#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.
More from Bracketology
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- Women’s Basketball Bracketology: The case for Maryland as a 1 seed
- Women’s Basketball Bracketology: NC State ascends to the 1 line
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.