After becoming a March legend, NC State’s Michael O’Connell is ready for final season

A ball had to bounce the right way for NC State’s season to continue last year in the ACC Tournament semifinals.  First, the Wolfpack needed Virginia’s Isaac McKneely to miss a free throw that would have given the Cavaliers a 4-point lead with 5.3 seconds left. Then they needed to rebound the ball and get it upcourt in a hurry. Finally, they needed their own desperate three-point shot to fall through the hoop.  Miraculously, it all happened. Guard guard Michael O’Connell’s last-second heave, a contested shot in front of the Pack bench at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., caromed off the backboard before spinning around the rim and falling through the net. NC State went on to win in overtime, 73-65, and advance to the championship game, where it breezed past North Carolina 84-76 to claim the trophy and an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.  In addition to delivering NC State a euphoric victory, O’Connell’s shot assured him a permanent place in the school’s basketball lore. Was the shot as big as Lorenzo Charles’ buzzer-beating layup to win the 1983 national championship? No. But it might be the most recognizable since that night the Wolfpack upset No. 1 Houston in Albuquerque, N.M., with Jim Valvano on the bench.  O’Connell’s inexplicable shot has been immortalized everywhere in the seven months since it set in motion NC State’s magical postseason run, which ultimately numbered nine wins and ended in a Final Four appearance. It’s on plenty of 8x10 photos that O’Connell has signed for fans, while the image has also been screen printed onto shirts and other memorabilia to remember the Stanford transfer’s heroics.  “It’s definitely pretty cool to have that moment captured in history,” O’Connell said recently, wearing a large grin. “For myself, my family and my teammates, it’s a pretty cool moment to see pretty consistently and get to relive every once in a while.” O’Connell will be able to savor that notoriety in the decades to come, but his shot had a near-term effect, too, in that it came just as he had seemingly unlocked a new part of his game: scoring.  Now, as he prepares to finish his collegiate career with the Wolfpack this season, O’Connell knows his role isn’t in question, and his confidence couldn’t be higher ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.