For the first time since 2018, both the NC State men’s and women’s basketball programs are heading to the Big Dance. Head coaches Kevin Keatts and Wes Moore have their work cut out for them, with a gauntlet of talented teams standing in their paths to a national title.
Men’s Basketball
The Wolfpack secured the No. 11 seed in the South Region of this year’s NCAA Tournament. Avoiding a play-in game was a welcomed sight for NC State, which finished the year on a sour note with its 80-54 loss to the Clemson Tigers in the ACC Tournament.
For Keatts, reaching the tournament for the second time in his six-year stint with the red-and-white is a major accomplishment. Rebuilding after a year in which NC State suffered its first 21-loss season with a handful of graduate transfers such as guard Jarkel Joiner, forward Jack Clark and the instant fan-favorite forward DJ Burns, Keatts has returned the Pack to the promised land.
NC State travels out west to Denver for its first round game against sixth-seeded Creighton, who finished third in the Big East with a 21-12 overall record and a 14-6 record within the conference. The Blue Jays boast quality wins this season over UConn and Xavier and are making their third consecutive tournament appearance.
NC State’s last NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018 also saw a matchup against a Big East opponent — the eighth-seeded Seton Hall — who sent the Pack home in the first round with a 94-83 win in Wichita, Kansas. However, the last time NC State made it as an 11-seed was in 2012, then-head coach Mark Gottfried’s first season in Raleigh, where the Pack won its first two games to make it to the Sweet 16.
After losing three of its last four games, the Pack looks to play like the team that beat Duke, Miami and North Carolina in the regular season.
Women’s Basketball
The Wolfpack women are making their sixth-consecutive tournament appearance and seventh overall under Moore, earning the No. 7 seed in the Greenville 2 Region. NC State’s first round matchup sends the team out to Salt Lake City to take on the No. 10 seed Princeton who won the Ivy League tournament and took a share of the conference regular-season title with an overall record of 23-5 and a 12-2 conference record.
While this season has been a step down from the championship standard the program has set the last few years, the Pack once again finds itself in March Madness, where it has won at least one game in every tournament since 2017. NC State has shown its potential this season with big wins over Iowa, Notre Dame and North Carolina, and with the potential return of junior guard Diamond Johnson from injury, the team will look to play at that level again.
Both teams begin their tournament runs on Friday, March 17, with men’s basketball playing at 4 p.m. on TNT and women’s basketball playing at 10 p.m. on ESPN2.
