Wolf!

No, it's not another comment from the so-called Yip dog (btw, Chewy can read and he's taking notes).

I spent my ride home from church (looking for some intervention to stop Raap's run) listening to the start of the 6pm show on ESPN radio, hoping to get word on whether or not the only big conference Cinderella, NC State, had turned the trick against Va Tech. Unfortunately, the idiots on the show spent the first 15 minutes talking about whether or not Kansas State and Bob Huggins deserved to go to the Dance.

First of all, Kansas State should stay home simply because they are associated with Bob Huggins. Second, this has probably been the most boring conference postseason in recent memory. With OSU/Wisc, Texas/Kansas, and Florida/Arkansas (ok, Arkansas is not the best team to face Florida in the SEC) matchups on Sunday, NC State has provided that underdog breath of fresh air in a mundane conference swing that had me concentrating more on work today than actually watching any of the games.

Anyway, now that the Wolfpack are one game away from repeating their run from 1983 (NC and Virgina in the conference tourney before beating Virginia and Houston on the way to a most improbably NCAA title) we can officially call this the Year of the Popping Bubble. With Butler, Nevada, and Xavier losing, a Wolfpack win against NC on Sunday (and it can happen--NC State already turned the trick once this year) will take four spots away from the undeserving mediocre mid-conference sitting large schools who whine every year that smaller schools get their spots by not playing anyone. Billy Packer's worst nightmare---small schools get more spots due to upsets in their own conferences.

Especially if NC State wins. Granted, this will switch a major with a major but NC State is the ultimate Cinderella. What, in a conference boasting NC and Duke, along with Va Tech and Maryland, NC State has traditionally been in the dregs of the conference. Almost a mid-major trapped in a large conference body.

Mark my words...if NC State wins tomorrow, Packer will lament that one of the major schools like Kansas State or Florida State should make it before Butler, Nevada or Xavier when, in reality, the reason they don't make it is they didn't do what NC State did.

Run the table.

Cheers until tomorrow.