Haven't posted under BTP's fanpost section in a while, but with women's basketball pending, well, here we go!

Volleyball

This season's volleyball team is probably going to be the best since the 2017 team which went 21-12 overall and 11-3 in conference. That team played in the NCAA Tournament wining State's first ever NCAA Tournament game 3-2 over Oregon State after which the team lost to number 2 Texas 0-3.

This season's team is currently 13-2 overall, 3-1 in conference and had a ten-game winning streak before losing at Georgia Tech on September 24th. The team is coming off a big 3-1 win over Louisville, the DI Committee's 5th ranked team. How good the team is will probably become clear after this weekend's trips to Miami (7:00 p.m. Friday evening) and Florida State (1:00 p.m. Sunday). Go Pack Volleyball!

Women's Basketball

First, this better be Saniya River's team. I am of the opinion that she can get a mid-range jumper almost any time she wants due to her height, speed, quickness and ability to elevate. While she only shot 439 from the floor that figure included 14-65 from the arc. If my thinking is correct, Saniya shot about 52% from the floor absent those arc shots. I think she should be able to make a mid-range jumper at a higher percentage than 52. One might think that the team's success will depend on her being the team leader and go to player. State needs a dominant point guard like Miah Spencer or Diamond Johnson.

I think this team will be better than the State team which lost to Princeton last season in the NCAA tournament, not as good as the 2021-22 team and not as good as last season's team which beat Iowa at Iowa. To be honest one might go back to the 2016-17 team to find a team to which this year's team might be comparable. And, that would not be bad as the 2016-17 team went 23-9 overall, 12-4 in conference and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament where the refs (yes I am going there) handed it to Texas.

Here is my guess at the starting line-up: Saniya Rivers at the point; Aziaha James at the two guard; Madison Hayes at the wing; Mimi Collins at the forward; and Lizzy Willaims at center. Reasons for Williams to start at center are she is six five, loves to rebound (10 per game for the 22-23 WAC champs), and loves to play defense (22-23 WAC defensive player of the year).

It has been a while since State has not been in espn.com women's basketball "Way-too-early top 25"-did we even get a vote? No. State was not even considered in this list. Here is what espn women's basketball thinks of State:

Other fallers

NC State: From No. 25/projected No. 7 seed to No. 33/projected No. 9 seed

The Wolfpack got passed by a few teams because of portal inactivity. After losing Jakia Brown-Turner to Maryland, NC State didn't add anyone of impact. -- Creme

Oh! It's the opinion of Charlie Crème who does not like State that much and has always looked for reasons to write negatively of the program.

Jada Boyd and Jakia Brown-Turner Era

Now that Jada and Jakia have moved on (Jada out of basketball at least collegiately and Jakia to Maryland-it will be interesting to see if she starts), here is a look at a few "goods and bads" of their four years from the team's perspective. The very goods were the three ACC Tournant titles and the regular season championship in 21-22. Jada was All-ACC Tournament first team in 21-22 while Jakia was on the second team. The bad that sticks out in my mind was the loss to Princeton in the 22-23 NCAA Tournament first round. State was up by 5 at 63-58 with 3:09 left in the game and never scored again-due to that State lost 64-63. Another good was the 63-51 win at Louisville in 22-23 where Jada shot 6-8 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 2-3 from the line and had 7 boards. Where was this team for the 23 part of the season?

One has to add as good the 20-21 win at number 1 South Carolina although Jada did not play, the 20-21 win at number 1 Louisville and the win at Iowa in 22-23 although Jada again did not play.

Prediction

I pick VaTech to win the ACC regular season and ACC Tournament. VaTech returns the conference's best center in Elizabeth Kitley, one of the best conference arc shooters in Cayla King and the conference's best point guard in Georgia Moore . Tech lost Soule and Traylor but added Rose Micheaux for Soule and Matilda Ekh for Traylor.

Do not know where State is projected to finish in the conference standings but I think they will finish better than predicted-that until last year has been a Moore trait.

While I anticipate watching how the players added to the roster do, I really am looking forward to see how Zoe Brooks and Maddie Cox do. Will Zoe be a five-ten Diamond Johnson and will Maddie excel like her sister Baylor three-time All-American Lauren Cox who was the number three player in the 2020 WNBA?

Go Pack!