The scene may have been a little anticlimactic in the BB&T Grand Hall at Reynolds Coliseum Monday evening, thanks to ESPN.

A production gaffe earlier in the afternoon allowed the bracket for the 2019 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament to be aired more than five hours before the scheduled Selection Show at 7 p.m.

But that didn’t stop more than 100 Pack faithful from showing up and joining players, coaches, cheerleaders and a contingent from the pep band to celebrate NC State’s 25th entry into the Big Dance.

The Pack’s selection this year wasn’t really all that much of a surprise even before ESPN’s goof. A 26-win record — including a victory over a ranked Florida State team and a close contest with eventual No. 1 seeded Louisville in the ACC Tournament — an RPI of 9 and 15 straight weeks ranked in the Top-10 by both polls (NC State finished 10th in the final AP Poll of the year) pretty much ensured that this year’s Pack would easily make the 64-team field.

“It’s still special,” Pack coach Wes Moore said. “A lot of hard work went into it by our players to reach this point, and to be rewarded is always special.”

As it turned out, ESPN bracketologist Charlie Crème’s predictions of NC State’s seeding and regional placement turned out to be right on the mark. The Pack received a No. 3 seed for only the third time in its 25 NCAA tourney appearances (and first since 1987), allowing NC State to host the first two rounds of the tournament for the second straight year after a No. 4 seeding for last year’s event.

NC State was also placed in the Greensboro Regional, a potentially huge advantage if the Pack survives the first two rounds.

NC State (26-5) will begin its hoped-for road to Tampa and this year’s Final Four on Saturday at 1 p.m. against a Maine team (25-7) it defeated 84-46 on Dec. 15.

The Black Bears, the No. 14 seed, were 7-6 at one point this season before winning 18 of their last 19 games, including 14 straight, to claim the America East Conference championship.

A win Saturday would advance NC State to Monday evening’s second-round game (time to be determined) between the winner of No. 6 seed Kentucky (24-7) and No. 11 seed Princeton (22-9), with that winner moving on to the Sweet 16 in Greensboro.

“To be able to play the first two rounds at home is always special,” Moore acknowledged, “And playing the regional in Greensboro is exciting, too, for our fans. But we’ve got to win two games to get there, and we have our work cut out for us.”

Despite the team’s well-publicized injury plague that has sidelined four players, including starters Kaila Ealey, Grace Hunter and Erika Cassell (and reserve senior guard Armani Hawkins), the Pack players remain confident that this year’s tournament run will be a deep one.

“If everyone just steps up to where they need to, I think we can take it pretty far,” senior forward DD Rogers commented. “I have no doubt in the capabilities of this team.”

Graduate guard Kiara Leslie (who will be playing in her fourth NCAA Tournament, including two previous appearances with Maryland) added, “Look at what we’ve done with who we’ve had. We’ve competed all year, and that speaks for itself. We’ve continued to prove people wrong, and we definitely have a chance to make a long run.”

Junior guard Ace Konig admitted she actually thrives on the naysaying.

“I absolutely love it!” she said. “Being able to succeed and have a fan base that believes in you feels absolutely amazing.

“I hear people say we don’t get much respect, or we don’t get this or that. It gives us a little chip, a little edge, and makes us play that much harder.”

For freshman starting post Elissa Cunane, it’s a dream turned to reality.

“It’s crazy to think about it,” NC State’s all-conference freshman admitted Monday. “A year ago I was sitting in the stands watching them win the game against Maryland to go to the Sweet 16. Now I’ll be playing in the NCAA Tournament. I’m very excited for the opportunity.”

This will be the Pack’s third straight NCAA appearance, and fourth in Moore’s six years in Raleigh, and all but three of this year’s Pack contingent will be playing in at least their second NCAA Tournament.

Both Rogers and Leslie say the previous tournament experience does help prepare them, and their younger teammates, for the challenges awaiting them these next three weeks.

“You don’t try to change anything,” Rogers said. “You just play your game, but know that anyone can come out, especially in the NCAA Tournament, and beat you. We just have to play like who we are.”

Added Leslie, “You have to enjoy every minute, because it’s not guaranteed every year.”

It would be natural to concede a probable win for NC State in its NCAA Tournament opener Saturday against a Maine team that it thoroughly dominated by 38 points back in December.

