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NC State Cracks Top 25 For First Time Under Wade

The Wolfpack's 3-0 start was enough for voters to put the team in the AP Top 25 for the third week of the season.
Tucker Sennett|
Feb 1, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina State Wolfpack guard Paul McNeil (2) looks on before the first half of the game against the Clemson Tigers at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images
Feb 1, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina State Wolfpack guard Paul McNeil (2) looks on before the first half of the game against the Clemson Tigers at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images | Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images

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North Carolina State Wolfpack

RALEIGH — After starting the season 3-0, NC State earned enough votes to join the AP Top 25 for the first time in the Will Wade era, coming in at No. 25 in the third week update of the poll.

The Wolfpack played just one game in the second week of the season, beating UNC Greensboro 110-64 at the Lenovo Center. The team received 97 votes, 26 more than the next closest program, San Diego State. With the most difficult test of the season coming Monday night in the form of the VCU Rams, the Wolfpack will now have a bigger target on its back.

Breaking Down the Poll

Monday's addition to the poll marked the first time NC State has been ranked since the Final Four run in 2024, when the Wolfpack finished the season ranked No. 10 overall. The team collapsed in the 2024-25 season under head coach Kevin Keatts, ultimately leading athletic director Boo Corrigan to hire Wade from McNeese State.

As for how NC State made its way into the latest poll, the Wolfpack dominated opposition that needed to be dominated. The Wolfpack won its first three games by an average of ~39 points per game. It scored over 100 points in two of those outings, helping earn a KenPom offensive efficiency rating of 119.8, the 16th-best in the nation.

As for the rest of the ACC, Louisville jumped up six spots to No. 6 in the nation, while Duke fell one spot to No. 5. North Carolina stood pat at No. 18 with a dominant win over NC Central, a common opponent between the Tar Heels and the Wolfpack. Three more schools — Virginia, Virginia Tech and Stanford — all received votes as well, but not enough to crack the poll for the first time of the season.

NC State's entry into the top-25 is a big development for the conference, as commissioner Jim Phillips' goal remain to improve the standing of the conference nationally. With two teams in the top-10 and the Triangle starting to look like one of the more formidable regions in all of college basketball again, his vision is starting to look more realistic.

So long as NC State holds strong against VCU on Monday, it will stand pat in the rankings. The voters haven't been too punitive to teams winning games against lesser competition so far and a ranked NC State team heading into the Maui Invitational won't be a bad thing for the ACC or the sport.

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Tucker Sennett
TUCKER SENNETT

Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.

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