Since the NC State athletics calendar year is, regrettably, over, it’s a good time to reflect back on the year that was.

Related link: The best of NC State fall sports

Here are The Wolfpacker's superlatives for the Wolfpack’s winter sports that consist of wrestling, men’s and women’s basketball, gymnastics, and men’s and women’s swimming.

There are so many choices to choose from. Men’s swimming won yet another ACC title, while wrestling had a big winter that ended with a conference championship of its own and No. 3 national ranking at the end of the regular season.

But it’s hard to match the excitement that the women’s basketball program created. Led by sophomore All-American center Elissa Cunane, senior All-ACC guard Aislinn “Ace” Konig, and the All-ACC Freshman Team duo of Jakia Brown-Turner and Jada Boyd among its deep and talented roster, the Wolfpack captured its first ACC crown since 1991, setting off a celebration in Greensboro, N.C., that continued that evening in Raleigh.

NC State went 28-4 overall and was poised to host as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament when everything was shut down. The victory total was one off a school record and it is the best winning percentage (.875) in program history. The four defeats were the fewest in a year, too.

RELATED: Women's Basketball Superlatives

There are so many worthy contenders here that it’s almost impossible to pick one. Cunane was the women’s basketball program’s first-ever Associated Press All-America team selection (some had previously been honorable mention or earned non-AP All-America honors). Swimmers like sophomore Sophie Hansson and senior Coleman Stewart were potential national title winners had the NCAA championships been held.

The edge, though, goes to wrestling redshirt junior Hayden Hidlay, who like Stewart and Hansson was an individual national title contender. He was named the ACC Wrestler of the Year after going 28-1 on the year, including a 12-0 mark in dual matches. Hidlay, who earned the No. 2 seed at 157 pounds for the NCAA Championships before they were canceled, won a third straight ACC title and is 23-0 in his career against league opponents.

Both wrestling’s Pat Popolizio and swimming’s Braden Holloway are superstars in their respective sports, and this past year only enhanced that fact. However, the nod goes to Wes Moore of the women’s basketball team.

Moore has the Pack on the edge of being an elite national program. NC State entered this year having gone to three straight NCAA Tournaments and reaching the Sweet 16 in each of the last two seasons (and some would argue a few questionable calls at Texas in 2017 from it being three Sweet 16s in a row). Last year was the first time the team finished in the nation's top 10 (No. 10 in coaches’ poll and No. 9 in writers) since the Final Four team Hall of Famer Kay Yow had in 1998. In those three years, NC State went a combined 77-24 overall (.762 winning percentage) and 35-13 in the ACC (.729).

This year topped all those campaigns. NC State was at one point considered a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before a brief rough patch late in the season. However, the Wolfpack rebounded to win the ACC Tournament, and it was No. 8 in both the final coaches' and writers’ polls. Among its 28 wins was a non-conference triumph over likely No. 1 seed Maryland.

It’s a family affair with wrestling's Hidlay brothers.

Redshirt freshman Trent Hidlay proved to be a national title contender at 184 pounds. He was seeded No. 5 for the NCAA Championships before the title meet was canceled after going 23-4 during the season with six victories over ranked opponents.

Hidlay went 14-1 in dual matches and finished second in an ultra-competitive ACC that featured a trio of top-10 grapplers, including No. 1, according to the NCAA seeds.

The Hidlays and Popolizio all earned the annual ACC honors (Coach, Wrestler and Rookie of the Year) to give NC State its second-ever sweep of the conference awards and just the fourth in league history.

There were few things as exciting as the wrestling dual wins over UNC and Virginia Tech at home, and then there was the thrill of an ACC title in women’s basketball. However, the edge here goes to the men’s basketball team’s 88-66 thrashing of No. 6 Duke at home on Feb. 20.

NC State never trailed in this game. Nor was it ever tied after the opening tip. The Pack started the contest on a 10-1 run. The closest Duke ever got was five points after that. When NC State took a double-digit advantage at 25-13, the Blue Devils were never within single digit again.

It is the biggest loss ever in Hall of Fame and legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s tenure to a non-ranked opponent for Duke, and it tied for the second-biggest defeat in the past 10 years for the Blue Devils.

The 15-point halftime deficit was the largest Duke has faced since 2016. NC State had a 27-point lead with 1:54 left and was flirting with giving Duke its first 30-point loss since it was routed by that margin in the 1990 NCAA national title game against UNLV.

Sophomore Nyls Korstanje was expected to be a top swimmer at NC State. He was the ACC Freshman of the Year in 2018-19 and made it to the B-finals of both the 50 and 100 freestyle at the NCAA championship meet.

This year, though, Korstanje took it to the next level. He won the ACC title in both of the sprint free races, and his best times in each were on track to make him an A-finalist in each race before the national championships were canceled. He also had All-America potential in the 100 butterfly.

Men’s basketball head coach Kevin Keatts has been working to secure a signature, program-building recruiting class, and he may have found it this year. The headliner of that group is five-star forward Josh Hall, a Durham, N.C., native that played at Hickory (N.C.) Moravian Prep.

Hall is the first five-star signee in hoops since Omer Yurtseven in the spring of 2016. Rivals.com ranks Hall the No. 22 prospect overall and No. 4 small forward nationally in the 2020 class.

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