Basketball

When NC State arrived in Washington, D.C. for the 2024 ACC Tournament, they entered on a four-game losing streak, and questions surrounded the program about the future of Kevin Keatts as the head coach. For just the second time in college basketball history, a team won five games in five days, as State won their first conference title since 1987, to earn the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Entering the Big Dance, the question was how far could State ride that momentum, and that answer has resulted in a trip to the Final Four, their first since 1983, completely changing the outlook for Kevin Keatts and the program in general. 

The Final Four is set, with UConn, Alabama, NC State, and Purdue all making their way to Phoenix for the 2024 Final Four. This is obviously a field that nobody predicted back on Selection Sunday, but this Final Four will offer intriguing storylines. UConn is seeking to become the first team in almost two decades to repeat as tournament champions, Alabama is proving that you don't have to be elite defensively to compete at the highest level, Zach Edey and Purdue are seeking their own redemptions story like Virginia 5 years ago, and then there's NC State, looking to replicate their run to the 1983 national championship. 

The NCAA Tournament gets back underway later today, with two ACC teams in action in the West Region, in North Carolina and Clemson, After putting just 5 teams in this year's Big Dance, the ACC has 4 teams in the second weekend, for the 13th time in the history of the event, which has caused a firestorm on social media between die-hard ACC fans, and the national college basketball media, which devalued the conference all season long. 

The Charlotte Hornets kicked off an eight-game homestand by snapping a five-game losing streak with a 118-111 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.

This past weekend saw the NCAA tournament dwindle to 16 teams and the ACC is strongly represented with the conference occupying 4 of those 16 slots. Former Charlotte 49ers HC and NC State assistant Bobby Lutz joined Kyle Bailey as he broke down the ACC showing up yet again in March. The first topic broached […]

Once you get into the second round of the NCAA Tournament, you know you’re going to get tested, and that’s exactly what happened to Carolina tonight, even if they won 85-69. Tom Izz’s bunch came more and threw the first punch, building an early 17-7 lead, as they would lead by as many as 12 in the first half. In his TV interview on CBS, Hubert Davis made it known that he couldn’t talk basketball to his team until they started competing and matching the Spartans’ physicality. Like they have all season long, the Tar Heels answered the call, going on a 17-0 run, that would extend to a 23-3 run to end the half, to turn the double-digit deficit, into a 40-31 halftime lead. That lead wouldn’t completely disappear, but Sparty came out of the half on fire, making it a 48-46 game at the under-16 timeout of the second half, but that was as close as it would get, once Carolina reestablished control, they would close the game out, the way you have to this time of the year.

Charlotte didn't provide the drama like it did the last time the NCAA Tournament was here, as the #1 seed Tar Heels routed Wagner, and the #2 seed Tennessee Volunteers made quick work of Saint Peter's, but that doesn't mean that we didn't learn a lot about the teams in the second session, which featured wins for Texas and Tennessee. Here's a quick summary of what you need to know about last night's action in the Queen City. 

The 2024 NCAA Tournament tipped off earlier this afternoon with a doubleheader at the top of the West Region. The day started with Michigan State running away from a Mississippi State team that came in the favorite, while the second game featured the No. 1 seed in the region, North Carolina, using the final 12 […]

With the Madness right around the corner former UNC great turned analyst for CBS Brendan Haywood joined Kyle Bailey to preview what to expect from the Big Dance. The first topic Brendan went to was NC State’s miraculous run to win the ACC Tournament as he commended the Wolfpack on an incredible run, but he […]

Whenever you think of the glory days of the Charlotte Hornets, one of the first players that you think about is Jamal Mashburn, who arrived in Charlotte after being included in a trade for Eddie Jones and Anthony Mason. In Mashburn's two seasons with the Hornets, before they left for New Orleans, he averaged over 20 points per game and helped guide the team to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2001. Despite playing just two seasons in Charlotte, he's still among the all-time best players to ever play in the Queen City.