Why You Should Consider Tempering Your Basketball Expectations

While the excitement level surrounding State basketball is at the highest point it’s been in years, the latest from Joe Giglio is a sobering reminder that a much improved State squad will have its work cut out for it in 2010-2011:

If N.C. State’s going to jump from the bottom of the ACC basketball standings to the top, the Wolfpack will have to do so against one of the toughest conference schedules.

The details — dates and order of opponents — have yet to be finalized, but under the three-year schedule rotation, the Wolfpack has two games each against Duke, Florida State and Clemson during the 2010-11 season, in addition to the annual home-and-home games with rivals North Carolina and Wake Forest.

At 5-11 in the ACC last season, N.C. State finished in 11th place. With an influx of new talent — three five-star recruits — the Wolfpack is expected to make a significant jump in coach Sidney Lowe’s fifth season. State will have to do so with eight games against four teams expected to be in the top half of the league. The Wolfpack is the only ACC team that has to play both UNC and Duke twice.

State could quite possibly be one of the strongest teams in the conference next year and still struggle to pocket more than eight wins. Combine that with the fact that State’s out-of-conference schedule could feature Georgetown, Syracuse and Arizona, and what looked like a sure ticket to the NCAA’s may not be such a sure thing after all.