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The three teams among top sixteen seeds with questions to answer

By Blake DuDonis

CINCINNATI, OH - JANUARY 25: Marquette Golden Eagles head coach Carolyn Kieger coaches her players during the game against the Marquette Golden Eagles and the Xavier Musketeers on January 25th, 2019 at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, OH. (Photo by Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH - JANUARY 25: Marquette Golden Eagles head coach Carolyn Kieger coaches her players during the game against the Marquette Golden Eagles and the Xavier Musketeers on January 25th, 2019 at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, OH. (Photo by Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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TALLAHASSEE, FL – FEBRUARY 07: Wes Moore head coach North Carolina State University Wolfpack watches from the sideline in an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) match-up with the Florida State (FSU) Seminoles, Thursday, February 7, 2019, at Donald Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by David Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
TALLAHASSEE, FL – FEBRUARY 07: Wes Moore head coach North Carolina State University Wolfpack watches from the sideline in an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) match-up with the Florida State (FSU) Seminoles, Thursday, February 7, 2019, at Donald Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by David Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

#8 North Carolina State

This one is kind of cheating because it mostly has to do with the bad luck they’ve gotten and nothing to do with what they have actually accomplished. A program-best 21-0 start saw State sitting in the Top 10 all season long, and while the AP voters have them just outside of that now, the committee still feels like they are a two seed. I just don’t know how that can be.

The Wolfpack’s best win is against Michigan State on a neutral court, a very nice win. Their next best win is against… Belmont? All eight of their ACC wins have come against teams that will not be making the tournament, then the aforementioned Michigan State and Belmont, plus Radford, Old Dominion, and Michigan are the other notable wins. While those are all schools who might find themselves in the tournament, I just don’t know if that screams “two seed” to me.

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The bad luck I alluded to earlier is, of course, all of the injuries the team has endured. Leading scorer Grace Hunter’s torn ACL was the one a lot of people bemoaned the most, but they also lost Armani Hawkins to the same injury against Pitt. Before either of those, grad player Kaila Ealey, who logged over 33 minutes per game for the Pack last season, went down before even playing a game.

You hate to see a team derailed by their injuries, and that just may be what undoes this team in the end. We’ve seen Wes Moore squeeze blood from a stone before, but this team matching last year’s Sweet Sixteen run would be his most impressive coaching just yet. I refuse to count them out, but I can’t pretend I’m not concerned.

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