‘How God planned it’: Destiny or not, NC State basketball is Final Four bound

DALLAS — Cradling the South Region championship trophy in his lap, necklace with his initials hanging from his neck and a Final Four hat perched crookedly upon his head, Jayden Taylor said what many have been thinking during the NC State basketball team’s time in March Madness.

“This was meant to be, for sure,” Taylor said following the Wolfpack’s 76-64 win over Duke in the Elite Eight inside American Airlines Center. “I think this is how the story was already written. This is how God planned it.”

The first time Taylor had an inclination that something beyond just a team getting hot at the right time came when the Wolfpack defeated the Blue Devils in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

“It was over with,” Taylor said of that victory. “I knew we was going all the way.”

ABOUT THE GAME: NC State basketball punches Final Four ticket, ends Duke’s March Madness run

That victory was the third straight in the tournament. The Wolfpack, though, needed to win all five in Washington to even have a chance to make the NCAA Tournament.

Fast forward 17 days and the Wolfpack are still going, having yet tasting defeat since the postseason began. Each victory has been a sweet sensation for a squad that struggled throughout much of the year. They came together as a group rather than worrying about individual glory, bought into their roles and stuck together to achieve another weekend of basketball, this one coming in Phoenix.

As his players celebrated in the locker room postgame, coach Kevin Keatts admitted he had no idea what any of the words in the songs emanating from the oversized Bluetooth speaker were saying.

“I don’t understand any of it,” Keatts said with a chuckle. But Keatts doesn’t have to fully understand the music his Gen Z players listen to, to know it resonates with them, just as the Wolfpack’s run doesn’t have to make sense to anybody other than the people who are part of it all.

Voodoo, witchcraft, a religious deity, simply playing better basketball at an opportune time. Each…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/god-planned-destiny-not-nc-011503736.html

Author : The Fayetteville Observer

Publish date : 2024-04-01 01:15:03

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.