The March Madness run for NC State basketball has caught a lot of eyes and has also turned some into believers.
Count former legendary Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski among the converted in the run put together by the Wolfpack, which included five wins in five days in the ACC Tournament to crack the field of 68 as an auto bid. NC State entered the tournament as an 11 seed but has victories over 6 seed Texas Tech and 14 seed Oakland to advance to the Sweet 16.
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The Wolfpack (24-14) take on 2 seed Marquette (27-9) in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 on Friday at 6:09 p.m. Friday at American Airlines Center in Dallas. Krzyzewski, in an interview with College Sports on SiriusXM, said he believes the Wolfpack are capable of beating anyone, despite being an 11 seed.
“They are the epitome of a team — what happens in March. …. I think there are some teams that find themselves in March. (NC) State is that team,” Krzyzewski said.
NC State basketball winning streak
The Wolfpack ended the regular season with four straight losses and needed to win the ACC Tournament to have a chance to reach the NCAA Tournament. Coach Kevin Keatts was believed to be on the hot seat. Then in the ACC Tournament, NC State beat Louisville, Syracuse and Duke. A win over Virginia in the ACC Tournament semifinal required a lot of luck, which Krzyzewski said was the “miracle” the team needed to “find religion.”
“Kevin Keatts has done a remarkable job with this team,” Krzyzewski said. “They had a lot of newness. When a team believes in each other, and their coach and they find that belief, in their offense, and defense, everything goes better. It’s not ‘X’s and O’s,’ it’s belief. I call it like finding religion. NC State found religion in the ACC Tournament. Sometimes people find religion after seeing a miracle. They had a miracle against Virginia. They are down 3 with 5.4 seconds and Virginia’s best free throw shooter is shooting a 1-and-1.”
“[Isaac] McNeely misses [the free throw] and [Casey] Morsell gets the ball and passes it up to Michael O’Connell and he banks in a 3. Miracle. Then they play in overtime and from that time on, they are playing lights out. That doesn’t mean they didn’t play fairly well before but it went up another level.”
Following its “miracle” over Virginia, NC State defeated North Carolina in the ACC Championship to earn the bid to The Big Dance.
NC State enters its game against Marquette with a seven-game winning streak: Five wins in the ACC Tournament to claim the conference title and two so far in the NCAA Tournament.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Mike Krzyzewski: ‘NC State found religion in the ACC Tournament’
