The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1523120
TRACKING THE PACK JULY/AUGUST 2024 ■ 15 NC State has made substantial im- provements to its facilities in recent years, from the massive new scoreboard atop Carter-Finley Stadium to the ongoing renovations at Doak Field. For its next big capital project, the athletics department might want to consider investing in ex- panded trophy cases. At the rate it's going, the Wolfpack is going to need them. Since the start of the 2018-19 academic year, no school in the ACC has won more league championships than NC State. In data compiled by the university's athlet- ics department, the Pack has won 24 ACC crowns over the past six academic years. That's five more than second-place North Carolina and six more than third-place Notre Dame during that same span. The Wolfpack has been buoyed by a couple of perennial championship-level programs, with its wrestling and women's cross country teams winning six confer- ence titles apiece since the 2018-19 aca- demic year. Individually, those programs have brought home more ACC team championship trophies than the entire athletics departments at Boston College (3), Georgia Tech (3.5), Pitt (4), Syracuse (4) and Wake Forest (5). In addition, the men's swimming and diving team has won five ACC crowns, while the women's basketball team won the league tournament three years in a row from 2020-22. The Pack has also claimed titles in women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, women's gym- nastics and men's basketball. During the 2023-24 academic year, NC State finished second in the conference with five ACC team championships. Only North Carolina had more, bringing six league trophies back to Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels might have had seven, but NC State stunned them in the cham- pionship game of the ACC Men's Bas- ketball Tournament, winning 84-76 to claim its first league title since 1987. Coach Kevin Keatts' squad joined NC State's wrestling, women's cross country, women's gymnastics and men's swim- ming and diving teams as league champs in 2023-24. The Pack had headed to Washington, D.C., as the longest of longshots, needing five wins in five days to pull it off, a near impossibility in the eyes of many observ- ers. But Keatts and his players didn't care what was being said about their chances. "We never listen to anybody outside of our locker room because our locker room is the most important thing," the coach said following the win over the Tar Heels. "And now these guys will have memories for the rest of their life. They'll always know that they were ACC champions and won the tournament." They will indeed. And with NC State racking up titles at a league-leading pace, they'll be in good company. — Matt Herb ACC Championships By School (All Sports) Total* 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 NC State 24 4 4 3 4 4 5 North Carolina 19 4 2 3.5 3 0.5 6 Notre Dame 18 4 2 1 4 4 3 Florida State 17.5 3.5 2 3.5 3 2 3.5 Duke 15 1 0 6 1 4 3 Virginia 13 2 2 3 4 0 2 Clemson 10 1 1 3 0 4 1 Louisville 8 1 0 2 1 4 0 Miami 6 1 0 0 1 3 1 Virginia Tech 6 0.5 1 1 2.5 0 1 Wake Forest 5 2 0 0 2 0 1 Pitt 4 1 1 0 1 0.5 0.5 Syracuse 4 0 1 0 0 2 1 Georgia Tech 3.5 1 0 1 0 1.5 0 Boston College 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 Source: NC State Athletics * Teams receive half a point for a shared championship Wolfpack Leads In ACC Championships Since 2018-19 In March, the Pack claimed its first ACC Men's Basketball Tour nament crown since 1987 when it completed an improbable title run with a win over North Carolina. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS