Selection Sunday has arrived, and it would be a surprise if NC State did not hear its name called shortly after 6 p.m. on TBS.
Bracketmatrix.com updated 104 brackets as of 9 p.m. on Saturday, and 100 of them had NC State in the field with an average seed of 9.56, or the second of the four 10 seeds in the field.
Some of the more prominent brackets:
• ESPN’s Joe Lunardi moved NC State up a tad to a nine seed against eight-seeded Butler in Wichita, Kan., with the winner likely getting top-seeded and Big 12 champion Kansas in the second round. On Saturday, Lunardi has NCSU as receiving one of the last four byes. Sunday morning the Pack had been elevated above that.
• There was no change in CBS’s Jerry Palm’s bracket. NC State remains a nine seed in Wichita with top-seed Kansas awaiting. Like Lunardi, he has the Pack facing a Big East team in round round but it’s Providence instead of Butler.
• In an emerging theme, NBC Sports’ Dave Ommen has NC State in Wichita but the opponent would be Missouri. For those wondering, NCSU is technically the nine-seed.
• David Teal of the Daily Press, another one of the few who had NC State in the field in 2014, also has the Pack as a nine seed, but he does not project actual brackets beyond seeding.
There is one more potential bid to be stolen from a bubble team if Davidson upsets Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 finals, but otherwise events unfolded well for NC State and others Saturday. Arizona’s win over USC in the Pac 12 title game was a boost to the Pack’s profile and kept USC on the bubble (although probably more likely than not to get into the field).
In the American Athletic Conference, locks Houston and Cincinnati advanced to the finals, and more importantly Memphis did not. Alabama’s run in the SEC ended with a defeat to Kentucky.
The Wolfpacker will try its own bracket later Sunday before the release, so stay tuned!
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