Saturday’s game vs. #22 Virginia Tech is canceled. What does this mean for NC State’s tournament chances?

And COVID claims another one.

Saturday’s Game against Virginia Tech has been canceled.https://t.co/zPeHLGOuPc

— NC State Men’s Bball (@PackMensBball) March 3, 2021

NC State, who plays tonight vs. Notre Dame, was going to close out the regular season at home (senior day) against #22 Virginia Tech. That game has now been canceled due to COVID/Contact Tracing protocols.

What does this mean for NC State?

What this means for the Pack is that you’ve now had 4 games canceled against high-quality opponents. Those games were GT, #22 VT, #23 Louisville, and #2 Michigan. Would NC State have won all four? Would they have lost all four? Who the hell knows.

We are where we are. State is now closing out the season with a Quad 1 road game vs. Notre Dame. After that, it’s on to the ACC tournament. The facts remain the same for the Wolfpack. You have to win out. A win over Notre Dame means 5 straight wins and 5 straight road wins. Win a few in the tournament and anything is possible.

Right now the bubble is meaningless. No one even knows how the NCAA is going to weigh things. Are they taking a hard line on win %? Are they going to take COVID pauses into consideration? Are they going to care about the NET, which weighs road games heavily, even though there was no opposing crowds?

The NCAA probably doesn’t even know what the plan is at this point. So all the Wolfpack can do is go out and make it impossible for the committee to pass them up. Beat Notre Dame and win 2 or 3 in the ACC Tournament. Are you going to pass up a 9-8 ACC team on an 8 game winning streak, who has just won 8 road/neutral court games in a row?

Update: NC State is supposedly looking for an opponent to fill the slot for Saturday’s game. It wont’ be Louisville since they are playing UVA on Saturday and GT plays Wake on Friday, so it won’t be a make-up from a prior ACC cancellation. It will be interesting to see who fills in for VT, but I’m sure NC State will try their hardest to fill it with somebody. It’s senior day and Braxton Beverly and DJ Funderburk need a proper send-off with one more game on their home floor.

NC State will work with the ACC to see if additional options become available. https://t.co/sEtKJw2h6X

— Fred Demarest (@Fred_Demarest) March 3, 2021