ACC Tournament 2012 Schedule and Bracket: North Carolina Can't Slack vs Wolfpack

UNC can’t blink.

NC State is desperate.  Therefore, NC State is deadly.  Yeah, I know Roy Williams couldn’t possibly care less about the ACC Tournament, but if the Tar Heels are interested at all in cutting down the nets this Sunday, they must bring nothing less than their A-game against the Wolfpack.

Mark Gottfried’s crew knocked out Virginia in a 67-64 thriller on Friday afternoon.  According to Robbi Pickeral of ESPN, Gottfried talked to the media about his team being on the bubble after the game saying:

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“We all wish we knew; we wish we had a crystal ball and we could look in there and it would tell us exactly [what would happen].  For us, the answer is to continue to win, and I don’t know if that’s one game, two games, three games.  I know if we win this tournament, we get to go.  And our guys have come over here, and that’s our goal -- to win the tournament.  So we’re going to play as hard as we can; there are some things we can’t control.  So what our job is, is to do the best job we can, and we’ll go from there.” 

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NC State doesn’t have to win the conference tournament to punch their ticket to the Big Dance, though.  A triumph over the machine of annihilation that is the Tar Heels would be enough to sway the committee to rule in their favor.

One game.  One win.  One team is all that stands in the Wolfpack’s way of being on the right side of the bubble.

North Carolina just happens to be that team—arguably the most talented in the entire nation.

But NC State knows what they have to do and because of that, they have the mental edge.  UNC is the superior squad, but they don't want the "W" nearly as much.  With their backs against the wall, the Wolfpack will do whatever it takes to walk away from their date with the Tar Heels at 1 p.m. ET on top.

Another thriller is guaranteed.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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