You couldn't have told it to a fired-up Lenovo Center on Monday night, but it's clear, based on NC State head coach Will Wade's comments after Duke's 93-64 blowout win over the Wolfpack, that Wade knew his team had little chance to pull the upset without things just perfectly falling into place.
Wade knew the task at hand would be nearly impossible. Duke is simply too good - and playing too well - for NC State to have had a real shot at knocking them off, even in Raleigh. And Wade understands that says a lot more about the Blue Devils than it does his own team.
"These guys are in a little different weight class than us right now," Wade said about Duke. "We know what we've got to get to. We could see that live and in person today. This is where we have to strive to get up to that weight class. ...We know where the standard is now. Our eyes are wide open to that and what to chase. Duke's whole operation was incredible. To see it in person was unparalleled to anything I've seen as a coach."
Will Wade called Duke's operation 'unparalleled to anything I've seen'
Give NC State some credit - they hung around for around nine minutes on Monday night. With 11 minutes to play in the first half, the game was tied at 18. And then Duke did what Duke does and just started squeezing the life out of the Wolfpack.
The Blue Devils found a rhythm offensively thanks to three-point shooting from Dame Sarr and Isaiah Evans. Once the threes started falling, Cameron Boozer started flourishing inside on his way to a game-high 26 points and 9 rebounds.
After that first 9 minutes where the game was tied, Duke outscored NC State 29-12 over the final 11 minutes of the first half to take a 47-30 halftime lead. For the rest of the game, Duke outscored NC State 75-46, turning what many thought could be a trap game into an outright laugher.
Wade is correct that Duke is in a different weight class than NC State. And that's not a slight to his Wolfpack.
The Blue Devils are in a different weight class than most.