NC State’s dual Final Fours taught us about hope and belief and, yes, never giving up

The ride of their lives, and that of their players, ended two nights apart in Final Four cities separated by more than 1,700 miles, with both Wes Moore and Kevin Keatts sharing a similar kind of gratitude. That neither could have necessarily expected this — at least not now; not this way — had made the journey that much more rewarding.

They both proved what was possible. N.C. State, meanwhile, experienced a basketball awakening. A school that had long been a punchline in the sport it helped turn into a North Carolina pastime again had its moment, at last. A beleaguered nation of Wolfpack supporters, whose loyalty had been tested by years of futility and comically bad luck, found cause to gather in the streets in celebration.

This was the proudest of times for N.C. State — its men’s and women’s basketball programs charging all the way to the Final Four. Both ending their season on college basketball’s grandest stage. Both providing hope with resilience; restoring pride even amid their ultimate defeats. For a time, Raleigh was just about the center of the college basketball universe. Same as it was, long ago.

“A heck of a ride compared to where we started and where we finished,” Moore, head coach of the Wolfpack women, said after his team’s season-ending defeat against South Carolina.

“I don’t know that I could be more prouder of a group of men that I’ve ever coached in my life,” Keatts, head coach of the Wolfpack men, said after his team’s season-ending defeat against Purdue. “Adversity, you name it; situations, you name it; hard times, you name it.

“They found a way to win the ACC. They found a way to make it to the Final Four.”

Adversity. (Difficult) situations. Hard times. Both Moore and Keatts know about such things. Neither followed a straight line to the peak of their professional lives — an apex they both reached in a span of a couple days, after a long time of striving, and a combined climb that brought such joy to a legion of Wolfpack fans.

Moore reached the Final Four last week after starting his coaching career 40 years earlier at a bible college in a rural mountain town in East Tennessee. Consider his own journey since: from head coach at Division III Maryville College to N.C. State assistant for a couple years under Kay Yow, to head coach at Francis Marion and then Chattanooga, for 15 years.

And then back to N.C. State, as head coach, in 2013. And building and building since.

And what about Keatts? His coaching odyssey began with assistant jobs at a community college (Southwestern Michigan) and a military academy (Hargrave), where he wound up spending 10 years as a head coach. His big break came as an assistant at Louisville, which led to the head job at UNC-Wilmington, which led to his chance at N.C. State, seven years ago.

They both might’ve thought, a little more than a month ago, that they’d coached much better Wolfpack teams. Moore had led the State women to three consecutive ACC Tournament championships, after all. Keatts, meanwhile, had led the State men to two NCAA Tournaments — with a bid this year appearing out of reach before an all-timer of an unlikely run.

And then both Moore and Keatts led their teams to the same point: the NCAA Tournament national semifinals. The N.C. State women hadn’t made a Final Four since 1998, under Yow. The State men hadn’t been there since that magical run in 1983, under Jim Valvano. There are statues of both Yow and Valvano outside Reynolds Coliseum, reminders of a standard. They remain two of the most revered figures in the history of college basketball and N.C. State athletics.

And then here were these two Wolfpack teams, bringing alive the past.

After so many years of close calls and near misses (in the case of the women), and so many years of lost hope and futility-inspired misery (in the case of men), here were these two Wolfpack teams, writing their own memorable stories in the present. It was a March, and early April, unlike any N.C. State and its supporters had ever experienced. That the Wolfpack’s dual Final Four runs ended without the ultimate championships wasn’t necessarily the point.

The journey will endure, nonetheless.

From unranked to unforgettable

Consider, as Moore referenced about his own team, where both the N.C. State women and men began their seasons: unranked and essentially unrecognized. Moore’s team, at least, garnered enough votes to enter the season just outside of the top 25 — a kind of consolation prize for also-rans. Keatts’ didn’t even receive that sort of lukewarm reception from pundits.

This was not supposed to be the year, for either one. The State women were picked to finish eighth in the 15-team ACC; the men seventh. Both teams entered the season, the experts thought, with too many holes and too many questions; too many reasons to doubt what might be possible.

