Bracketology update: Where NC State stands heading into regular season finale
Despite losing five of its last six games, including three by 29 points or more, NC State remains firmly in the NCAA Tournament field. The Wolfpack hasn’t reached bubble status, but a win over Stanford would make Will Wade feel more confident in remaining that way moving forward.
Although the Pack has skidded, it still has a legitimate chance to earn the program’s first single-digit seed since 2018 when it was a 9-seed in Kevin Keatts’ first season leading the team.
TheWolfpacker.com compiled five major bracket projections to see where NC State would land in March Madness if Selection Sunday were to happen today with its 11 combined Quad 1 (5) and Quad 2 (7) wins.
CBS Sports placed NC State in the best seed of the projections, predicting the Wolfpack to face 9-seed UCLA in the opening round in Philadelphia. The winner would square off with either 1-seed UConn or 16-seed Merrimack in the following game.
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The most-common place in the bracket for the Pack, however, was a 9-seed in Buffalo. On3 placed NC State against 8-seed Wisconsin before playing either 1-seed UConn or 16-seed LIU/UMBC. ESPN projected the first round opponent to be 8-seed UCF with UConn or 16-seed Howard/Bethune Cookman at the same location.
USA Today, meanwhile, picked NC State to face 8-seed Iowa in Philadelphia before squaring off with either 1-seed UConn or 16-seed Howard/UMBC. Fox Sports thought the Wolfpack would be a 10-seed to play 7-seed Villanova before facing 2-seed Michigan State or 15-seed Wright State in Buffalo.
But before Selection Sunday rolls around, NC State has one regular season game remaining — Stanford (March 7) — before heading to Charlotte for the ACC Tournament. If the season were to end today, the Wolfpack would be the No. 7 seed in the conference tournament, though the team can finish as high as fifth or as low as eighth depending on this weekend’s results.
NC State’s current team sheet
| NET: 33 | Opp avg. NET: 93 | Record: 19-11 |
| High NET: 25 | Avg. NET win: 121 | Home: 11-5 |
| Low NET: 45 | Avg. NET loss: 44 | Away: 6-4 |
| KenPom: 35 | NET SOS: 28 | Neutral: 2-2 |
| BPI: 38 | NET OOC SOS: 72 | SOR: 43 |
| KPI: 28 | RPI SOS: 17 | WAB: 1.63 (40th) |
| T-Rank: 38 | RPI OOC SOS: 49 | OOC WAB: -.011 (57th) |