\u201cOur time is right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words echoed around the empty Reynolds Coliseum, closed for men\u2019s basketball head coach Will Wade\u2019s introductory press conference. The claim was bold. Wade hadn\u2019t even been on campus for 24 hours, and he claimed that NC State\u2019s time had arrived \u2014 the same NC State team that missed the ACC Tournament for the first time in conference history.<\/p>\n
But Wade didn\u2019t back down from his claims; he doubled down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanna be very clear, this is not a rebuild,\u201d Wade said. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna be in the top part of the ACC next year and we\u2019re going to the NCAA Tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wade\u2019s hiring didn\u2019t just mean a coaching change or a different program; it signaled a culture shift. A change in mentality. Why aim for just a tournament berth when you can aim to be one of the top teams in the country?<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t even have a roster, yet he claimed that NC State would be competing at the highest level in March. It\u2019s rare to see this type of confidence in college basketball, let alone from a new coach without a team.<\/p>\n
Throughout the offseason, Wade built his roster. It was slow at first \u2014 a couple of guys he brought along from McNeese State, two four-star transfers. But blink and you would\u2019ve missed it. Wade brought in five-star transfer Darrion Williams, former UNC-Chapel Hill big man Ven-Allen Lubin and a few highly touted overseas prospects. By the time it was all said and done, NC State had the No. 13 transfer class in the nation, according to ESPN.<\/p>\n
At NC State men\u2019s basketball\u2019s media day in September, players were asked the same question: Why NC State? Without hesitation, every player gave the same answer: Will Wade. They know the mentality and toughness that he brings to the program. It\u2019s not about having fun, it\u2019s about making a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh expectations, but that\u2019s what comes with the territory,\u201d Williams said. \u201c[Wade] said, \u2018If you don\u2019t want to win, don\u2019t come here.\u2019 That\u2019s what he told me the first time we talked. He\u2019s himself the whole time; he doesn\u2019t change.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it came to his own media day press conference, Wade took the same stance he had taken six months prior.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re red. Blood is red, not blue,\u201d Wade said. \u201cIt\u2019s gonna be a reckoning for the ACC and for college basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Between UNC, Duke and the occasional NC State appearance, the state of North Carolina is the mecca of college basketball, so the jab at the sport\u2019s iconic Blue Bloods was noticeable. But the statement proves something else. Wade doesn\u2019t care about the past, about NC State\u2019s tournament-missing season or even its Final Four appearance the year before. He doesn\u2019t care about all-time records against Tobacco Road rivals or program achievements.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t just want to compete, we want to win,\u201d said NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan. \u201cAnd we want to win big.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corrigan hit the jackpot hiring Wade because winning is the only thing on his mind.<\/p>\n
Wade isn\u2019t just making up these claims out of thin air or pure bias. The expectations for NC State are extremely high. Both on paper and through the media polls, the bar for NC State should be top four in the ACC, with respect given to a loaded Blue Devils program, a strong Louisville squad and Hubert Davis\u2019 Tar Heels. Gone should be the days of questioning whether an NCAA Tournament appearance is in the cards or whether the Pack would even contend in the ACC.<\/p>\n
Even top basketball analysts like Jon Rothstein see the potential that Wade\u2019s Wolfpack has.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill Wade has flipped multiple programs during his career as a head coach,\u201d Rothstein said in a September X post. \u201cNC State\u2019s return to relevance feels like an inevitability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortune favors the bold, and nobody has been bolder in the offseason than Wade.<\/p>\n
Now, with an exhibition game this week and the start of the regular season less than two weeks away, it\u2019s time for Wade to back up his claims, and history leans in his favor. Across his time as a head coach of four basketball programs, Wade has won 70 percent of his games. For comparison, in former head coach Kevin Keatts\u2019 time at NC State, he won just 57 percent.<\/p>\n
Wade has also clinched an NCAA Tournament berth in each of his last five seasons, headlined by arguably the biggest upset of last year\u2019s tournament when No. 12 McNeese State downed No. 5 Clemson, his alma mater.<\/p>\n
Wade isn\u2019t the only new member of the Pack with March Madness experience. That No. 13 transfer class he brought in has 549 minutes logged in an NCAA Tournament game, over 200 more minutes than the next closest ACC team.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut our team together with an emphasis on being able to win, being able to win in March,\u201d Wade said. \u201cWe have the most NCAA Tournament minutes of any team in the ACC on our roster.\u201d<\/p>\n
After months of hype, the Red Reckoning is here. The bar has been set high for NC State, but Wade seeks to soar far above it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOur time is right now.\u201d The words echoed around the empty Reynolds Coliseum, closed for men\u2019s basketball head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,398,400,401,99],"class_list":["post-243638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}