State Women a No. 2 Seed in Midseason Top 16 Reveal

In addition to the team recognition, sophomore center Elissa Cunane has been named to the Wooden Award Top 20 Watch List

Jim Dedmon/USAToday sports

If the college basketball season ended today, NC State's seventh-ranked women's team would be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that the Wolfpack would be in the same Greenville, S.C. regional bracket with top-ranked South Carolina -- the nation's most dominant team thus far in 2019-20,

Back to the good news.

The season doesn't end today. There's still a month of games, including a showdown with ACC rival and projected No. 1 seed Louisville, left to be played before the NCAA selection committee actually makes the selections that matter.

The committee's first top 16 reveal was a made-for-TV event Monday. Another top 16 will be relased on Monday, March 2. It will also have no bearing on the final 64-team field that will be announced on Selection Monday, March 16.

Coach Wes Moore's Wolfpack is 21-1 overall, 10-1 in the ACC.

The entire top 16 looks like this:

1. South Carolina (No. 1 seed — Greenville Region)
2. Baylor (No. 1 seed — Dallas Region)
3. Louisville (No. 1 seed — Fort Wayne Region)
4. Oregon (No. 1 seed — Portland Region)
5. UConn
6. Stanford
7. NC State
8. Maryland
9. Oregon State
10. Mississippi State
11. UCLA
12. Gonzaga
13. Arizona
14. DePaul
15. Iowa
16. Northwestern

Individually, Wolfpack sophomore Elissa Cunane has been named to the late season top 20 watch list for the Wooden Award, symbolic of the National Player of the Year in women's basketball.

A 6-foot-5 center, Cunane is just one of two players in the ACC averaging a double-double on the season with 17.0 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Her rebounding average and field goal percentage (.598) both lead the league. She is also tied for No. 1 in the conference with 11 double-doubles.