Why Not Us? How N.C. State Men's and Women's Basketball Made Their First Final Four Appearances in

WHY NOT US?

How N.C. State Men’s and Women’s Basketball Made Their First Final Four Appearances in Decades

EDITORS

Steve Wiseman, Justin Pelletier, Scott Sharpe

WRITERS

Chip Alexander, Andrew Carter, Luke DeCock, Jadyn Watson-Fisher, Steve Wiseman

VISUALS

Ethan Hyman, Travis Long, Robert Willett, Kaitlin McKeown, Jaden Coleman

Foreword

BY CHIP ALEXANDER

The stories had been told and retold so many times that even those doing the telling were growing tired of it. And growing older.

Everett Case brought bigtime basketball to N.C. State. David Thompson led the Wolfpack to the school’s first national championship in 1974. Jim Valvano coached the Pack to a magical ride and another NCAA title in 1983. The Wolfpack upset North Carolina to win the ACC championship in 1987.

That’s pretty much where the basketball stories ended. Those N.C. State fans and graduates in the new millennium were left to pull out commemorative leather-bound books or watch ESPN’s 30-for-30 documentary “Survive and Advance” on the ’83 team or drop by Reynolds Coliseum on campus to see the statues outside: Case, Valvano, Norman Sloan and the newest addition, for Thompson.

And Kay Yow. She has a statue. In many ways, Yow was the Everett Case of women’s

basketball in the ACC, building a program that was the envy of many. She coached Team USA to an Olympic gold medal in 1988 but never led the Wolfpack to a national championship. The Pack’s lone Final Four appearance was in 1998.

The years passed. Coaches changed. The ACC changed. College basketball changed. Valvano and Yow died, both of cancer, both remembered for their valiant battles against cancer and their indefatigable spirit in doing it.

N.C. State remained competitive in men’s basketball but the other schools and teams collected all the championships, went to Final Fours. Would that ever change, many Wolfpack fans wondered? Or would the memories of years past, of other teams and other Wolfpack stars, have to suffice for another generation?

In February 2024, N.C. State honored the 1974 championship team during halftime of the Boston College game at PNC Arena.

Many of the players were there for the 50th reunion, most in their 70s, needing a little

extra time to get out to midcourt, their slowed gait another reminder of time moving on even as the cheers that day were long, loud and appreciative.

And then, almost in a flash, seemingly as fast as a David Thompson high-rise move to the basket, everything changed. March would be a month unlike any other in N.C. State’s rich basketball history. New stories, new memories were borne.

Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts took his team to Washington, D.C., for the ACC Tournament and improbably won five games in five days to become ACC champions, played their way into the NCAA Tournament and then kept on playing. The Wolfpack women, after a season spent high in the national rankings, kept on playing and winning in the NCAA Tournament, giving State fans twice as much pleasure.

Just like that, each team reached the Final Four, the two fast emerging as national stories.

The Pack’s DJ Burns Jr. became everybody’s favorite big man with his dance-step moves with the basketball, his soft left-handed shots and his fun-loving, outsized personality complete with that gap-toothed smile. Women’s coach Wes Moore and his band of stars, including dynamic Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers, arrived in Cleveland much like the men in Phoenix, unexpected guests at the biggest shows in college basketball. Neither Wolfpack team won national championships. Both were champions without the trophies and the nets. Kevin Keatts might have said it best before leaving Arizona: “What a great memory for anyone. Maybe a grandparent, alumni, a current student, the student body … I mean, these memories will never fade.”

The old stories still remain but new stories now can be told and retold. N.C. State’s basketball history has a new chapter that also should age quite well.

MEN’S ACC TOURNAMENT

N.C. State men beat Louisville in ACC Tournament

BY JADYN WATSON-FISHER • MARCH 12, 2024

WASHINGTON, D.C. — One N.C.

State fan at the Capital One Arena made her feelings clear about her team: “They are making me sweat. Oh my god.”

Her reaction was fair for a game that featured seven ties and three lead changes by both teams.

No. 10 seed N.C. State (18-14, 9-11 ACC) beat No. 15 seed Louisville (8-24, 3-17 ACC), 94-85, to extend its season and snap a fourgame losing streak.

