NC State women's basketball bracketology update
No. 5 NC State women’s basketball is building a convincing case to earn a No. 1 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack, 18-2 on the season and 6-2 in the ACC, will play a loaded conference schedule down the stretch of the regular season that will help determine where and who the program plays in the opening rounds.
Barring a late-season collapse, NC State appears to be a near-lock to make the tournament. The Pack is the top-ranked ACC program in the Associated Press Top 25 and boasts a pair of top-10 wins to help boost its résumé.
After going into the previous tournament as a No. 7 seed, the program is primed to host NCAA Tournament games once again. ESPN’s Charlie Creme released an updated bracketology report Jan. 30. The ACC is tied with the Big 10 for a nation-leading nine tournament bids.
NC State is one of the No. 1 seeds, joining top overall seed South Carolina plus Iowa and Stanford. This seeding would place the Wolfpack in one of the Albany (N.Y.) regionals. To get to that stage in the Sweet 16, the program would have to win its first two games, which the university would host in Raleigh.
Per ESPN’s latest projections, the Wolfpack would face off against No. 16 seed Norfolk State — the automatic qualifier out of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Spartans are 15-5 and lead the conference’s standings.
This matchup would also be a showdown against former NC State guard Diamond Johnson. She played three seasons with the Wolfpack after transferring from Rutgers, winning ACC Sixth Player of the Year and receiving all-conference second-team honors during her time in Raleigh.
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Following the end of the 2022-2023 season, the star guard transferred to Norfolk State. She was not eligible for the beginning of the season because it was her second transfer but, thanks to an NCAA rule change, she has appeared in 10 games this year. Johnson quickly emerged into a starring role for the Spartans, averaging 20.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
If the Wolfpack won that matchup against the No. 16 seed, the program would play either Michigan State or Mississippi State in the round of 32. NC State senior guard Madison Hayes transferred from the latter program prior to the 2021-2022 season.
UCLA is the No. 2 seed in this region, and reigning national champion LSU is the No. 4 seed.
NC State women’s basketball NET update
NC State ranks No. 9 nationally in the NCAA’s NET ranking, a metric that plays a significant part in building a tournament résumé. The Wolfpack has already defeated three programs that also occupy a spot in the top 25 — UConn (No. 3), Colorado (No. 17) and Duke (No. 23).
No. 16 Virginia Tech and No. 40 Miami are the only teams to defeat NC State so far. A total of nine ACC programs rank in the NET’s top 50 so far this season.
