2) How good is NC State?
We know that Wolfpack should be an NCAA Tournament team in 2019, but can they be a factor in the ACC? Are they a top 25 team?
NC State has several good players, many of whom played major roles last year when they knocked off the likes of Arizona, Duke, and UNC. This year, they have the pieces to take another step forward but we haven’t seen them prove it yet.
Their 9-1 record only contains two victories over notable opponents (Vanderbilt, Penn State) and neither of them are expected to make the NCAA Tournament. Essentially, the Pack has taken care of business to this point.
Even that loss to Wisconsin was promising for NC State. They led and dictated the game for a majority of the 40 minutes before things changed down the stretch thanks to Brad Davison started flopping around taking charges all over the place.
As is the case with Auburn, this will be NC State’s final notable test before conference play. This was always the Wolfpack’s best chance to pick up a real resume-boosting win – the way they play will tell us a lot about how good they actually are and what we should expect from them in the ACC.