Let’s just assume that NC State is an NCAA Tournament team, I guess

Looks like we’re all assuming NC State is an NCAA Tournament at-large team.

The mood in the postgame presser takes on a life of its own. For Mike Young, after Virginia Tech’s loss to Wake Forest on Tuesday night, it was a eulogy. For Andy Enfield, after SMU lost to Louisville on Wednesday, it was, seems like you guys are OK.

The questions for Will Wade that weren’t specific to the 81-74 loss to #2 seed Virginia were of the, OK, so, did you learn anything from this one that will help you next week?

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ICYMI

• UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos advance to ACC Tournament semis with 81-74 win over NC State
• UVA Basketball: Ugonna Onyenso swats ’Hoos into ACC Tournament semis

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“Our guys were warriors and tried to gut it out. We just didn’t have enough,” Wade said, assessing the Pack’s place in the college basketball world after the ACC Tournament quarterfinal loss.

“It was an NCAA Tournament game, so hopefully it will help prepare us for moving forward next week,” Wade said.

State (20-13) has lost seven of its last nine games, but is still 35 in the NET, 45 in RPI and 55 in ELO, with an average metric ranking among the nine consulted by the Selection Committee at 40.2.

That’s a little too close for my liking; I wouldn’t feel safe above 40 in the average metric ranking, but, I mean, 40.2?

A lot of quality wins on the resume – 5-8 in Quad 1, 6-4 in Quad 2 – though two of the Quad 1s should come with an asterisk, since they were road wins at Florida State and Wake Forest, who aren’t going to sniff the NCAA Tournament this year.

The Quad 2 record somehow includes a win at Pitt, which finished with 20 losses.

And there’s a Quad 4 loss at home to Georgia Tech, which is unforgivable.

Eye test-wise, though, this is a team that can win a game or next in the NCAAs.

State had been blown out in its previous two games with Virginia (28-4) – 76-61 at home, in a game that the ’Hoos led by as many as 27, then 90-61 in Charlottesville last month.

“I mean, look, we’re not into moral victories. You either get the job done or you don’t, and we didn’t get the job done today,” Wade said. “The reality is, we should have played more like this the first two games, and we didn’t. That’s why we were in this position. That’s why we were the 7 seed. That’s the reality of it, and we didn’t get the job done today. We shouldn’t have gotten beat like we did the first two times, either.”