NC State and North Carolina meet Friday night in roles that, based on preseason prognostications, were supposed to be reversed. The Tar Heels were picked in the preseason to win the Coastal Division and got 16 votes to win the ACC. NC State was picked second in the Atlantic Division, but only one brave soul picked the Pack to win its division (and the league to go with it!).
This was supposed to be a coronation of a year in Mack Brown’s second run in Chapel Hill, the validation for the hype that’s come in the last couple of seasons.