To start the game, the bench looked uninspired during the starting lineup introduction — like the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

N.C. State’s play in the first 10 minutes didn’t inspire much confidence, either. It committed four turnovers by the under-16 timeout, DJ Burns picked up two fouls and the defense lacked toughness. Louisville capitalized on

the combination, taking a 10-point lead twice in the first half.

Then, shots started falling and the Wolfpack’s defense got stops. The team showed signs of life.

That said, it couldn’t contain Louisville’s Skyy Clark. The sophomore came in averaging 12.4 points per game and recorded a careerhigh 36 points to lead all scorers. His previous career high was 29 points, set against New Mexico State on Nov. 26, 2023.

The Wolfpack shot 53%, going 27 of 51, while making 33 free throws. N.C. State is now 7-0 when it shoots 50% or better from the field.

It is also 2-0 when scoring at least 90 points.

“It was a shootout. Our defense wasn’t very good, and we talked about making some adjustments guarding the ball,” N.C. State head coach Kevin Keatts said. “When you get a guy like Skyy Clark … in the tournament, who’s playing well, you’ve got to really defend him.

I thought he had a tremendous game against us. He played really well.

“Give Louisville a lot of credit. That was a heck of a battle all the way until the end, and we’re fortunate — neither team played any defense. We just happened to score 94 points.”

Casey Morsell led the team with 25 points and made all 13 of his free throws. Jayden Taylor scored 18 points and added eight rebounds.

Here are three takeaways from the Wolfpack’s postseason win.

Team stepped up with DJ Horne out

The Wolfpack’s leading scorer participated in the team’s initial warmups but did not play. The graduate student left the team’s regular season finale at Pitt with a “lower extremity injury.”

Horne averaged 16.8 points per game this season, adding 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per

OPPOSITE: N.C. State’s Casey Morsell (14) slams in two points past Louisville’s Mike James (0) during N.C. State’s 94-85 victory over Louisville in the first round of the 2024 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on March 12, 2024.

ETHAN HYMAN / THE NEWS & OBSERVER

N.C. State’s DJ Burns Jr.

and Louisville’s Brandon Huntley-

(5) go after the ball during N.C. State’s 94-85 victory over Louisville in the first round of the 2024 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on March 12, 2024.

contest. N.C. State certainly felt his absence, though scoring was the least of its worries. It mostly needed his floor management skills and aggressive defense.

Instead the Wolfpack used a plug-and-chug rotation method, using Kam Woods and Breon Pass early in the first half rotation. They played in the second half, as well, helping run the full court press.

“The guy can put the ball in the hole; one of the best in our league,” Keatts said of Horne. “What we’ve asked is guys like Jayden Taylor

to step up. I’ve asked Michael (O’Connell) to be a little bit more offensive minded. I think Breon Pass came in in the first half and really gave us a big-time lift, but everybody has got to step up. When you lose a guy that can score the basketball the way he does, I would have never guessed that we would score 94 points without DJ Horne, but we did.”

Wolfpack’s defense was inconsistent

N.C. State started the game with a weak defensive presence, unable to guard players

at any position on the floor. The Cardinals started 7 of 9 from the field, including two 3s, in the first five minutes of play.

The Pack, however, put together a couple of positive stretches midway through the first. One such stretch included two turnovers and a blocked shot. Pass and Taylor deserve partial credit for the defensive resurgence, providing much-needed effort that turned into made shots.

N.C. State also averages 7.2 steals per game, which is fourth best in the ACC. It had eight

RIGHT:

(30)

Hatfield

ETHAN HYMAN / THE NEWS & OBSERVER

by half, including three from O’Connell. The defensive effort in the second half reflected its late-first half performance, but it still struggled to pull away. N.C. State led by as many as seven points before Clark tied the game with 4:34 to play.

Louisville went into the locker room shooting 18 of 27 (67%) in the first half and finished 32 of 56 (57%) from the field. It wasn’t a good performance, but it was enough.

“We gave up around 50 points at halftime,” Morsell said. “It’s way too much, so being

able to lock teams down especially early is definitely the biggest key, especially heading into Syracuse.”

Much-needed buckets from the bench

N.C. State’s bench showed up in a big way on Tuesday, keeping the team competitive against the Cardinals.

Ben Middlebrooks scored 11 points and Pass added six in the first half, shooting 2 of 2 from 3-point range. Kam Woods made a layup to round out the scoring.