But as Wes Moore noted, both the Bears and Pack are different teams than three months ago. NC State had all of its players healthy (except junior point guard Kaila Ealey, who was hurt in the preseason), while the Bears were missing 6-1 junior forward Fanny Wadling, who leads Maine with an average of 9.0 rebounds a game (to go along with 6.5 points per contest).

Maine has won 14 games in a row, the second-longest streak in school history, beat North Carolina 85-73 in December and lost to Duke by just three, 66-63, last November.

“We have to make sure our players are focused and realize this is a new season,” Moore said. “Every game is critical from this point on.”

Junior guard Blanca Millan, the Bears' leading scorer (17.6 per game), was named the America East Player of the Year, the conference tournament MVP and the league Defensive Player of the Year.

Millan was held to just six points in the loss to NC State in December, and the Pack limited the Bears to 27% shooting in the win.

Maine is making its ninth NCAA Tournament appearance (second straight after losing to Texas, 83-54, in last year’s opening round) and is 0-4 against NC State all-time.

Kentucky’s Wildcats, ranked 17th in the nation, will be making their 15th appearance in the NCAA Tournament (first since 2017), and it is their first time in 13 years it was seeded lower than fourth.

The Cats, who finished 11-5 and fourth in the Southeast Conference, are led by ESPNw’s Freshman of the Year, Rhyne Howard, a 6-2 guard.

“She’s from the Chattanooga area, and we tried to recruit her,” Moore said. “We’ll have our hands full if we reach that point.”

Howard averages a team-leading 16.3 points and 6.7 rebounds a game for Kentucky. Senior guard Maci Morris (14.9 points per game) and senior guard Taylor Murray (12.5 points a contest) are the Cats’ other double-figure scoring threats.

Princeton, the Ivy League tournament champion, is making its second straight NCAA Tournament trip to Raleigh after losing in last year’s first round to Maryland.

The Tigers, after starting the year 1-7, have won 12 straight and 22 of their last 23. Their high-scoring offense averages 70.7 points a game, including six made three-pointers per contest.

Junior guard Bella Alarie leads the way with averages of 23 points and 10.4 rebounds a game, while senior guard Gabrielle Rush is a long-range threat with 87 made treys.

NC State is 14-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament games played in Raleigh and hasn’t lost at home since a 94-80 defeat by Penn State in 1983. The Pack is 22-24 all-time in NCAA Tournament games through last year.

• Freshman center Elissa Cunane was named to the 2019 ACC All-Tournament team. She was the only freshman to be honored among the 10 players named to the first and second teams.

In the Pack’s 69-62 quarterfinal win over No. 6 seed Florida State and the 78-68 semifinal loss to second-seed Louisville, Cunane averaged 21.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 16-of-25 (.640) from the field and 9-of-10 (.900) from the free-throw line. With 421 points scored so far this season, Cunane ranks fourth in the Wolfpack's record book for most single-season points by an NC State freshman. She is also the first Pack freshman named to the ACC’s All-Tournament team since Marissa Kastanek in 2010.

• The 10-point loss to the Cardinals in the ACC semifinals March 9 in Greensboro came just 10 days after Louisville routed the Pack by 30 points (92-62). NC State actually led the No. 3-ranked Cardinals by 10 points (29-19) early in the second quarter before foul trouble forced head coach Wes Moore to bench starters DD Rogers, Kiara Leslie and Elissa Cunane, resulting in a 20-point swing and a 44-34 Louisville lead at the half.

“I’ll take the blame for this loss,” Moore said afterward. “We had three kids pick up two fouls halfway through the second quarter, and I got them out.

“We went from 10 up to 10 down in five minutes or so. I probably should have gambled a little bit there and tried to let them play. We can rotate and manage with one starter out, but when we have three out, it’s tough. We just don’t have the depth [with the Pack’s injuries] to handle that.”

Still, the Pack fought back in the third period, with two free throws by sophomore guard Kai Crutchfield (who scored a career-high 17 points) tying the game at 57-all.

But seven straight points by the Cards to end the period and start the fourth quarter sparked a 13-2 run that the Pack could cut no closer than six points the rest of the way.

Cunane (20 points), Rogers (13) and Leslie (10) also scored in double figures. The Pack shot 51 percent (26 of 51) for the game and outscored Louisville 32-28 in the paint — but gave up 28 points off of 17 turnovers and 12 points on 11 offensive rebounds.

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