NC State Wolfpack
Final Four
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The college basketball season will be over by next week. The 2024 Final Four is this weekend in Glendale, Arizona and we are going to take a look at those matchups.
The first game is No. 11 NC State vs No. 1 Purdue. This is a matchup of a Cinderella team versus a dominant team that’s expected to be here.
The Wolfpack (26-14) are the lowest seed remaining and this is their first Final Four since 1983. They would not have advanced this far if they did not win the ACC Tournament.
They beat Duke 76-64 in the Elite Eight to get here.
The 6-foot-9, 275-pound DJ Burns scored a season-high 29 points on 13-of-19 shooting and DJ Horne had 20 points.
“These guys are so special,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “Nine elimination games or you go home.”
“I’ll say like I’ve been saying the whole tournament. When I stop having fun with basketball, I’ll stop playing,” said Burns, who was voted the South Region’s most outstanding player. “There’s just been a total switch in our commitment. Nobody’s being late to things. Nobody’s being a problem on the court. Everybody’s come together.”
They head to Glendale with the most losses ever for a Final Four team. Now they will face 7-foot-4 All-American Zach Edey and the Boilermakers (33-4). He averages 25 points per game and 12.2 rebounds per game.
NC State is a great story but I believe their run will end in this game.
The game is No. 4 Alabama (25-11) against No. 1 UConn (35-3). This is the Crimson Tide’s first Final Four appearance in program history. This is very impressive because they beat top seed North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen, 89-87.
They beat 6 seed Clemson 89-82 to get here. Mark Sears made seven 3-pointers in the game and the team made a total of 16 threes.
“Man, just feeling a lot of emotion,” said Sears, the only Alabama native on the team. “Being from the state of Alabama and to do it with this group of guys, it’s amazing.”
He finished with 23 points and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament’s West Region.
Freshman Jarin Stevenson airballed a couple of 3s in the first half and Alabama missed 12 of its first 13 from downtown. He ended up making a career-high five 3s and had 19 points off the bench.
“We don’t win this game without him,” Sears said. “Jarin hit 3 after 3 after 3 and kept us in this ballgame. He was huge.”
“I live for those moments. This is what March Madness is about,” Sears said. “When you’re a kid, you want to be in these moments. It feels like my dream came true today. My dream definitely came true today.”
The Huskies have been steamrolling through teams in the tournament and they have not lost a game since February 20. The closest margin of victory was 17 points against No. 9 Northwestern.
UConn is looking to repeat as champions and the media has already crowned them. They are very good but any team can be defeated. With that said, I do expect the Huskies to win and advance to the championship game.
Frantic Atlantic
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We are going to take a look at the ACC Atlantic division and predict how the teams will do this season.
#7 Syracuse: Dino Babers has had one winning season out of six at Syracuse. That includes 15 conference wins out of 50 ACC games.
The Orange return one of the nation’s top running backs in Sean Tucker (1,496 yards) but big progress in the passing game is needed under new play-caller Robert Anae.
Quarterback Garrett Shrader (781 rushing yards & 14 TDs) threw for less than 100 yards in three of his last four starts.
#6 Louisville: Quarterback Malik Cunningham was one of the best dual-threat players in the country last year and he’s back in 2022.
He was a 62% passer a year ago, throwing for 2,734 yards and 18 touchdowns to only 6 interceptions, while also rushing for over 1,000 yards and 20 additional touchdowns, both top 10 numbers nationally.
He lost a few receivers that transferred but the Cardinals also had some talented players transfer into the program. Wide receivers Tyler Hudson (Central Arkansas) and Dee Wiggins (Miami) should be good playmakers on the outside.
Tight end Marshon Ford (49 receptions) has a chance to be an All-ACC first-team pick.
They also return four starters on the offensive line.
#5 Boston College: The Eagles started 4-0 last season before the wheels fell off and they lost four consecutive games.
They finished at 6-6 and won just one ACC game at Chestnut Hill.
Quarterback Phil Jurkovec went down in Week 2 and he didn’t return until November. He’ll be back this season with running back Pat Garwo III and receiver Zay Flowers. They only return one starter on the offensive line so that is a big concern.
They return 7 starters on defense and they only gave up 22.2 points a game last fall.
#4 Florida State: The Seminoles made progress in head coach Mike Norvell’s second year in ’21, finishing 5-7. I don’t expect them to compete for the conference title, but they win total should increase.
Quarterback Jordan Travis passed for 2,074 yards, 15 touchdowns and 6 picks.
The season opener is in New Orleans against LSU. The Tigers are coming off of a disappointing season with a new head coach so FSU can win that game and set the tone for the season.
#3 Wake Forest: QB Sam Hartman returns after leading the offense to 41 points per game last year.
The Demon Deacons have talented receivers like A.T. Perry, Taylor Morin and Donavan Greene. They also return four O line starters.
Defense is where they struggled the most in 2021 and it’s still a big question mark.
#2 NC State: The Wolfpack return 17 starters, which is the most of any team in the ACC from a squad that went 9-3 last fall.
That includes quarterback Devin Leary (35 TDs, 5 INTs) and one of the nation’s top linebacker units anchored by Payton Wilson and Drake Thomas.
They must replace its top two rushers (Bam Knight and Ricky Person) and elite left tackle Ikem Ekwonu. They averaged a league low 3.3 yards per rush in 2021.
#1 Clemson: The Tigers had their streak of consecutive ACC titles snapped at six and failed to make the CFB Playoff for the first time since ’14 last season.
