Last year’s NCAA tournament Cinderella won’t be attending the dance this year

N.C. State beat Pittsburgh 71-63 on Wednesday night; however, Notre Dame’s 66-64 win against Stanford will eliminate any chance that N.C. State goes on another March Madness run like they did in 2024.

With the addition of Stanford, California and SMU to the ACC, the conference decided that only the top 15 teams will make the ACC conference tournament. The Wolfpack entered the night needing to win both of their final games and have Notre Dame lose twice to grab a spot in the bracket. N.C. State did their part but couldn’t get the assist from the Irish.

N.C. State captured the nation’s attention with an all-time March run in 2024. Kevin Keatts’s team stumbled into the ACC tournament with a 9-11 conference record and were seeded 10th. The Wolfpack then proceeded to reel off five straight victories and capture the ACC auto-bid in the process. Despite receiving an 11 seed in the NCAA tournament, N.C. State rattled off four straight upsets to return to the Final Four for the first time since 1983. 

Now, Pack fans are left to pick up the pieces of a season where nothing seemed to go right. N.C. State lost four of the five starters from the 2024 Final Four team, but Kevin Keatts brought in several transfers that were supposed to fill the holes left by the departures. Instead, N.C. State lost every non-conference game against major conference opponents and couldn’t get anything going in conference play despite the ACC being historically weak this year. State is among the worst teams in the country in shooting and rebounding percentage.

It’s hard to say where N.C. State will go from here. Kevin Keatts was on thin ice at the end of last year before the Wolfpack’s miraculous postseason run; he ended up getting a contract extension after the ACC championship game victory and is under contract until 2030. That being said, the Wolfpack faithful are a passionate fanbase that yearns to return to prominence in men’s basketball; while it’s unlikely they move on from Keatts after this year, he will start next year under considerable pressure to win consistently.