N. C. State's men's basketball team has dropped out of the USA top twenty-five coaches poll. State dropped from twenty-fifth last week to "others receiving votes" this week. This despite winning their last three games including a win over UConn and having a Warren Nolan's RPI of 14 and a SOS of 10.


State was also discussed in USA Today's "Early Season Carries Sway" with the following under "Five Wins That Help" (note that the article title in the online USA Today is different from that in the print edition-the title above is from the print addition):

Oklahoma State 76, North Carolina State 56, Nov. 18: N.C. State may not be the ACC frontrunner everyone thought it was heading into the season, but the Wolfpack will be in the top three or four of that conference, so this win will hold up for the Cowboys. Freshman Marcus Smart had 20 points in a coming-out game for him.