I think State has shown growth over the course of the season. The results early weren’t exactly all over the place either, they were playing fairly evenly with good teams (Tennessee, USC, TCU, Oklahoma) just some games they couldn’t finish, which I think isn’t that odd given State lost 3 starting seniors, 2 are 1st round W selections and the other was the heart and soul of the team. They had a major leadership void, still kinda do honestly.
I think it’s been a team trying to find itself early on who didn’t get 14 games against cupcakes to figure it out away from scrutiny. They played a very challenging schedule and were trying to break players in to new roles. KP and Q trying to find their roles, Zoe and Zam feeling out who is the lead guard and how to handle being the top of the scout each night, and the bench was a major question early.
Now Zam has kinda taken the reigns at point, KP has found herself and her role on this team and the bench has really given the team a lift. Cox has been very solid off the bench and Quigley and Lunan have both had their moments as well.
For me, this team turned a corner in Cancun. After they lost to RI they went down to Cancun and won both games by double digits, had a dog fight in OT on the road against top 10 Oklahoma, have crushed GT and Stanford at home, crushed Miami on the road and beat a solid Davidson team on the road.
I don’t think they have the same talent level as last year, but I also think the conference is down too. I expect them to be right there fighting for the championship of the ACC.