And then came flashes: The women’s victories, last November, against Connecticut and Colorado – triumphs that immediately bolstered State’s profile and proved to be the catalyst behind a 14-0 start that was among the best in school history. The men’s 5-1 start in ACC play in January, which gave hope that maybe, just maybe, this season might be different.

Moore had to replace about half his team’s scoring and rebounding from a season ago. He could not have necessarily predicted that Aziaha James would more than double her scoring; that River Baldwin and Saniya Rivers would almost do the same. The State men, meanwhile, had to replace its starting backcourt; it labored for long stretches to find the right lineups and necessary production.

The women rode hope throughout a long season. For the men, it gradually faded.

Both teams suffered through a February malaise: Moore’s seeming to hit a wall during a closer-than-expected overtime victory against Georgia Tech, followed by consecutive losses at North Carolina and Duke; Keatts’ enduring defeat after defeat that, in the moment, felt like daggers.

Approaching March, that month of such dreams and anticipation throughout college basketball, it was fair to doubt the possibilities for both versions of the Wolfpack. Moore’s team appeared to be fading, despite entering the women’s ACC Tournament as the No. 2 seed. Keatts’ team, meanwhile, appeared hopeless. It entered the league tournament on a four-game losing streak.

And then it was the first week of April, both teams having defied the odds. Both teams among the last ones standing in their respective fields. So many teams with such grand aspirations with stronger odds to make such glorious runs, and it was the N.C. State women and the N.C. State men left standing along with six other teams, and proving they belonged.

“Raleigh has been rocking,” Rivers said the day before her team’s game against Iowa in the women’s Final Four. “Raleigh has been lit.”

DJ Burns, who became an unlikely March (and early April) folk hero, understood that, too. The day before his team’s game against Purdue in the men’s Final Four, he spoke of the “people out there crying, man, because we’re winning games and doing stuff that hasn’t been done in 30 or more years.”

“I think it’s just awesome to be able to bring the culture back to Raleigh,” he said.

Overcoming all obstacles

Moore had reestablished that culture on the women’s side, at least. Seven of his first 10 seasons ended with the Wolfpack in the NCAA Tournament. There were the three consecutive ACC Tournament championships, between 2020 and 2022. A Final Four appearance seemed like an inevitability, given his program’s trajectory.

It might’ve come in 2022, if not for the kind of thing that came to be representative of those comically bad breaks. That year, Moore’s team was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But the selection committee placed the Wolfpack in a regional in Bridgeport, Connecticut. State eventually lost in overtime against Connecticut, in what was essentially a road game for the Wolfpack.

Finally, State reached the Final Four in Moore’s 11th season. It came after the Wolfpack, a No. 3 seed, beat top-seeded Texas in Portland, Oregon, on the final Sunday in March. The end of the women’s victory coincided with the beginning of the State men’s game against Duke in the South Regional championship game in Dallas.

Already, Keatts’ team had become a story of March. Maybe the story.

While Moore’s program had maintained its place as arguably the ACC’s best throughout his tenure, Keatts had more difficulty gaining traction. There were the two NCAA Tournament appearances, including one in 2023, but also the low of an 11-win season in 2022. The Wolfpack hadn’t won an NCAA Tournament game in Keatts’ first six seasons. It hadn’t finished any of those seasons ranked among the top 25. Apathy had set in. Fans had tuned out.

And that was before State lost its final four regular season games. It entered the ACC Tournament with a 17-14 record, and 9-11 in conference. The Wolfpack was nowhere close to the NCAA Tournament bubble. Keatts faced speculation about his job status. An early, and expected, ACC Tournament exit seemed like it might be enough to force Boo Corrigan, the N.C. State athletics director, to make a change. He might not have been able to afford not to make a change, given the empty seats that came to be routine at State home games at PNC Arena.

