Inside the locker room: Observations from NC State’s Final Four run

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The dateline on this story is from a stadium positioned in the middle of the desert, but NC State’s run through the NCAA Tournament began long before it made its way to State Farm Stadium and the Final Four. The Wolfpack, which was not even supposed to be in this spot, found a way to do it. Somehow, some way, NC State embarked on an improbable dash to college basketball’s biggest stage in front of 74,720 fans just outside of Phoenix on Saturday night.  But the path to this moment was born through an evolution that the red and white went through across a nine-game winning streak. As someone who was there for all 10 games during the Wolfpack’s mad dash through the postseason, here are some observations I had from how the team came together to create a historic run to the Final Four.