NC State basketball NCAA Tournament hopes still barely alive

The pressure was on N.C. State on Saturday and not just because it had some special guests at PNC Arena.

The Wolfpack went into its game against Boston College more than aware that another homecourt loss could all but doom their chances of squeezing into the NCAA Tournament discussion this season.

If that was the case, the Pack took care of that bit of business. They turned back the Eagles 81-70, leading from start to finish, playing solid defense and building a 20-point lead in the second half.

The guests Saturday were members of State’s 1974 national championship basketball team, who are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the school’s first NCAA title. The players are in their 70s now and don’t move as spryly as they once did, but their bonds are strong and their memories of that ‘74 season still fresh, and they earned a big ovation Saturday.

Pressure? The Wolfpack in 1974 was ranked No. 1 in the country and still had to win the ACC Tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament. That’s pressure.

This year’s Wolfpack just wants a chance to play. At a time when social media is unavoidable, when there’s constant X chatter about the NET rankings and the NCAA bubble and who has who in the slew of mock NCAA brackets, there’s no way for the players to avoid or keep out the noise around them or hear the naysayers.

“That’s what people are going to do. People are going to talk,” Pack guard Jayden Taylor said. “They’re going to say something regardless, so we’re just going to come in and do what we do. We’re not stressing about it.”

The Pack (17-10, 9-7 ACC) will try to avoid it, have tunnel vision and look only at who’s next — in the Pack’s case, Florida State on the road Tuesday.

“That’s all you can do, focus on the next one,” the Pack’s Casey Morsell said. “Yes, you hear about it. Luckily, for us we have a lot of opportunities to add to our resume.”

For the Pack, there are four games remaining in the regular season and at least two will be Quad-1 opportunities for State to improve its NET standing — at North Carolina and Duke at home.

“Right now we’re trying to win as many games as we can, stack ‘em all together and…