There is no denying that NC State basketball's 83-72 win at Miami stopped some bleeding for the Wolfpack with regard to its NCAA Tournament hopes. NC State had slipped off of ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi's bubble following three straight losses.
The win over the Hurricanes gave NC State a somewhat cheap quad two victory simply because it was on the road. Miami has been sliding down the NET however, and NC State fans will need to hope that it doesn't go so far as to end up being a quad three victory before the season is over.
Another team that slid this week was Wisconsin, who fell from a quad one home victory to a quad two after it was smacked at Minnesota Wednesday night. The Badgers are now at No. 36 in the NET, and they may face a challenge to get back up into the top 30 (the cutoff for home games to count as a quad one) after losing Kobe King to the transfer portal last week. King was the Badgers' leading scorer in Big Ten conference action.
The loss at Virginia Tech currently counts as a quad one defeat, but the Hokies have fallen on tough times of late and are mired in a four-game losing streak. Now Virginia Tech is No. 71 on the NET, and the cutoff for a quad one road game is 75. Also, the future home date against Pittsburgh on Feb. 29 now stands as a quad three game after the Panthers have lost three out of four contests to fall to No. 81 in the standings.
On the positive NET front, NC State's rally from double-digits down to beat Notre Dame at home is carrying more significance as the Fighting Irish took advantage of a three-game home stand to win three straight league contests. Notre Dame has jumped a dozen spots in the NET rankings from last week.
The sweep at the hands of Georgia Tech may also prove less damaging. The Jackets have jumped up to No. 78 in the NET, and an improvement of three more spots would elevate the two losses from quad two and three respective to one and two.
Non-conference foes Appalachian State and Florida International continue to be worth watching as both are flirting with being promoted from quad four wins, which tend to be disregarded by the NCAA Tournament selection committee, to quad threes.
NET Rankings Update
These are the sorted rankings used by the NCAA Tournament (with sorted being the key word) committee. What is more important is the quadrant rankings below them.
This is updated through games of Wednesday:
6. Duke — TBD (road, home) (no change from a week ago)
7. Louisville — L (home) (up five)
14. Florida State — TBD (home) (up four)
16. Auburn — L (road) (up nine)
36. Wisconsin — W (home) (down four)
46. Memphis – L (neutral) (up five)
56. Virginia — W (road) (no change)
59. Notre Dame — W (home) (up 12)
63. NC State (down four)
65. Syracuse — TBD (road) (down three)
68. UNC Greensboro — W (road) (up six)
71. Virginia Tech — L (road) (down 17)
78. Georgia Tech — L (home), L (road) (up eight)
81. Pittsburgh — TBD (home) (down six)
95. North Carolina — L (home), TBD (road) (down five)
98. Clemson — L (road), W (home) (down 17)
105. Wake Forest — W (road), TBD (home) (up five)
109. Miami — W (home), W (road) (down seven)
139. Little Rock — W (home) (up seven)
147. Boston College — TBD (road) (up 10)
167. Appalachian State – W (home) (up nine)
176. Florida International — W (home) (down five)
292. Alcorn State — W (home) (down nine)
293. Detroit Mercy — W (home) (down four)
296. St. Francis (Brooklyn) — W (home) (up one)
332. The Citadel — W (home) (down five)
Note: There are 353 teams ranked by the NET.
Quads/Strength Of Schedule
Broken down by quadrants NCAA committee uses (quadrant four wins are disregarded by NCAA committee):
Quadrant 1 (Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Road 1-75): 2-4 with four remaining
Quadrant 2 (Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Road 76-135): 4-2 with one remaining
Quadrant 3 (Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Road 136-240): 3-2 with three remaining
Quadrant 4 (Home 161+, Neutral 201+, Road 241+): 6-0 with none remaining
Non-conference strength of schedule: No. 56
Overall strength of schedule: No. 74
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