Offense was a problem last year and five-star QB DJ Uiagalelei completed 55.6% of his passes for 9 TDs and 10 picks. In theory he can’t get any worse and if he plays better Clemson will be back in the Top 10.
Atlantic Waves
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Let’s take a look at the ACC Atlantic division and predict how the teams will finish this season.
Clemson: The last time we saw the Tigers they manhandled Alabama in the national championship.
They finished the year 15-0 and I expect 2019 to be more of the same. Clemson is by far the most talented team in the conference and it’s not even close. They remind me of Florida State in the 90’s when they ran through the ACC.
They have one tough game at home Week 2 against Texas A&M. That was a close game last season but it was on the road in a hostile environment. Trevor Lawrence is a Heisman frontrunner and he should win it. They will go undefeated again.
Syracuse: The Orange went 10-3 in 2018, which was a big surprise. We will see if they can sustain that success in 2019. They have 7 starters returning on defense and quarterback Tommy DeVito is a rising star. They play Clemson at home September 14th and that will be the biggest ACC game of the year.
They have had some success against Clemson recently, so I think that will be a close game. The ‘Cuse should win 9 games.
Florida State: The Seminoles are the gold standard for a dynasty in the modern ACC era.
Former head coach Jimbo Fisher had a ton of success but they did not play well in his final 2017 season. He was replaced with Willie Taggart and so far, it looks like a bad hire.
In his lone season in Oregon, the Ducks were 7-5. After he left, they were 9-4. FSU was 7-6 in 2017 and they slipped to 5-7 under Taggart.
The ‘Gulf Coast’ offense he brought to Tallahassee was terrible. Tailback Cam Akers is really the only bright spot for the team and he’s hoping to have a bounce back year. He rushed for over 1,000 yards as a freshman in 2017 but last year only had 706 yards. I think they can win 7 games.
NC State: The good news is the Wolfpack have 8 starters returning on defense. The bad news is on the other side of the ball.
Offensive coordinator and QB coach Eli Drinkwitz left to become the head coach at Appalachian State. They also lost three starters from a standout offensive line, two 1,000-yard receivers and quarterback Ryan Finley. All of those weapons led them to a 9-4 record and they were 6-2 in the ACC.
I expect them to take a step back because they have so much to replace on offense. They should win 7 games.
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons were 7-6 last year, which is very good for this program.
An interesting fact is they have two players from the show QB 1 Beyond the Lights, Tayvon Bowers and Sam Hartman.
Hartman played well as a true freshman, throwing for 1,984 yards and 16 touchdowns in 9 games. They have the opportunity to go to their fourth consecutive bowl game and that should happen. They will win 6 games.
Boston College: The Eagles were 7-5 in 2018. They relied heavily on quarterback Anthony Brown and running back AJ Dillon. Both of them return this season so expect more of the same. They are good enough to win at least 6 games.
Louisville: The Cardinals were terrible last year, which got Bobby Petrino fired.
He was replaced by Scott Satterfield who had the same position at Appalachian State.
This is the worst team in the conference so I think they will win 3 or 4 games.
A League Of Their Own
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
There are only a few games remaining in the college basketball regular season. At this point we know who the contenders and pretenders are.
The ACC has been the best conference for several years and this season is no different. Currently there are 10 teams that will qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
Things have played out differently than we initially expected before the season began though. Duke was the top ranked team in the preseason so expectations were very high. The Blue Devils always compete with Kentucky for the top recruiting class and they had a lot of incoming talent.
They landed the top recruit in the class of 2017, power forward Marvin Bagley. Point guard Trevon Duval also committed to Duke and he was ranked 6th nationally. Teaming these young stars up with senior Grayson Allen sounded like a slam-dunk.
Bagley is the team’s leading scorer and rebounder and he’s missed some games with a right knee sprain.
They are 22-5 and the No. 5 team in the country so they are having a pretty good season. The surprise is that Virginia is the best team in the conference and they have a three game lead over Duke.
The Cavaliers have only lost one conference game and their top ranked nationally. They have sustained success over the last five years so maybe we should have expected this.
North Carolina has been inconsistent this season. We know the Tar Heels are the defending national champions and they played in the championship game the past two years. They lost several players from that team so we expected some growing pains.
They lost to Wofford at home in December. In ACC play they had a three game losing streak to Virginia Tech, NC State and Clemson.
They ended the streak against a terrible Pitt team then beat Duke. The Heels are a good team but too inconsistent to advance far in the tournament.
The most shocking team is Clemson because their typically doormats in basketball. The Tigers are No. 15 in the nation and fourth in the ACC. They have not made it to the NCAA Tournament since 2011. They are a legit team and they have a chance to win a couple of games once they get there.
Virginia Tech is also playing well. The Hokies are fifth in the ACC and have a winning record in conference play. After a 10-year absence from March Madness they made it in last season. This will make two consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for a program that has only been nine times.
NC State is tied with Va Tech. The Wolfpack as a program have struggled with maintaining success. They beat Duke and North Carolina, which is a major accomplishment.
Louisville has performed well but they are on probation. I believe they have a post-season ban.
Two football schools, Miami and Florida State are both currently 19-8. These two programs have been very good over the last four years so maybe this should be expected at this point.
Syracuse is the final team that will make the tourney. They used to be an elite team in the Big East. After making the switch to the ACC they have been fairly disappointing.
The conference tournament will be very competitive. There is always the possibility of an unexpected team winning it.
