N.C State women ended with an ACC championship. Was there more on the horizon?
Every basketball team wants their season to end one way.
When it’s all said and done players want to cut down the nets, and stand on a podium holding a trophy after winning a championship. The last time we saw the N.C. State women’s basketball team that’s exactly what they were doing.
A week ago the Wolfpack defeated Florida State, 71-66, to win their first tournament title in 29 years. Moments after the trophy presentation N.C. State senior Aislinn Konig was interviewed after being named the tournament MVP. Wearing a black ACC Tournament Champions hat and holding her MVP trophy, Konig addressed the hundreds of faithful fans in the stands wearing red that stuck around for all the celebrations.
Konig had a few words for everyone listening. With the NCAA Tournament set to start later in the month, she let the Wolfpack fans know “we aren’t done yet.”
She was wrong.
Less than a week after being on top of the basketball world, Konig, and student-athletes all across the country saw their seasons, and for some their careers, come to a crashing end. The coronavirus has made college athletics, sports in general come to an abrupt halt. N.C. State’s postseason dreams were over, blindsided by a virus we can’t even see.
At least Konig and her teammates got to finish their tournament. Their ACC male counterparts were cut short on Thursday. Later that day it was announced both the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments were cancelled. That meant Konig’s message of promise to the N.C. State fans turned out to be famous last words.
The Wolfpack got hot when it counted the most, putting together three promising days in Greensboro to make history, winning the first tournament title since 1991. They would have been a very high seed in the NCAA Tournament (ESPN’s bracketology had them as a No. 2 seed). Some fans were even talking about a Final Four run. Now they will never know. The good news is the last image fans will have of this Wolfpack team is of them celebrating, smiling, holding a trophy. They went out winners, but not on their own terms, which stings the most, especially for seniors like Konig.
SUDDEN END FOR SENIORS
After the news broke Konig, like many of her teammates, went to social media to express their emotions. With a black and white picture of her shooting in an empty gym, a bright red N.C. State banner over her shoulder, Konig poured her heart out to Wolfpack Nation.
“All you can do is say thank you,” Konig wrote. “So thank you to everyone who made this possible. From breaking my foot freshman year to winning an ACC Championship, #WPN has never wavered. I am so proud to call myself a part of the Wolfpack.”
Out of four scholarship seniors, Konig will be missed the most.
She was the second leading scorer on the team and one of the deadliest 3-point shooters in the ACC, shooting 35.7 percent from 3 as a senior, third in the league. She saved her best for March. At the ACC tournament, Konig averaged 16.6 points per game in wins over Georgia Tech, Boston College and Florida State. Konig connected on 80 3-pointers this season, 34 more than anyone else on the team. She started every game the last two seasons and 99 of 120 in her career.
While Konig was starting all of the 2018-19 season, her classmates were recovering from season-ending injuries. Kaila Ealey, Grace Hunter and Erika Cassell each missed most or all of their junior seasons. They had their moments as seniors. Cassell scored eight points off the bench in the ACC tournament in a win over Boston College. Hunter saved the day in a road win over Duke in February, with nine fourth quarter points.
LOOKING AHEAD
The loss of Konig will hurt, but the future is bright for coach Wes Moore and the Wolfpack.
Under Moore, the Wolfpack rose to No. 4 in the national polls, and of course brought home a trophy from a major sports team, something fans have been dying for in Raleigh.
A 20-win season is the expectation now and that won’t be in different in 2020-21. Four starters return including center Elissa Cunane, who will be an early front runner for ACC Player of the Year.
As a sophomore, Cunane led the team in scoring, averaging 16 points and 9 rebounds. Moore will also return his third leading scorer in junior Kayla Jones (10.0), as well as starters Kai Crutchfield, also a junior, and Jakia Brown-Turner, a freshman. Jada Boyd, another freshman, was usually the first off the bench for Moore, who may move Crutchfield to point guard to replace Konig and slide Boyd into the starting five.
“It’s real exciting,” Moore said when asked about his freshmen duo after the ACC title game. “Both of them were ACC all freshmen team members. Jada Boyd brings so much energy when she comes out there, so athletic, makes plays for us, Jakia, what a day she had today. Definitely didn’t play like a freshman. She didn’t play like a freshman this whole tournament. It’s awesome to see somebody step up like that in this environment their first year. It’s exciting to think you have those two freshman and Elissa sitting over here who is a sophomore. That’s a good nucleus. We’re graduating a lot of guards so we have work to do there. But it’s exciting to think about having such a good core back.”
ANOTHER TITLE IN THEIR FUTURE?
So what could have been?
The ACC championship would have given the Pack great momentum heading into the NCAA Tournament, where State was set to host the first two rounds for the third straight season.
That doesn’t guarantee anything, but Reynolds has been good to the team in the postseason. Success at home would have led to a third straight regional appearance, this time, more than likely in Greenville, South Carolina, a four-hour drive from Raleigh. Safe to say N.C. State fans would have made that trip in a heartbeat.
Eventually, perhaps the Wolfpack would have crossed paths with South Carolina (32-1), the No. 1 team in the country. It would have been a tall task to knock off the Gamecocks in their home state if it came to that, but now we will never know.
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "N.C State women ended with an ACC championship. Was there more on the horizon?."