“Those guys know they had a good amount of time to get ready to play, get warmed up and they were ready,” Morsell said. “They came in to contribute right away. It’s gonna take everyone. It’s not just gonna take starters, it’s gonna take everyone to do what we want to do.”

Every starter contributed on the offensive end, four scored in double figures, but the Wolfpack would not have won without its depth. Its defense didn’t put together enough stops to rely solely on the starting five.

LEFT: From left, N.C. State’s Kam Woods, Mohamed Diarra and DJ Burns Jr. laugh on the bench during the second half of N.C. State’s 94-85 victory over Louisville in the first round of the 2024 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on March 12, 2024. ETHAN HYMAN / THE NEWS & OBSERVER

WOMEN’S NCAA TOURNAMENT

N.C. State women’s basketball takes care of business in firstround NCAA Tournament win

BY JADYN WATSON-FISHER • MARCH 23, 2024

RALEIGH — N.C. State guard Madison Hayes charged down the court toward the Chattanooga bench, arms outstretched as she corralled the ball to complete the turnover. Her feet came to a screeching halt — in bounds. Wolfpack ball. Hayes then turned, raced toward the basket, made the layup and drew a foul, eliciting raucous energy from the Reynolds Coliseum crowd, and a chest-bump celebration from teammate Saniya Rivers.

That passion extended to the Pack’s play on both ends of the floor as N.C. State advanced to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 with a 64-45 win over Chattanooga on Saturday.

Wes Moore said Friday that several prognosticators called the team’s match-up a possible

first-round upset, but instead N.C. State (28-6) handed the Mocs (28-5) their second loss since December — and their first road loss of the season.

Offense was virtually nonexistent for both teams in the first half, with the Wolfpack starting 0 for 5 in the first quarter. The teams shot a combined 14 of 52 from the field (3 for 24 from 3-point range). N.C. State went into the locker room with a 26-17 lead.

The Mocs forced five first-half Wolfpack turnovers, while doubling Mimi Collins and River Baldwin in the post. Most of the duo’s points came from the free-throw line.

“At the beginning of the game, I wasn’t really hitting. They were double- and triple-teaming the post,” Baldwin said. She finished with 10

points, with two field goals, and 11 rebounds. “On nights I’m not able to score — I am a big post presence — I just want to contribute in any way that I can.”

A low-scoring game should have been expected, considering both programs hold opponents to fewer than 60 points per game. The Mocs entered the game No. 7 in the nation in scoring defense (54.2) and No. 15 in 3-point percentage defense (26.7%).

“They’re a good team. They’re not a bad team. They came here for a reason,” Hayes said. “We just had to make sure we were locked in and (were) ready to go.”

The Wolfpack started to gain traction on offense in the second quarter, thanks in large part to its defense. Moore implemented the

OPPOSITE: N.C. State’s Madison Hayes (21) drives to the basket against Chattanooga during the first half of the first round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship at Reynold’s Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C., on March 23, 2024. TRAVIS LONG / THE NEWS & OBSERVER

RIGHT: N.C. State’s Saniya Rivers (22) drives past Chattanooga’s Caia Elisaldez (11) and Raven Thompson (32) during the first half of their game in the first round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C., on March 23, 2024.

TRAVIS LONG / THE NEWS & OBSERVER

team’s press late into the second quarter, leading to a Chattanooga backcourt violation and a bucket for Rivers.

N.C. State’s aggressive approach led to a 28-point lead and three shots from the perimeter in the second. Chattanooga held Aziaha James scoreless in the first half. She hit a 3-pointer 18 seconds into the third and finished with a game-leading 19 points and five 3s.

The Wolfpack isn’t surprised by James’ final stat line. Collins said James doesn’t give up, while Rivers said going off for 19 in a half is normal to the team.

“Zaza’s never gonna go scoreless. Zaza’s never gonna have a doughnut,” Rivers said.

“That’s just her mentality. She has that dog in her. She knows that in order to win games, she needs to score. She doesn’t have time to get her head. First half was scoreless. OK, onto the second half. It’s a new game.”

Additionally, Chattanooga entered the game hitting 37.5% of its shots from 3. The Mocs made just 3 of 15 Saturday.

“Defense wins championships,” Collins said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. If we just hold down on defense I know we’re gonna

make buckets.”

It was an emotional contest for both programs, Moore coaching against his former employer and Hayes facing her hometown university. Hayes finished with five points, nine points, four assists and a steal.

