A series win at Florida State might have solidified a national seed for NC State in the 2012 NCAA tournament, but since that didn't happen, the Pack has some work to do. I think State has locked up a regional host slot regardless of what happens over the next week, so that relieves the team of a lot of pressure. No matter what happens in the ACC tournament, they're going to be playing at home and favored to advance during the first round of the NCAAs.
Here's SEBaseball.com's current regional projection:
Raleigh Regional
Host: North Carolina State
1. NC State 38-15 #10 (ACC at large)
4. Belmont 35-21 #70 (ASun Automatic)
2. Coastal Carolina 37-17 #43 (BSC Automatic)
3. UNC-Wilmington 35-20 #42 (CAA Automatic)
In that site's estimation, South Carolina is the last team that will receive a national seed. If we take that as the hypothetical cut line, what needs to happen for NC State to slide into that spot?
The Gamecocks are 14-12 against the RPI top 50 according to Warren Nolan and 6-0 against teams ranked 51-100. (20-12; .625 overall) NC State is 17-12 against the top 50 and 22-14 (.611) against the top 100. Setting aside whatever pull comes with the South Carolina name (stop laughing) at this point, conference tournament performance is gonna go a long way toward determining how that last national seed or two is awarded.
You can go ahead and buy tickets for the first round of the NCAAs. This week is all about whether or not we can count on staying home for the Super Regionals.