NC State is Close to Locking Up an NCAA Tournament Bid
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RALEIGH — With the start of the NCAA Tournament rapidly approaching, many teams around the country are starting to solidify comfortable spots in the 68-team field and the projections for the tournament. NC State is on the verge of all but locking up a spot in the field and avoiding any anxiety on Selection Sunday when the calendar flips to March.
With an 18-7 record overall and a 9-3 record in ACC play, in a year in which the conference looks much stronger than recent seasons, the Wolfpack should be one or two wins away from firmly locking up a spot. Will Wade's group could use another marquee victory before the end of the league season. The opportunities are abundant.
Can the Wolfpack get to 20 wins?
As things currently stand, ESPN projects NC State as a "lock" for the NCAA Tournament, meaning the momentum would have to significantly change for the Wolfpack to miss the dance come March. With one or two more Quadrant 1 victories, the Wolfpack's resumé would be fairly bulletproof, with the lone blemish being a Quadrant 3 loss to Georgia Tech.
Saturday's matchup against Miami offers NC State a quality opportunity to prove itself better than one of the teams in the ACC battling for a spot on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Hurricanes are a strong bunch, but haven't quite secured a safe spot in the field of 68. That makes the game against the Wolfpack, which would be Quadrant 1 for Miami by Q-2 for NC State, an important one.
Teams with 20-plus wins in Power Conferences tend to have a good chance of making the NCAA Tournament, although external factors like bid stealers and NET ranking can have an effect on that trend. SMU won 23 games in 2024-25, but missed the NCAA Tournament by a hair. The Wolfpack doesn't want to risk a similar fate, so it will need to find a way to pick up a handful of wins down the stretch.
Wade explained on "Wolfpack Weekly" that he views the conference schedule in thirds, essentially breaking the 18 games into six-game segments. NC State is 4-2 and 5-1 in the first two segments. In an ideal world for the head coach, the Pack finishes the final segment with a 4-2 record or better, beginning with a home victory over the Hurricanes.
If it can carry momentum from a win Saturday over the Canes into the rivalry matchup against a UNC team that will surely be ranked and steal a win next week, the tournament hopes are all but guaranteed.
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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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