On the other side, Chattanooga faced the man who built its program, and the player who made its city proud, while trying to extend its season one more time.

The Wolfpack advances to face No. 6 seed Tennessee — and former head coach Kellie Harper — on Monday.

N.C. State’s Madison Hayes (21) and Saniya Rivers (22) shoulder bump near the end of the first half of their game against Chattanooga in the first round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C., on March 23, 2024. TRAVIS LONG / THE NEWS & OBSERVER

LEFT:

N.C. State, desperate for basketball success for so long, suddenly has more than its share

BY LUKE DECOCK • MARCH 31, 2024

DALLAS — Kevin Keatts paused at the top of the ladder. There could have been any number of things going through his mind as he turned away from the rim to face the crowd, any number of thoughts of redemption and vindication and triumph.

But that’s not what his fist pump was about, before he turned back to complete the cutting of the first net. N.C. State is going to the Final Four in one of the great we’re-not-an-underdog underdog runs of all time, a No. 11 seed that finished 10th in the ACC, winners of nine straight elimination games, and there’s not just one reason why the Wolfpack has become a team of undeniable destiny.

This team of transfers all followed different and sometimes tortuous paths to this point, and their past trials and tribulations

have become the Wolfpack’s biggest strength. There’s very little N.C. State hasn’t seen before, whether before or during this season, including a halftime deficit to Duke on Sunday. And this assemblage of players and their onceembattled coach has tapped into a power they didn’t know they had.

Which is what was going through Keatts’ mind as he gave that triumphant swing of his fist through the air at the top of his second ladder in three weeks. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t any single player. It took everyone to make this miracle happen.

“A lot of things in life are bigger than you,” Keatts said later as he sat next to his wife in the quiet of his temporary office, while NCAA officials rushed N.C. State to the buses for its charter flight home. “This is a

bigger-than-you moment.”

It doesn’t get much bigger than the fourth Final Four in N.C. State history, the least likely of them all, the first-ever 14-loss team to make it to the Final Four. N.C. State keeps asking “Why not us?” and no one’s had an answer yet. Certainly not Duke, which lost to the Wolfpack for the second time in three weeks on Sunday, 76-64.

One of the wildest runs in college basketball history isn’t done yet. Throw in the women’s own trip to the Final Four, secured earlier Sunday, and a school so starved for basketball success for so long suddenly has more than its share.

“The school needed it,” Wolfpack guard Casey Morsell said. “We feel it. We feel the fan base wanting those memories back. We love

OPPOSITE: N.C. State’s head coach Kevin Keatts waves the net after after N.C. State’s 76-64 victory over Duke in their NCAA Tournament Elite Eight matchup at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on March 31, 2024. ETHAN HYMAN / THE NEWS & OBSERVER

ABOVE: N.C. State’s KJ Keatts, center, and team celebrate after placing their name on the Final Four poster on March 31, 2024.

ETHAN HYMAN / THE NEWS & OBSERVER

OPPOSITE: N.C. State’s Mohamed Diarra (23) acknowledges fans as he cuts down the net following the Wolfpack’s 76-64 victory over Duke.

ROBERT WILLETT / THE NEWS & OBSERVER

N.C. State, everyone loves being here, coming in competing, grinding for N.C. State. It feels awesome. It’s amazing everything’s coming together. That last stretch of the regular season, it was tough. We knew it was the details, the little things. We got it together at the right time, and the rest is history.”

So often, N.C. State’s basketball history can feel like an anchor, or a burden, living up to the stories and legends told and retold so often over the past 40 or 50 years. Somehow, as this team charted a course all of its own, that history became a tailwind sweeping it along.

Zach Edey, who didn’t need a ladder to cut down the net Sunday, and Purdue are up next, Saturday in Glendale, Ariz., and some referees who were hoping to get the call to work the Final Four might prefer to take the week off

rather than adjudicate the battle in the paint between two behemoths, Edey and DJ Burns, the latter the regional’s most outstanding player after neither Marquette nor Duke had an answer for him.

The men’s win came only a few hours after the women clinched their spot in Cleveland, making N.C. State the third ACC school to have a team in both. Burns Face-Timed with the women’s team on their bus from amid the celebration on court, and said the Wolfpack players got in trouble for having the volume on the women’s game turned up when they were supposed to be preparing for Duke.

