N.C. State is still playing basketball

Tim Hall

Tim Hall covers ACC basketball and football for 99.9 The Fan and 620 The Buzz. Follow him on Twitter @THall999

N.C. State is still playing basketball

By Tim Hall
Feb 13, 2009

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It seemed like we hit this point during last season as well. You know the time when Duke and North Carolina were highly ranked with 20-plus wins, and triangle neighbor N.C. State was flailing in the wind almost 10 games back in the ACC?

On Wednesday they took a huge step towards avoiding a repeat of what happened last year.

What happened on Wednesday you ask? Surely they weren't playing on Wednesday were they? That was the night Duke and North Carolina played in Dick Vitale's super scintillating sensational favorite all-time game. Actually N.C. State played too, against a top ten team, right here in the triangle. And would you believe it, they won!

The Wolfpack did something they didn't do all last season when they beat Wake Forest - beat a top ten team. And as I said they took a step in avoiding the collapse of last season, it's surprising how different the season has gone up to this point.

It's hard to even imagine this because the only thing you remember about last season is the nine games in a row they lost to end the season. But last year's Pack sat on a comfy 15-7 record in early February after consecutive wins over decent Wake Forest and Virginia Tech teams. They were 4-4 in the league. Then like a sack of bricks falling from a skyscraper they were 15-16 and Sidney Lowe was playing golf.

I like the position they are in right now. Sure they are only 13-9 and 3-6 in the ACC (much worse than where they were last season) and have to play North Carolina and Wake Forest on the road. But after that win over Wake Forest, it finally gave these veterans the taste of success that eluded them in the Davidson, Marquette, and Florida games. There is no way this team finishes the season as bad as last year, not here, not now.

There are too many players still on this team that were a part of that disaster of epic proportions last year, and I see this team beating Georgia Tech on the road and making a strong push to win 17 games before the regular season ends. Hey the NIT sucks, but it would be a great step up for a program that missed the CBE Classic (below NIT) last year.