NC State travels to enemy territory this Tuesday night as they face bitter rival UNC. The Dean Dome has been extremely unkind to the Pack since it opened in 1986. Carolina holds a 22-5 advantage over NC State and even more impressive Roy Williams holds a career record of 23-2 (28-2 overall). I must admit that Roy has done a great job of selling this game as a bitter rival that they must come ready to play. In all of the years that he has been at the helm his teams always seem to respect the rivalry and play hard.

This season UNC escaped PNC with a victory but just barely. State found a way to claw back into the contest behind some clutch three pointers and were a tip-in away from pushing the game into overtime. I am not sure what it is about the Smith Center that has caused murphy’s law to rear its ugly head towards the Wolfpack. Lets be honest though, UNC has had the superior program and quite frankly they have been more talented. There have not been many cases in the past 25 years where the Pack was actually favored to beat the Tar Heels. These are hard words for me to type because I hate UNC and believe that State belongs in the same category as them as far as athletic achievements. I also believe that State has done a much better job recently of developing athletes on and off the field of play when compared to Carolina.

Lets look at their basketball program in the recent seasons. They always seem to get the so called All-American recruit; however, more often than not it seems like these players never live up to the hype. It has been common place to see UNC lose games that they have no business losing, especially when one looks at the “so called” talent they have on their roster. Now I am not saying UNC is not talented but I do believe that when a player signs with North Carolina it seems that they automatically get a boost up on all of the recruiting websites. Would Cody and Caleb Martin been rated inside the Top 50 according ESPN if they signed with UNC? Would Malik Abu been Top 20?

If you want to compare UNC’s 2014 class to NC State’s 2014 class I think its obvious that State’s class has been more impressive this season. Joel Berry and Theo Pinson are averaging under 4 points per game and were not contributing before both suffered injuries that have held them out as of late. Justin Jackson was the highest rated recruit of these three and had been solid but has not been a game changer in my opinion. I would take Cody and Caleb over Jackson any day. I think either one of them can shut down Jackson given their much superior build and athleticism. I can start to see that NC State is beginning to catch up to UNC. I would also argue that the Wolfpack is better set up for the next few years as our last two recruiting classes have seemed to show great improvements this season. Look at the play of Cat Barber, BeeJay Anya, and Trevor Lacey. I throw Trevor in because our coaches indeed had to recruit him to enroll with the Pack. Looking ahead at next season NC State stands to return the core of our team and add in highly touted transfer Terry Henderson.

The only way State can argue that they are a program on the upswing and not the red headed step child of Tobacco Road is to win! We have shown the ability and have had good results against Duke and UNC at home; since Gottfried arrived on campus. But we must not be satisfied with being competitive with theses two schools. There is no reason why NC State cannot rise to the same heights of these two prestigious programs. We too have a rich history (Multiple NCAA Championships) and will always first and foremost be a basketball school (Sorry Coach Doeren). Our athletic department with Dr. Yow at the head have put the required resources into the basketball program to put us on equal footing with any program in the country. The Dail Center is a state of the art practice facility equipped with all the resources to help our student athletes reach their full potential. The PNC Arena is one of the best venues in both the college and pro ranks. Few if any schools in the country have more to sell than NC State.

These reasons are why I can confidently predict that State is going to surpass UNC in the coming seasons on the basketball court. I honestly think that State is a better team this season than UNC. It has to first start with the belief and swagger to leave the past where it belongs…in the past. State has to come out this Tuesday night and assert their dominance and take away the Tarheel faithful by playing with a fiery desire. There is no reason why the Wolfpack cannot walk away with a win this Tuesday. A win would do wonders for the Pack not only mentally but will add another quality win to our NCAA resume.

Tip-Off is slated for 8PM. You can catch all of the action on ACCN/Raycom.