ACC Tournament 2012: Why Bubble Teams Should Pray UNC Takes Down NC State

It's hard to root for one of the top dogs, but bubble teams must swallow their pride in the name of their NCAA tournament hopes and just do it, because if NC State takes down No. 4 North Carolina in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament on Saturday, that's one more deserving bubble team that will be thrown out of contention for the Big Dance.

That isn't to say that NC State is undeserving. This is a team that tends to be at least mediocre during the regular season but somehow turns on the jet engines during tournament time and ends up making the selection committee's job a lot harder.

If the Wolfpack wins the conference tournament and therefore earns an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, Tennessee can say goodbye. And if they beat UNC but lose the title game, do they still deserve to dance?

NC State is 22-11 and 9-7 in conference play, good for fifth place in the ACC. They meet that all-important 20-win cutoff point, but with four other ACC teams seemingly assured of a spot in the tournament, it's unclear whether or not the Wolfpack makes the grade.

The one glaring problem with the Wolfpack's resume is that stretch in mid-February where they went 0-4 against Duke, Florida State, North Carolina and Clemson, and three of those teams sit just above them in the conference standings.

Which is why it is so crucial for NC State to prove its mettle on Saturday (and possibly on Sunday), when it will get a chance to avenge at least one of those losses.

It doesn't seem like the Pack will get their ticket punched without at least one more win this weekend, which is why things will be a whole lot easier if the Tar Heels can just take care of business on Saturday and send their crosstown rivals home before it all gets complicated.