After a fresh start to the season, the Wolfpack will need to recover from its four-game losing streak.
Around this time last week, everything seemed to be picture perfect for N.C. State (31-11, 15-9 ACC). The Wolfpack hadn't lost a conference series, it stood atop the Atlantic Division with a sweep already recorded over then-second place Clemson, and every poll had it ranked in the top 10 and as high as No. 2 in the nation.
Then, North Carolina came to Raleigh for a three-game series.
Though the Wolfpack fought hard to the bitter end, the Tar Heels managed to stave off the Pack all three games for the sweep. Now, the picture looks mostly skewed from how it was before.
Clemson sits atop the Atlantic, ahead by two games. NCAA Tournament projections have N.C. State on the outside of a national seed when, previously, it was more or less a lock. In- state supremacy has shifted focus to the two rivals at the top of the Coastal Division. The overall perspective of the Wolfpack has been seemingly diminished after just one weekend.
However, this may be more of a benefit to the team than the immediate drawbacks would suggest.
Few "dominant" teams have managed to maintain their success all the way to a championship. What I mean by that is that there are few times where a championship-caliber team reached the proverbial mountaintop without some sort of hiccup along the way, and the giants who appeared unstoppable reached their inevitable hiccup at a point much too late for redemption. The examples of such doomed teams that come to mind, albeit in different sports, are the 2007-08 New England Patriots and the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors.
Any team can get lost in its own success. When the wins keep piling up, complacency can become the norm. But when the postseason comes around, any slip-ups can end a season like that. However, the slip-up for the Pack, arguably the one it needed, came at just the right time.
Losing to a rival is never easy to swallow, and for N.C. State, it always feels like a stake to the heart when there's an "L" beside UNC on the schedule. But this gigantic slap in the face should be the biggest wake-up call for the Wolfpack with an easy William & Mary series this weekend followed by a three-game set versus under-performing Wake Forest before a season- ending trip to Tallahassee.
This season isn't lost. It's far from it. The Pack is still showing that it has fight left in it. The bats can come through at opportune times. The pitching isn't perfect, but it can get the team by.
But it just needed that spark to ignite the fire that can propel the team forward into the summer months.
