NCAA Basketball: Baylor’s ceiling, Michigan’s return and more weekly takeaways

7) NC State can be dangerous if they make the NCAA Tournament

We touched on NC State‘s upset win over Duke earlier and it was monumental for a Wolfpack team that is on the bubble. They could’ve (likely) secured their place on Saturday but ended up blowing a halftime lead against Florida State.

I was at both games this week and came away impressed with the potential of NC State – when they play the way they want to play.

The Wolfpack are at their best when they push the tempo, get out in transition, and play aggressive pressure defense – the way they played in head coach Kevin Keatts’ first two years at the helm. That’s how they handled Duke on Wednesday, setting the tone from start to finish.

Yet NC State doesn’t always play that way. Largely due to a lack of depth, the Wolfpack have played a generally slower pace, which limits what they do well. They’re also terrible with their half-court execution, so opponents can really limit their offense by slowing the game down. FSU succeeded in doing this in the second half Saturday and ultimately came back to win.

NC State has several long, athletic wings that excel in transition, a quality point guard in Markell Johnson who is at his best when playing downhill, and two bigs in D.J. Funderburk and Manny Bates who usually have the athleticism advantage over the counterparts.

The talent is there when they play fast, which could make them the kind of double-digit seed that will be very tough to face in the NCAA Tournament. They just have to ensure they make it first