NCAA tournament bracketology: Where NC State is projected to play
NC State did the improbable. It won five games in five days to earn its first ACC tournament title in 36 years with an 84-76 win over top-seed North Carolina on Saturday night in Washington, D.C.
That punched the Wolfpack’s ticket to the NCAA tournament, its first back-to-back March Madness appearance since the 2014 and 2015 events. Now, the red and white will see its name pop up on the screen during the selection show Sunday night on CBS. NC State will likely be a double-digit seed in the tournament, and most experts have the Pack as an 11-seed.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi placed the Pack as an 11-seed in the East region in his bracket update after it won the championship. He projected NC State to play 6-seed Saint Mary’s in Pittsburgh and it was matched up with the winner of 3-seed Auburn and 14-seed Akron in the second round.
Like Lunardi, The Athletic’s Brian Bennett projected an 11-seed for NC State against 6-seed Saint Mary’s in the first round. But he has the game taking place in Memphis with the winner facing either 3-seed Baylor or 14-seed Vermont.
USA Today, meanwhile, slotted NC State as an 11-seed in the East region. In that projection, the Pack would face 6-seed Florida in Omaha, Neb., to open the tournament. If it were to win, it would see the winner of 3-seed Illinois and 14-seed Oakland.
In addition to those two 11-seed projections, NC State was slotted as an 11-seed in the West region by CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm. He placed the Wolfpack against 6-seed Wisconsin in Pittsburgh with the winner advancing to see either 3-seed Creighton or 14-seed Oakland.
On3’s James Fletcher III has the Wolfpack being placed in the West region as a 12-seed against 5-seed San Diego State in Spokane, Wash., in the first round. If the Pack were to win that contest, it would face the winner of 4-seed Kentucky and 13-seed Vermont.
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The Wolfpack’s appearance in this year’s NCAA tournament will be NC State’s second in as many years and its third under seventh-year coach Kevin Keatts.
The coach guided the Pack to the 2018 tournament in his first season in Raleigh when they earned a 9-seed as an at-large team. NC State lost to 8-seed Seton Hall 94-83 in the opening round in Wichita, Kan.
Keatts then led the team back to the tournament as an at-large squad last season. The Wolfpack, an 11-seed, lost to 6-seed Creighton 72-63 in Denver during the opening round.
NC State is seeking its first NCAA tournament win since the 2015 edition of the event, when Mark Gottfried led the Pack to the Sweet Sixteen in its fourth straight March Madness appearance under him.
The Wolfpack beat 9-seed LSU with a 66-65 victory in the first round before it upset 2-seed Villanova 71-68 in the second round in Pittsburgh. The Pack went on to lose to Louisville 75-65 in the Sweet Sixteen in Syracuse, N.Y.
