The year was 2009. Sidney Lowe was in his 4th year with the Wolfpack and was coming off a 10th place, 16-14 (6-10) season. He was relying on a backcourt of Farnold Degand, Javi Gonzalez, Julius Mays and a freshman Scott Wood, to lead this Wolfpack ball club. In the frontcourt, they had some talent. Tracy Smith, Dennis Horner, and a young Richard Howell were asked to shoulder the load. They were supplemented by athletic wing Johnny Thomas and the huge Aussie Jordan Vandenberg.
Obviously, as expected, this team didn’t end up all that great. They finished with 20 wins but a 5-11 ACC record doomed them to 10th place.
That will be remembered for two things.
This 3/4 court heave by Chandler Parsons that won the game for a ranked Florida team…
And the ‘Primetime with the Pack’ dunk contest.
When your dunk contest participants are Farnold Degand, Johnny Thomas, walk-on Kaycee Obi-Gwacham and Jordan Vandenberg you aren’t going to be expecting much. But that night, Reynolds Coliseum was electric. It had an alley-oop from the 2nd deck, a decent ‘off the side of the backboard’ slam, and a 7’1 guy going between his legs for a dunk.
This might not be the best dunk contest in ‘Primetime with the Pack’ history, but considering it’s participants and the reaction from the crowd, I’d say it’s got to be the most memorable.
NC State is 1 of 11 schools to have both their Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams earn spots in the NCAA Tournament, while also having a Division-I Football team that played a game in the postseason.
The Wolfpack Women’s Basketball team is a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and the Men are an #11 seed. The Football team lost to Kansas St. 19-28 in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
Here’s a look at the other the 11 schools who have pulled off the trifecta.
NC State
Tennessee
Texas
Texas A&M
Kansas
Alabama
Arizona
Auburn
Duke
Iowa St.
UNC
NC State is the only school in the nation, to have both their Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams play in their Conference’s Championship game.
The new Men’s College Basketball AP Poll is out, and NC State is right outside of the Top-25, sitting at 29th heading into the 1st round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack will be playing Texas Tech in the 1st round on Thursday night at 9:40, and the Red Raiders moved up 3 spots in this poll to #22.
ACC Teams in the AP Poll
5. UNC
13. Duke 29. NC State
39. Clemson
It is interesting that NC State is the 3rd highest ranked team in the AP Poll, but are the lowest seed of any ACC team in the NCAA Tournament.
With a good showing in the NCAA Tournament, the Wolfpack could find themselves in the Final AP Top-25 for the first time since 2003-04, when they finished 15th. NC State has been ranked in the Final AP Top-25 seventeen times.