Via preseason rankings for No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 UConn, and No. 13 Purdue, this week’s USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll points to conceivable Final Four appearances by three of the 2024 edition’s participants. As for the other April competitor last go-round, the NC State basketball program is nowhere to be found in the top 25 or among the 21 others that received votes.

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So, as is the case in the preseason Associated Press Top 25, where Kevin Keatts’ eighth Wolfpack squad doesn’t even appear as one of the 30 unranked teams that received at least one vote, NC State hasn’t gotten love from a single ballot-holder anywhere.

Yes, the Pack lost big-time bucket-getters DJ Horne and DJ Burns. No, neither the NC State recruiting haul nor handful of transfer additions is a top-ranked collection.

However, four of the top eight scorers returned, including a few integral contributors in Jayden Taylor, Michael O’Connell, and Ben Middlebrooks. Moreover, the newcomers are far from scrubs, as the cast features top 2023-24 Louisville weapons in Mike James and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, not to mention former UNC and Georgetown guard Dontrez Styles, plus a trio of four-star freshman guards.

When looking at what might be lacking within just a 30-mile radius of the Wolfpack, it’s somewhat peculiar that NC State basketball, predicted by ACC media to finish No. 8 in the conference standings, is seemingly being altogether overlooked.

Duke, a nearby ACC foe that the Wolfpack knocked off on its way to winning the ACC Tournament and again in the Elite Eight, returned only two scholarship players — neither among the program’s top four scorers last season — yet sits No. 5 in the Coaches Poll and No. 7 in the AP Top 25.

Granted, third-year Blue Devil head coach Jon Scheyer welcomes Cooper Flagg and the rest of the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, along with a few formidable transfers.

But Scheyer’s reign has already included five-stars galore. Most of the previous ones are now in the NBA or have transferred elsewhere. And the simple truth is that Scheyer hasn’t been able to reach a Final Four yet, thanks in large part to Keatts and his bunch coming out of nowhere to silence those Duke dreams the last time the Blue Devils took the floor in a game that counted.

NC State’s archrival, UNC, checks in at No. 10 and No. 9, respectively, despite not finding a proven replacement for its full-time starter down low the past five years in all-time Tar Heel rebounder and double-double machine Armando Bacot. One could also argue the group in Chapel Hill doesn’t have any forwards nearly as daunting as 2023-24 standout transfer Harrison Ingram, now with the San Antonio Spurs.

Of course, it’s also worth mentioning that Hubert Davis’ 2023-24 team, even with Bacot’s post prowess and Ingram’s dynamic skill set, didn’t outperform Keatts’ bunch when it mattered most in their ACC Tournament title showdown. And the Tar Heels fell to Alabama in the Sweet 16.

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