NCAA Basketball: Ranking the top 25 programs of all time

Best NCAA Basketball programs of all-time: 15. NC State basketball

If NC State was located in any other state – heck, even any other part of the state – they would get much more respect for being one of the better programs in college basketball history. Instead, they usually get overshadowed by Duke and North Carolina, both of whom are just minutes down the road.

Here are the total numbers: 13 conference regular-season titles, 17 conference tournament titles (seven in Southern Conference, 10 in ACC), 27 NCAA Tournament appearances, 13 Sweet 16 appearances, three Final Fours, and two national championships (1974, 1983). They also rank 25th all-time in wins and win percentage.

The Pack has had conference and national success that spans multiple decades, which is another sign of a quality program. Multiple coaches have had success, though none more famously than Jim Valvano, who brought the program back to national prominence and won the most famous of those national titles.

The biggest problem with NC State – and why you probably don’t think of them as a top 15 program – is because while they’ve had success consistently, they haven’t maintained it for extended stretches. They have only made back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances twice (1950-51, 1985-86), haven’t won the ACC in back-to-back seasons in nearly 50 years (1973-74) or at all in over 30 (1989), and haven’t made it past the Sweet 16 since 1986.

Current head coach Kevin Keatts appears to have the program back on track, posting 21-12 and 24-11 marks during his first two seasons in Raleigh, including an NCAA Tournament berth in 2018.