’s the reality for his first-year squad.
“We haven’t, quite frankly, played with this level of effort all the time this year,” Wade said after the ACC Tournament loss. “It’s tough to correct all the details, and it’s tough to correct all the little things when you’re coaching effort and trying to get effort from guys.”
Except that doesn’t have to be the reality for the end of the season.
Lubin, Copeland, sophomore guard Paul McNeil and freshman guard Matt Able were among the players to emphasize this week’s preparation.
N.C. State will do a film study on its opponent, but it plans to do some internal work. The Wolfpack players need to watch film on themselves, seeing where they can improve in various situations regardless of opponent. It needs physical and mental preparation. Lubin wants to see the team use this week to stay connected.
The season is not over — at least not yet. And how long it lasts is entirely up to the Pack.
“I think we’re going to be good,” Able said. “We have a great staff. We have a great group of guys, so I think we’re very good at building off each other and picking each other up. Everyone’s had bad games, everyone’s made mistakes in the crunch. I feel like we have a great team around us to help build off this.”