Listen, we get it, Charlie. You’ve got a narrative, and you’re sticking to it like a bad ACC tournament hangover. In his latest way-too-early 2027 women’s bracketology, ESPN’s resident bracketologist has decided to downgrade NC State (fresh off earning a No. 7 seed and reaching the Round of 32 last March) is now an 8-seed in the Ann Arbor regional. That’s right: the same Wolfpack that just proved it belongs in the NCAA field is now projected to open against Princeton and get steamrolled by Michigan again in the second round. Thanks for the participation ribbon, Charlie.
But it’s not just NC State getting the cold shoulder. Creme has apparently decided the entire ACC is in full used-to-be-good mode. Louisville, once a perennial Final Four threat, is a 2-seed. North Carolina, a blue-blood men’s program, sits at 3. Notre Dame is a 4. Then the fall-off gets brutal: NC State and Clemson both at 8, Virginia Tech a 9, and Virginia and Syracuse scraping by as 10-seeds. We’ll note Duke as a No. 1 seed, because it’s Duke and that brand practically prints money for ESPN. In Creme’s world, a bunch of programs that were top-10 contenders a year or two ago have collectively plunged into top-30ish purgatory. One bad portal cycle, a couple of early exits, and suddenly the ACC is just fine. Not great. Certainly not elite.
Meanwhile, ESPN continues to shove the SEC narrative down our throats with a whopping 10 SEC teams projected in the bracket: South Carolina (1), Ole Miss (4), Texas (2), LSU (3), Kentucky (5), Tennessee (9), Vanderbilt (3), Alabama (11), Oklahoma (6), and Mississippi State (12). Ten. That’s more than the entire ACC combined. Because nothing says most powerful conference in America like flooding the field with mid-tier SEC squads while treating actual proven ACC programs like afterthoughts.
It’s peak Creme: everything is a story. NC State had their moment, but now they’re just another 8-seed. The ACC isn’t what it used to be. Never mind returning production, never mind Wes Moore’s track record, never mind the fact that these teams still recruit at a high level. Facts are secondary when you’ve already written the narrative.
So here’s a message from Wolfpack Nation, Charlie: we’ll see you in March. And when NC State is back cutting down nets deeper than the Round of 32, feel free to update that bracket. Or, you know, just keep riding the same tired they’re not THAT good anymore storyline while the SEC gets the red-carpet treatment. Your choice. After all, the best reason for way-too-early bracketology is I get to hammer Charlie for 10 months straight for his biases.
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