“All the love to them, shout out to them,” Burns said. “We couldn’t go out there and let them talk that junk to us about how they got there and we didn’t. It feels good, man. Amazing.”

Burns was at the unquestioned epicenter of this game. As was the case when Duke won in Raleigh, the Blue Devils decided to play Burns straight up, no doubles. And not only did Burns cook for 29 points, the players around him almost couldn’t miss as the Wolfpack erased a six-point halftime deficit in the first seven minutes of the half.

That was the message at halftime: Stay the course. The defense was fine. The Wolfpack was getting good shots. They just needed some to go down — the kind that so often had during this run, but didn’t in the first half.

As Duke went cold from the perimeter, and Kyle Filipowski fouled out, a building full of people who had flown three hours from the

same place to be here started to get the sense that N.C. State’s run wasn’t over yet.

That made it a particularly cruel ending for Duke, with Filipowski watching helplessly and guards Tyrese Proctor and Jeremy Roach combining to go 2-for-13 in that second half as the Wolfpack slowly and relentlessly pulled away.

The Blue Devils lost twice to North Carolina, including Senior Night in Cameron. N.C. State denied them any shot at an ACC title, then ended their season. That’s an unusually brutal 1-4 record within the Triangle.

In a sense, Duke discovered in these past two meetings what N.C. State figured out about itself before the ACC tournament: If the Wolfpack didn’t beat itself, it was a tough team to beat. No one’s been able to do it yet. Duke is far from alone in that respect. That realization was the trigger for a run that has now secured its own place in N.C. State history, regardless of what happens in Phoenix. Steve Smith was right: N.C. State is a basketball school, always has been, and doing something like this, beating all these odds, is going to be commemorated and memorialized and honored like no place else, and for a long, long time.

“It’s something everyone’s been hoping for, for so long,” Morsell said. “Guys like (Dereck) Whittenburg and those guys have come back and shared their stories, but now we hope to be like those guys. Just like them.”

Keatts said he briefly debated not cutting down the nets, to reinforce the message that N.C. State wasn’t done yet, but couldn’t deny his players that moment. He would get his turn as well, at the celebration Everett Case invented, having now taken N.C. State to the same number of Final Fours as Case himself.

AFTERWORD

N.C. State’s dual runs to the Final Four taught us about hope and belief and, yes, never giving up

BY ANDREW CARTER • APRIL

6, 2024

The ride of their lives, and that of their players, ended two nights apart in Final Four cities separated by more than 1,700 miles, with both Wes Moore and Kevin Keatts sharing a similar kind of gratitude. That neither could have necessarily expected this — at least not now; not this way — had made the journey that much more rewarding. They both proved what was possible. N.C. State, meanwhile, experienced a basketball awakening. A school that had long been a punchline in the sport it helped turn into a North Carolina pastime again had its moment, at last. A beleaguered nation of Wolfpack supporters, whose loyalty had been tested by years of futility and comically bad luck, found cause to gather in the streets in celebration.

This was the proudest of times for N.C. State — its men’s and women’s basketball programs charging all the way to the Final Four. Both ending their season on college basketball’s grandest stage. Both providing hope with resilience; restoring pride even amid their ultimate defeats. For a time, Raleigh was just about the center of the college basketball universe. Same as it was, long ago.

“A heck of a ride compared to where we started and where we finished,” Moore, head coach of the Wolfpack women, said after his team’s season-ending defeat against South Carolina.

“I don’t know that I could be more prouder of a group of men that I’ve ever coached in my life,” Keatts, head coach of the Wolfpack

men, said after his team’s season-ending defeat against Purdue. “Adversity, you name it; situations, you name it; hard times, you name it. “They found a way to win the ACC. They found a way to make it to the Final Four.” Adversity. (Difficult) situations. Hard times. Both Moore and Keatts know about such things. Neither followed a straight line to the peak of their professional lives — an apex they both reached in a span of a couple days, after a long time of striving, and a combined climb that brought such joy to a legion of Wolfpack fans.

Moore reached the Final Four last week after starting his coaching career 40 years earlier at a bible college in a rural mountain town in East Tennessee. Consider his own journey

OPPOSITE: A sea of red clad Wolfpack fans show their support during the NCAA Final Four national semifinal game against Purdue on April 6, 2024, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. ROBERT WILLETT / THE NEWS & OBSERVER