NC State makes NIT, AD Debbie Yow upset Wolfpack not invited to Big Dance
Posted March 17, 2019 8:23 p.m. EDT
Updated March 17, 2019 9:24 p.m. EDT
North Carolina State's NCAA Tournament bubble burst on Selection Sunday. Instead, the Wolfpack will settle for a spot in the NIT.
NCSU is a No. 2 seed and will host Hofstra on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Reynolds Coliseum. A win would place the Pack against the winner of Georgetown versus Harvard.
NC State's omission from the NCAA Tournament field didn't sit well with athletics director Debbie Yow.
The Wolfpack (22-11) was 33rd in the new NET rankings, a more analytical system that incorporated factors such as game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin and net efficiency at both ends of the court.
In a statement, Yow pointed out that the Wolfpack beat eventual Southeastern Conference Tournament champion Auburn while playing five games against Atlantic Coast Conference peers Duke, North Carolina and Virginia — which all ended up with NCAA 1-seeds.
But N.C. State went just 3-9 in Quadrant 1 games and had the nation's worst nonconference strength of schedule.
Yow said she was "disappointed" that "our total body of work was not rewarded" with an NCAA invitation.
