NC State checks in at No. 24 in Sports Illustrated preseason top 25

Perhaps the most optimistic preseason take from a national publication that we’ll see comes from Sports Illustrated, which has NC State at No. 24 in its preseason top 25. They like us, they really like us!

And they are big believers in Ryan Finley, since you’d have to be in order to think that the Wolfpack can be a top-25 team despite losing so much veteran talent on both sides of the ball. Darian Roseboro is their pick for State’s x-factor player this season, and no doubt the Pack needs him to have a breakout year.

There are three other ACC teams in SI’s top 25: Clemson at No. 1, Miami at No. 13, and Florida State at No. 18. NC State non-conference foe West Virginia checks in at No. 10, and honestly I don’t fully understand the hype for the Mountaineers this season, but I guess we’ll see firsthand soon enough.