A tough school year has come to an end for N.C. State athletics.
A trip to the controversial 2021 College World Series left State with 13 eligible players due to COVID protocols and cost the Wolfpack a chance to win its fourth national championship of any kind in school history. That was only the beginning heading for a new school year.
Their other marquee programs went from a shocking end to an otherwise great football season, to fielding a terrible men’s basketball team, to a truly unfair pairing for its nationally-ranked women hoopsters, to a snub from the 2022 NCAA baseball tourney.
Such a royal straight flush doesn’t happen to most college programs in a decade, but it did to State in less than 12 months.
With Carolina’s poor execution all over the field, State ended a 9-3 football regular season with that miraculous comeback win in the final minutes over the Tar Heels. The Pack then had a chance to post the school’s first 10-win football record in 20 years.
With a trip to San Diego for the high-profile Holiday Bowl against UCLA, State was left at the gridiron alter when the Bruins got on the bus and returned to LA the morning of the game due to concerns for their health and safety from the COVID pandemic. State took the Holiday Bowl trophy by default back to Raleigh.
Men’s basketball under fifth-year coach Kevin Keatts was picked to finish ninth in the ACC and did even worse with a 4-16 record for last place and first-round loss in the ACC tournament.
The Pack’s ranked women won the ACC regular season and tournament and got screwed as the No. 1 seed in the East Regional in Hartford, where it lost to perennial power and No. 2 UConn before a wildly partisan crowd.
Then came a new baseball season with State hoping to recreate its magic of last spring and make another run toward Omaha and the College World Series.
After sweeping Florida State on the last weekend of the regular season, hot Carolina then beat N.C. State for the seventh straight time in the ACC Tournament, pounding the Pack for the championship at the Triple-A ballpark in Charlotte.
That loss cost State an invitation back to the NCAA playoffs, leaving the school feeling hurt and angry all over again.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Carlson
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