It's amazing to think about what could have happened if Virginia's Isaac McKneely, an 84.7-percent free throw shooter, made the front end of a 1-and-1 in the ACC Tournament against NC State or if Tony Bennett told his team to foul in the final five seconds.
The Duke basketball team could be in the Final Four. NC State, instead of continuing is magical run in the NCAA Tournament, could have been eliminated already from the NIT.
It's a never ending amount of possibilities but one Blue Devil alum cannot believe what he is watching.
"NC State going to the Final Four this year is the most amazing thing I have ever seen in basketball," Jay Bilas said on social media after the Wolfpack defeated Duke 76-64 on Sunday afternoon in the Elite 8.
It is the first time the program has advanced this far in the tournament since 1983, when Bilas was a freshman at Duke.
"That wasn't as amazing as this is," Bilas continued.
What Kevin Keatts and his @PackMensBball team have done is absolutely remarkable, and one of the wildest rides we’ve ever seen… pic.twitter.com/lr19QnHHbb
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) April 1, 2024
North Carolina State has won nine games in a row during the postseason and needed to win five consecutive games at the ACC Tournament to even qualify for the NCAAs. It did so by beating Louisville, Syracuse, Duke, Virginia, and North Carolina.
"It wasn't even a thought of any rational basketball person that the Wolfpack would win the ACC Tournament."
Kevin Keatts, who was likely going to be fired before this incredible run, led his team to just a 17-14 (9-11 ACC) record entering the postseason and lost four straight games to finish the regular season, including 7-of-9 contests.
"What Kevin Keatts and his team have done is absolutely remarkable. It's the wildest ride I've ever seen in basketball."
The next step in the journey for the Wolfpack will be a date with No. 1 seed Purdue on Saturday night (6:09 p.m. ET, TBS) in Phoenix, hoping to complete this stunning journey with a National Championship.
Jay Bilas, who will be in Arizona covering the Final Four with ESPN, is ready for the next chapter of the story.
"I'm enjoying every minute of it," he concluded in his video. "It's fantastic."