State entered the conference tournament as the No. 10 seed and suffered the indignity of playing on ACC Tournament Tuesday, in front of a general admission crowd in Washington, D.C. The upper deck at Capital One Arena was closed, and curtained off. Perhaps a few thousand sat scattered throughout the lower bowl. And then Louisville, the conference’s worst and most dysfunctional team, and overall program, raced to a 12-point lead about seven minutes into the first half.

A cold reality began to set in. Keatts’ tenure might’ve had a remaining shelf life of 33 minutes.

And then came a Breon Pass 3-pointer that slowed State’s meltdown. And the Wolfpack came back to cut Louisville’s lead to one at halftime. And State eventually prevailed, and celebrated after so much that it irked Jim Boeheim, the former Syracuse coach and current ACC Network analyst, who questioned the Wolfpack’s right to be happy given how it finished the season; given how it’d been a long time since State had won much of anything of significance.

The next day, State beat Syracuse, Boeheim’s former team, by 18 points. Signs of life.

And then came an improbable victory against Duke. Eyebrows raised.

And a wake-up-from-the-dead victory against Virginia. Did that just happen?

The victory against Virginia, especially, felt miraculous. The Cavaliers felt in control throughout much of the second half, yet led by only three points with five seconds to play. Isaac McKneely, a Virginia sophomore guard, stepped to the free throw line to put the game out of reach. He was an 85% free throw shooter. And he missed the front end of a one-and-one.

A second later, Michael O’Connell, State’s senior point guard, was sprinting up the court.

Three seconds left ... two ...

He released a shot from the left wing with one second remaining. A thousand other shots just like it would’ve missed.

And if this one had, too, it would’ve been over. That game, and State’s season.

Nice little run, but it stops here. Good job, Wolfpack. Made it interesting, at least.

But this shot was the one in a thousand. One in a million?

It bounced off the backboard and took two spins around the rim. It fell through.

Overtime. State won. The Wolfpack danced. And what actually was happening?

State became the first team to go from ACC Tournament Tuesday to championship game Saturday. But it had to stop there, right? Four wins in four days was impressive and all. But five in five? Forget about it. Not with North Carolina looming in the tournament championship game. Not with UNC’s ownership of the Wolfpack for, well — for decades, really.

But then State’s 84-76 victory against Carolina felt almost anticlimactic. DJ Horne, a senior guard from Raleigh, unrecruited by local ACC schools out of high school, finished with 29 points. Burns with 20. State led for 33 minutes. A burst of red and white confetti — and it was fair whether the ACC had even stocked any, given the slim odds it’d be needed — rained down upon the court.

The Wolfpack celebrated its first ACC Tournament championship in men’s basketball since 1987. Thirty-seven years. Keatts and his players cut down the nets. Corrigan stood off to the side, tears in his eyes. He was hardly the only one who’d been moved enough to cry.

The ACC title was just the beginning

The story could’ve ended there and it already would’ve been N.C. State’s best basketball season in decades. A men’s team that won the ACC Tournament for the first time in almost 40 years – that beat every conference school who’d won a national championship since State last won one in 1983.

That won five games in five days. That went from down 12 against Louisville on tournament Tuesday to champions? An absurd turn of events. A women’s team, meanwhile, that finished second in the league; that spent a lot of the season in the top 10.

A great year. A banner year.

But it did not end there.

It continued for the next few weeks.

The Wolfpack men winning. Down goes Texas Tech, and Oakland in overtime.

The Wolfpack women winning. Down goes Chattanooga, and Tennessee.

The men traveling to Dallas. The women to Portland.

The journey continuing. The anticipation building.

And what was that, that State and its hard-luck fans began to feel? Something like real hope? Something like ... joy? Something like the opposite of heartbreak, whatever that feeling is?

After so many years of watching Carolina fans celebrate championships, and Duke fans, those who’ve stuck with N.C. State for a long time must have forgotten what something like this feels like. What March magic feels like. And so came more of that feeling when the women defeated Stanford and Texas, and when the men defeated Marquette and Duke, again — this time to go to the Final Four for the first time since 1983.

And it really did feel like ‘83 must’ve felt like. With people filling the streets, reveling.

