Another late season collapse! Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong! We’re cursed!

Wolfpack fans are all too familiar with those above statements. Ever since Jimmy V was pushed out and the Wolfpack was forced to forfeit scholarships it’s been a self-loathing pity party in Raleigh. Sure, the way it was reported and carried out was unfair. A historical powerhouse and consistant ACC contender hung by the neck for all to see, for a crime they (arguably) didn’t commit. Then the dark years ensued. The combination of the sanctions and 6 years of Les Robinson were enough to make NC State an afterthought in the ACC. Herb Sendek then tried his hand,  and with the help of Julius Hodge did all they could to change that perception…and for a while they were making progress. However, Sendek couldn’t crack the fan base and the culture. The fans wanted more, they wanted a national contender that could go toe-to-toe with UNC and Duke, but building a program to that level isn’t so easy. After Sendek was driven out of town it was tough to find someone willing to come into a rebuilding job with extreme expectations.

Enter Sidney Lowe. There was a lot of hype around the hire, but in the end it was a step backwards by NC State and called into question the job Lee Fowler was doing as athletic director. Fowler was ousted in favor of the firey Debbie Yow. Yow knew that she didn’t just need to find a new head coach, but also needed to rebrand an entire program while completely rewiring the mentality of every Wolfpack fan that had witnessed the past 25 years.

She brought in a coach with charisma. He came from UCLA and was strong rooted in the teaching of legend John Wooden. She then brought in a marketing team to help NC State Athletics connect with the younger generation. She consistently put NC State history on display and talked about how NC State was a sleeping powerhouse that simply needed to be awoken. Her proof was in 2 national championship trophies and 10 ACC championships the Pack had in their back pocket. She embraced the fan base and instead of calling them lunatics or crazies, called them passionate and rightfully demanding. She asked what they wanted to see and gave a feeling of ownership back to those that had invested so much in the red and the white. Then she delivered.

Mark Gottfried took the baton and ran with it. He took a group that finished 10th place the year prior and brought them to the Sweet Sixteen. People started to take notice. The ‘NC State’ brand was back on the national stage. Then with two superstars in CJ Leslie and Lorenzo Brown, the Pack started the next season as a top 10 team. While that team didn’t quite live up to expectations, they were certainly hyped up enough to have a plethora of primetime appearances on ESPN. The brand name continued to pick up steam.

Then came this year. This was one of those seasons that was very important. This season would answer a lot of questions about this team, this new direction and their head coach. Was the current run by NC State a product of Debbie Yow’s vision for the future, coupled by a head coach who knew how to take the product on the floor to the next level?  Or was a it a lucky recruiting class by Sidney Lowe that Gottfried was reaping rewards from?

State only returned one upper-classman with any experience. They had 2 transfer juniors and the rest of their team were freshmen or sophomores. The media picked them 10th. It seemed like par for the course for NC State athletics. A few good years, then a few bad years, but nothing that ever signalled that they were back on the national stage to stay.

Then, out of nowhere, the pieces started to fall into place. TJ Warren dedicated himself in the offseason. He changed his body and welcomed the role of lead scorer for the Wolfpack. The freshmen came in ready to play and weren’t afraid of ACC competition. Ralston Turner was as advertised from beyond the arc. The team simply came together. They bought into Mark Gottfried’s vision, they believed in themselves and then they overcame the odds. For the 3rd consecutive season, NC State was in the post season discussion.

Then with a late season explosion, TJ Warren captured the ACC player of the year. The team made headlines by controversially sneaking into the NCAA Tournament and then dismantling a Xavior team that was favored to advance.  People once again were talking about NC State. But as we all know, NC State fans weren’t buying the hype. Pain, torture and dispair does a crazy thing to the human psyche. Suddenly instead of enjoying the ride, you’re bracing for the fall. Instead of celebrating the accomplishments, you’re pointing out the shortcomings.

The point behind this article is to tell you to go ahead and open the curtains, take a peek outside. The future is bright. The corner is being turned as we speak. NC State is once again on a player on the national stage.

You don’t believe me do you? The three consecutive NCAA tournaments won’t convince you? The three consecutive top 15 recruiting classes aren’t going to sway you? …Why?  This program is on the brink of doing what you have wanted them to do for the past 25 years. They are coming off 3 great seasons. They have a very solid base of players returning next season along with the #15 recruiting class in the nation. They have a coach who has done nothing but prove he can win, recruit and motivate at a very high level.

If all of that isn’t enough to convince you then take a look at this…

Forbes has just released the list of College Basketball’s most valuable teams and NC State is number 12. Who is ahead of them? Let’s list them out for you:

Michigan State, Duke, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Arizona, Indiana, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas and #1 Louisville.

Does NC State look like an outlier to you? Well, if you’re stuck looking in the past and remembering  how many poor seasons the Pack has endured over the past few decades, then yep that’s an outlier. But if you’re looking at the string of recent successes, and really examining the steps that have been taken to assure them, then you’d understand that is isn’t an aberration, but an evolution. NC State is generating excitement again. They are churning out elite players again and they’re breaking out of a mold that have held them down for a long, long time.

It’s time to stop sitting back and wondering when this will all come crashing down and time to start realizing that we just might be experiencing the rebirth of NC State basketball. You can disagree if you’d like, and you can chalk this up as perception or opinion, but dollars don’t lie. People are paying attention to the Wolfpack again and it’s about damn time.