NC State is the tourney's unlikely Cinderella

Every year, a Cinderella story emerges from March Madness to capture the hearts and minds of college basketball fans on an unlikely trip through the NCAA Tournament bracket.

There's no doubt that the 2024 version is NC State. Right?

While the Wolfpack fit the bill as just the sixth 11-seed to ever make the Final Four, the program's history makes it a very awkward pick to be Cinderella.

NC State hails from the mighty ACC in the basketball-rich area of the country that features local rivalries with dominant programs Duke and North Carolina. While the Wolfpack aren't a perennial powerhouse, they have two national championship banners hanging from the rafters and made three Sweet 16s in the last 20 years.

The athletic department brought in over $102 million in revenue last year and pays Kevin Keatts over $3 million per year to coach the basketball team, according to USA Today. NC State's second-round opponent Oakland pays its head coach Greg Kampe a base salary of less than $330,000 and generated just over $17 million in revenue in 2023. The Wolfpack may be wearing a Cinderella slipper, but it's safe to assume they didn't get it from the sale section.

So outside of the fact it tied the record for the lowest seed to ever make the Final Four and is the first team ever in the national semis with 14 losses, what makes NC State a suitable Cinderella?

Here's why you can still get behind the Wolfpack as lovable underdogs heading into Saturday's action.

It's a shock they made the tourney

Picking NC State to make the field of 68 at the start of the season wouldn't register on the shock scale, but having the Wolfpack in the NCAA tourney before the second week of March would've been insane. NC State entered the ACC Tournament having lost four games in a row and 10 of its last 14. That's not a misprint: This Final Four team legitimately lost 10 of its last 14 games in the regular season. Of the other teams still standing in the tournament, both UConn and Purdue were 13-1 over the same stretch, and Alabama went 9-5.

That run of futility had the Wolfpack listed as +8,000 underdogs to win the ACC Tournament, trailing eight programs. With the automatic berth for the conference tournament winner the only way into the tourney, it seemed almost a given that the Wolfpack wouldn't be involved on Selection Sunday. They would need a miracle.

They've gone mad in March, part 1

Wins over Louisville and Syracuse to open the ACC tourney certainly didn't come as a shock, but the quarterfinal contest versus Duke is when things officially started getting interesting. The Blue Devils hadn't lost their first game of the ACC Tournament since 2013, but the Wolfpack train pulled away in the second half to pull off the upset and get into the semifinals.

The NC State run looked to be ending on that Friday night as Virginia held a three-point lead with 5.3 seconds to play. All Isaac McKneely had to do was drill a free throw and make it a two-possession game. Somehow, the 85% shooter missed and before anyone could blink, Michael O'Connell was nailing an outrageous buzzer-beater to send the game to overtime.

That turn of events cranked up the "Team of Destiny" meter to a new high, and the Wolfpack prevailed in overtime to book a date with North Carolina for the title.

The Tar Heels were already firmly in the March Madness field with one of the four No. 1 seeds basically sewn up. It showed in the second half of the contest as NC State pulled away for an eventual eight-point win. That secured the incredibly unlikely NCAA Tournament berth and saw Keatts go from a coach on the hot seat to a coach with long-term job security. The ACC Tournament win triggered a provision in his contract, adding two more years to lock him up through 2030.

They've gone mad in March, part 2

The reward for NC State's shocking success in the ACC tourney was the No. 11 seed in the South Region and a first-round date with Texas Tech. It would be natural for an emotional drop-off after the drama of the previous week, but there would be no such letdown for the Wolfpack. Ben Middlebrooks became the fifth different player to lead the team in scoring in the last six games with a career-high 21 to help deliver the win. It was also the fifth straight game in which NC State won outright as an underdog.

Actual Cinderella awaited in Round 2 after No. 14 Oakland stunned No. 3 Kentucky, but NC State wanted no part of sharing the underdog spotlight and dispatched the Golden Grizzlies. The Sweet 16 contest against No. 2 Marquette offered further proof that something extraordinary was in the making. The Golden Eagles relied heavily on the 3-pointer and made over 35% from deep as a team this season. With NC State's defense ranking 141st in the country at defending that shot, 3-point shooting should've been an area for Marquette to exploit. However, the Wolfpack put the clamps on their opponent, holding them to an absurd 4-of-31 from beyond the arc.

That booked the season's third matchup with Duke, and the Wolfpack's familiarity with their opponent showed in the second half. DJ Burns Jr. torched anybody the Blue Devils put on him for 29 points - the second time he scored at least 27 against Duke in three games this year. That was the difference in NC State winning the region and securing local bragging rights.

Breakout star

Each Cinderella needs a star that captures the hearts of the viewing public. NC State's version of this comes in the very large form of the 6-foot-9, 275-pounder Burns.

While Burns was a top-100 recruit coming out of high school, a brief stop at Tennessee eventually led him to play three years at Winthrop before joining NC State. He's been a remarkably consistent player throughout his career, averaging between 10.1 points and 15 points per contest all five seasons. However, this March run has served as his breakout on the national stage, with his array of low post moves and brilliant passing catching the eye of people everywhere, including two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.

Burns is averaging 18 points per game in the tournament but is just as lethal with his passing. While he only finished with four points in the win over Marquette, his seven assists were crucial in spreading the floor for the Wolfpack.

Burns is used to holding a significant size advantage over everybody on the court, which will make Saturday's game his toughest challenge on this incredible run.

Facing Goliath ... literally

Every Cinderella story takes on a David versus Goliath theme, and NC State's next opponent represents a very literal example of that classic. While Burns is a formidable body down low, Purdue boasts two-time National Player of the Year Zach Edey, who stands 7-foot-4 and weighs 300 lbs.

Edey's performance in the Elite Eight was the stuff of legend, with the Canadian pouring in a career-high 40 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Edey also presents the toughest post defense that Burns will have faced. The 6-foot-10 duo of Middlebrooks and Mohamed Diarra will be called on to take the pressure off Burns when it comes to Edey, but all three will need to raise their games to keep the March run going.