The NC State women’s basketball has already made its mark in the program record books this season, but it still has one more “first-ever” goal in mind before the 2020-21 college basketball season comes to an end.
The Wolfpack won back-to-back ACC Tournament titles for the first time in program history earlier this March. Then, after eight days of speculation and discussion from bracketologists and fans alike, the Pack went on to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, marking another program-first.
Now with its highest seed ever, NC State has its aims set on winning a national championship in what would be the program’s best finish in the NCAA Tournament.
Or as senior forward Kayla Jones puts it: “I want to win a Natty.”
The team arrived in San Antonio Tuesday, where it will stay in quarantine through the entirety of its tournament run, which begins against 16th-seeded North Carolina A&T on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. on ESPN.
Outside of games, practice and completing coursework online, the squad will only have itselves to interact with as it secludes in a hotel for what it hopes to be two more weeks.
In a normal year, NC State would have the backing of a sold-out crowd in Reynolds Coliseum to help it reach the Sweet Sixteen with home wins in the first two rounds of the tournament due to its high seed. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA is hosting all 64 teams in the greater San Antonio area where all of the tournament’s games will be conducted in various sites, ultimately ending up in the Alamodome for the Final Four.
While the pseudo “bubble” has been a success so far in terms of virus scares, it’s also received viral negative attention after multiple athletes within the site shared evidence of unequal amenities and conditions between the men’s and women’s tournaments via social media.
For example, the men’s bubble in Indianapolis had an entire ballroom filled with dozens of barbell racks and workout equipment while the women’s site in San Antonio had just one small rack of dumbbells and yoga mats for its supposed fitness center.
Of the three NC State players made available to the media Friday, all were familiar with the situation and expressed their disappointment with it, but ultimately reiterated their focus on their collective end goals during what they consider a business trip.
“I see it on social media and we're also living in it,” Wolfpack All-American junior center Elissa Cunane said. “I definitely know what's going on. It's unfortunate, and it just shows how far women's sports has to go. In this moment, I'm just grateful that there is an NCAA tournament this year. We came to win games at the end of the day.”
“It is what it is,” NC State fifth-year senior guard Raina Perez added. “It's unfortunate because you don't really expect those things coming to the NCAA Tournament. At the same time, we try to find the positives in things as a team, and we're just excited to play games.”
After earning a No. 1 seed in the tournament, this NC State won’t be able to sneak up on any opponent as it may have been able to in years past during the program’s recent rise to the highest ranks of women’s college basketball.
Despite the confirmation of their success throughout the regular season and conference tournament by earning a top seed from the selection committee, this team still carries the same chip on its shoulder that led to claiming two wins against top-ranked opponents this season for just the third time in the sport in the past 20 years.
“We still feel as if we still have something to prove,” Jones stated.
“I heard Raina talking about an ESPN article the other day called, ‘Top Five teams that could win the tournament,’” Cunane recalled. “NC State wasn't on that list, even though we're a number one seed. We got the respect we deserved as a number one seed, but we still have a far ways to go.”
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