NCAA Bracket 2012 Predictions: NC State Will Keep Georgetown Out of Sweet 16

North Carolina State seems to be one of those teams that lives for two things: making the NCAA selection committee's job miserable and for busting brackets.

That is precisely why the No. 11 seed in the Midwest Regional cannot be counted out—and why Georgetown should watch its back.

The Wolfpack seemed to have played itself out of contention for this year's tournament during a rough February in which they lost four straight games to No. 4 Duke, No. 21 Florida State, No. 7 North Carolina and Clemson.

Then, as if sensing that the committee was watching and it needed to make magic happen to keep its NCAA hopes alive, it reeled off a win against Miami and then played itself into the ACC tournament semifinals before dropping a 69-67 heartbreaker to UNC.

After the loss, NC State was still a bubble team, but the selection committee decided to award it with an at-large berth for good reason: The Wolfpack can be counted on to make March Madness interesting.

In 2005, the 10th-seeded Wolfpack knocked off seventh-seeded Charlotte in the first round, overcoming a 14-point deficit to advance for a date with second-seeded Connecticut. Against the defending national champions, Julius Hodge drove past Rudy Gay with 4.3 seconds remaining for the game-winning score in a 65-62 win.

In 2006, NC State was a No. 10 seed riding a four-game losing streak and facing No. 7 California. With 32.3 seconds left, Cameron Bennerman notched a go-ahead 3-pointer that would send the Wolfpack to the second round.

Back in the tournament for the first time since then, the Wolfpack are again primed to do some damage to brackets nationwide. If they can advance past mid-major San Diego State in the first round, Georgetown just might be ripe for the picking in the second.

The Hoyas, a No. 3 seed, were at their most dominant before and at the very beginning of conference play this season, going 13-1 and 3-0 in Big East play through January 4. After that, they dropped two straight to West Virginia and Cincinnati, and though they eventually finished fourth in the Big East, they were never quite so scary as they once were.

Georgetown went 3-3 in its final six games, and coming off an overtime loss to the Bearcats in the Big East tournament, it could be the perfect opponent for an NC State team that specializes in upsets.

For the past two years, Georgetown has been upended in the first round of the tournament. This year, they'll make it past Belmont—but NC State will be right there, waiting to do what it does best.

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