Congratulations to first year head coach, Mark Gottfriend and his NC State Wolfpack for earning an at-large berth to the 2012 NCAA Basketball Tournament!! Gottfried takes the Wolfpack program back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2005-2006 season and joins Press Maravich and Les Robinson as first-year coaches to lead NC State to the NCAA Tournament.
NC State earned an 11th seed in the Midwest region and will play Steve Fischer’s San Diego State Aztecs on Friday in Columbus, Ohio. If State were to win on Friday the Wolfpack would advance to play the winner of Georgetown and Belmont on Sunday.
CBS really toyed with WolfpackNation when the network waited to announce NC State as the LAST of the 68 teams in the field. (Link) In reality, the Wolfpack was not even a part of the ‘Last 4’ in the field; State was ultimately seeded No. 42 overall, ahead of Texas, California, South Florida, BYU (in order).
The selection also committee announced that Oral Roberts, Miami, Nevada and Drexel were the first four for whom the bubble burst this year.
The Atlantic Coast Conference ultimately got five teams in the dance, with NC State joining rival, #1 seeded UNC-CH in the same region! Duke, Florida State, and Virginia also were included. Virginia’s 10th seed match-up with 7th seeded Florida looks to be a tough match up for the Cavs.
The intensity with which NC State fans have been sweating our position on the proverbial ‘bubble’ has increased to a fever pitch in recent days. But, if you were following SFN this afternoon you would have seen some ‘inside information’ that hit around 5:15pm that would have helped you breathe a little easier. (Link)
The Midwest region seeds are as follows: 1 UNC, 2 Kansas, 3 Georgetown, 4 Michigan, 5 Temple, 6 San Diego State, 7 St Mary’s, 8 Creighton, 9 Alabama, 10 Purdue, 11 NC State, 12 Cal/USF, 13 Ohio (coached by former NC State assistant, John Groce), 14 Belmont, 15 Detroit, 16 Lamar/Vermont.
This evening, Dick Vitale picked his sleepers as defined by 5th seeds or higher — UCONN, Memphis, Vanderbilt and NC State.
11 PM Update: Game time set.
@Pack Prideâ€
State’s game on Friday at 12:40 will be called by Tim Brando and Mike Gminski. The game will be on TruTV.
You can click here for a quick interview with Coach Gottfried right after the announcement.
To discuss a slew of other current NC State-related topics then you really should click here.