With “fans just running to the Belltower, lighting it red,” said Aziaha James. With those fans “waiting for us at 3 in the morning” upon the women’s return from Portland, and the men’s return from Dallas. With so many years of State anguish and frustration, vanquished. With State becoming the third ACC school, after Duke and Louisville, to go to a men’s and women’s Final Four in the same year.

Seasons end, but memories endure

It ended a game later, for both teams, but not as much with a sense of heartbreak as appreciation. There was disappointment, yes. The women kept it close for a half against South Carolina, the eventual undefeated national champion, before the Gamecocks pulled away after halftime at the women’s Final Four in Cleveland.

“An unbelievable season,” Moore said, adding that it “stinks to end it this way.”

“But I’m sure after we’ve had a little bit of time away from it and can reflect, we have a lot to be proud of.”

The next night, in Glendale, Arizona, the men’s magic ran out, too. State defended Purdue well enough, but went cold at the worst time. Shots that fell throughout its nine-game postseason winning streak did not fall in the national semifinals.

“We’re going to leave out of here because Purdue won the game,” Keatts said afterward, “but we’ll walk out of here with our heads up as champions because of what we’ve been able to provide. The memories that these guys have created for NC State basketball, but more importantly for themselves, for the rest of their lives.

“These guys are champions, ACC champions.”

State’s locker room was quiet afterward, but not necessarily a scene of heartbreak. The Wolfpack knew what kind of run it’d been on. Players understood the improbability of it; what it’d meant back home to supporters, as Keatts had alluded to the day before, who weren’t old enough to experience 1983.

And so this became a new moment to remember. One that didn’t end with a national championship, but that provided thrills, nonetheless. That gave hope. That made people believe in the impossible. Those were just about the odds at the start of the ACC Tournament that the N.C. State men would wind up in the Final Four: impossible. No chance. Laughable to even consider.

And then something changed. It was impossible to explain it.

A lost team found itself. An embattled coach couldn’t lose.

Keatts began receiving custom-made Adidas sneakers, with little scoops of ice cream — his traditional reward for his players, after road victories — on the side of his shoes. When he arrived in Phoenix for the Final Four, there were nine little ice cream cones on those shoes, each scoop the color of a team State had beaten on this run. One Carolina blue scoop. Two Duke blue scoops.

“You want some scoops?” Keatts asked reporters outside the locker room the day before his team’s final game. He pointed to his shoes: “Here are some scoops.”

He and his players had fun with it. Burns became something of a household name. N.C. State, for so long overshadowed in its own neighborhood, became America’s team. Its run to the Final Four was as unlikely as any in history.

And yet it happened. It happened. The journey offered lessons.

“Like, just the resiliency of us now,” said Jayden Taylor, the Wolfpack guard. He offered perspective in defeat, and sentiments he and his teammates shared. While the final loss hurt, it came almost a month later than most everyone expected. Taylor and his teammates had been on the ride of their lives. It was a story, for a while, that captured the nation’s attention.

“Even when everybody says you can’t do it, and there’s so much noise and they all hate you, and they all say you (stink) and all that – and we made people believe,” Taylor said. “Like, we gave people hope. Through all the noise. We still ended up in the Final Four. Nobody thought we could do it. And I’ll say this – if you believe, don’t care what nobody else says, and you really lock in, you can do it.

“No matter what, you can do anything. Anything is possible.”

That was the moral of this N.C. State journey. Soon Taylor and his teammates began filing out of the locker room. Most carried the name plates from their lockers — ones with the Final Four logo. O’Connell, whose shot against Virginia set State on this journey, carried his. So did Burns, the big man who became a March darling. He and his teammates walked slowly toward the bus.

After a while, Keatts finally walked out of the locker room, too. He’d been among the last remaining inside, along with his wife and his son, KJ, a Wolfpack walk-on. The three of them walked out together and down a long hallway. They walked past a large NCAA Tournament bracket on the wall, that showed N.C. State among the final four teams in the field. That showed the Wolfpack in its first Final Four since 1983.

The journey was over now. It won’t be forgotten.