The Howl of the Wolf and the death of my brackets
Wow, wow, wow.
I had a feeling that the Wolfies could give the Huskies trouble, but unfortunately for me, that didn't translate into picking State over UConn. So yeah, all those brackets that had UConn winning a rematch over UNC in the regional finals are now crumpled in the waste basket in the media room here.
But let's be honest, you're not that concerned with my brackets (Had Syracuse going a ways in one of them as well!) You want to know about the Pack.
I don't cover State regularly, so I can't tell you exactly what happened, but something changed in this team, just in time. That offensive system that sometimes could be so frustrating suddenly looked effortless down the stretch. It's operating on such a high level now that it didn't even suffer a letdown without Tony Bethel. Guys like Jordan Collins became useful role players, young players like Andrew Brackman became consistent contributors and Greensboro's own Cameron Bennerman began to reach that potential he's been flashing off and on since he arrived in Raleigh.
And then there's Hodge. A senior star who came up big in the biggest moment of his college career.
Add in the fact that the Wolfies have always played tough defense this season and you can see why they were the tournament team no one wanted to face on the first weekend.
Where can they go from here? Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves and let's not get me accused of jinxing them. But I'll just say this - State next plays the winner of Wisconsin-Bucknell.
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