NC State would be wise to win at least one game in Charlotte

Hello and welcome back to the bubble, everybody. Until the men’s basketball program can re-assume its peak as an are-they-or-aren’t-they-in-the-tournament program, we have the baseball team to fill in at least for this year.

And what a relief that is, because I forgot what it’s like to feel this alive.

The depth of the ACC is playing in the Wolfpack’s favor, helping to compensate what has been a rough slide over the last few weeks. D1Baseball has 11 ACC teams in its latest NCAA tournament projection—good news for a State team that slid all the way to 10th in the standings prior to the league tournament.

Their last team in currently is Clemson, a team from which State took two of three back in the first week of April. NC State is first among their last four in—so the places could easily shuffle if the Tigers advance through pool play this week and State does not. And you do not want to be in a place to have to argue you should be the 11th ACC team in the field, because obviously. This is assuming the committee deems 10 teams worthy to begin with.

The good news is that both Wake and Miami provide opportunities for top-15 RPI wins. Maybe getting one of those is enough. And NC State’s season sweep over an ECU team finishing on a heater is only looking better.

But an 0-2 finish this week would create good reason for worry, depending on what happens elsewhere both inside and outside of the league. Just not a good idea in general and I don’t recommend it.