The only negative from N.C. State’s run in Charleston was the injury to Tracy Smith, which could sideline the Wolfpack star for several weeks. Other than that, Wolfpack fans have to be encouraged by how its young team performed.

Many recent State teams have had excessively weak schedules, but that’s not the case this year. The Wolfpack has already beaten ECU and George Mason and faced a stout Big East team in Georgetown. Ahead at games at Wisconsin (Dec. 1), Syracuse (Dec. 4) and home to Arizona (Dec. 19).

What State learned against the Hoyas will only help. Georgetown was picked for fourth in the 16-team Big East, and the Hoyas used their talent and muscle to flatten State in the second. But the young Wolfpack got to learn those lessons early, which will help with tougher games ahead. Running Pfeiffer out of Reynolds Coliseum can only teach you so much – at some point, you’ve got to play with the big kids.

There are some cupcakes ahead – Fairleigh Dickinson is next, with USC-Upstate, Youngstown State, Delaware State and Alabama A&M also ahead. But at least the Wolfpack is mixing in some strong opponents with weaker ones, a schedule that should prepare this team for ACC play.

You can often tell what coaches think of their teams by the schedule they set. If coaches expect to be done, they schedule weak rivals to pad their wins. If they think they have a chance for success, they ratchet up the schedule to prepare for league play and hike their RPI. This schedule looks like a smart one for State, which anticipated a chance to move up in the ACC and set a schedule to do that.

N.C. State deserved to win Saturday at North Carolina, and the reason was it made two critical plays that went largely overlooked in a game filled with emotional turns.

You can point to Owen Spencer’s crazy catch and T.J. Graham’s dramatic punt return as the two plays that sparked State to victory. Certainly, as Tony Haynes wisely pointed out on the Wolfpack Sports Network, those two plays energized a confident Wolfpack bench and deflated UNC.

But there were two vital plays before that which set up what happened in the end. And those plays were essentially where the game turned.

Carolina led 19-10 after a field goal with 4:38 left in the third quarter. State had done little in the game offensively and faced a third-and-1 at the Carolina 38-yard line. Russell Wilson faked a handoff and ran left, gaining four yards the Pack had to have.

An even bigger third-down conversion soon followed. UNC’s Dante Paige-Moss sacked Wilson on first down for an 8-yard loss. Wilson threw incomplete on second down, bringing up third and 18 from the UNC 42-yard line.

All Carolina needed was a stop to force a Wolfpack punt and maintain the momentum in the game. And if you’ve watched State football at all this year, you knew one of two plays was coming – Wilson would either put the ball up in the air and hope one of his receivers came down with it, or take off and run.

And take off and run he did. He rolled right, got pressured, cut left and ran 34 yards for a first down. Three Tar Heels had clean shots at him, and UNC compounded its mistakes with a late hit. That put State first-and-goal at the Carolina 8, and set up the crazy fourth-down play to Spencer.

There were so many big plays, and that touchdown to Spencer was so dramatic, that Wilson’s third-down was overlooked in the media. The Associated Press story on the game did not mention it, The News & Observer did not reference the play in its coverage at all, and must TV highlights overlooked it, although WTVD did have it in its coverage of the game.

But that play spun the momentum in this game, and put State position to win. There are, of course, two perspectives. One is that Wilson is a marvelous athlete who continues to make big plays, especially when the opponent is wearing light blue.

The other is that UNC’s defense, for all its talent, has to close out foes at critical times. Third and 18 in Chapel Hill? That just should not get converted against a defense of that caliber. All the groaning about Spencer’s catch and whether Wilson’s out of bounds throws should have been called intentional grounding overlook the harsh truth for UNC that it had a chance to impose its will on N.C. State – and did not.

Wilson’s plays did not win the game, but they put State in position to win – and as Jim Valvano pointed out, sometimes that’s all you need.

When East Carolina basketball coach Jeff Lebo was on the David Glenn radio show this week, he raved about two N.C. State freshmen, Lorenzo Brown and C.J. Leslie.

Well, there’s a third, and that one, Ryan Harrow, made an indelible impact in the 85-65 win over ECU Thursday in Charleston, S.C., that showed why he should soon be starting.

State has an experienced guard in senior Javy Gonzalez, who started again Thursday. Gonzalez had just four points in 10 minutes while Harrow ran the show. Harrow contributed 11 points, 10 assists and had only two turnovers in 28 minutes of action.

You don’t have to be a genius to see where this is headed.

Lowe raved about Gonzalez in preseason, and you can understand how a coach doesn’t want to bench a senior right away. But Gonzalez is not a lead guard on a great college team. He’s a scrappy player who won’t hurt you in limited time.

Harrow is completely different. He’s quick, creative and has an explosive element to his game. His squeaky voice makes him sound 13 years old but in reality he seems quite mature and ready for the college game.

Sure, Harrow is only 5 feet 11 and there remain uncertainties about him. Can he guard top players in the ACC? Can he hit from the outside? And, perhaps most importantly, can he manage a team that will be a blend of veterans and confident freshmen?

Harrow didn’t start Thursday, but he showed his time is now. He should play – and plenty. It’s only a matter of when before Harrow assumes command of this Wolfpack team.

One of the newest Carolina Hurricanes was involved in a bar fight recently, which may have been one reason his father, the general manager of the Calgary Flames, decided to trade him.

N.C. State players were exhuberant last season when the Wolfpack blocked North Carolina’s 38-yard field goal with 4:44 to play, but State coach Tom O’Brien showed no emotion on the sideline.

O’Brien knew this wild game at Carter-Finley Stadium still hung in the balance, and the coming minutes would prove decisive for State, and have an impact on the 2010 season.

The Wolfpack is now 7-3 and needs a win Saturday in Chapel Hill to keep alive its hopes for its first ACC title since 1979. The seeds of this season’s success date back to last season, when State calmly ground down Carolina in the final minutes with a critical drive after that blocked field goal.

Russell Wilson hit Toney Baker for a 16-yard pass and Baker ran 14 yards as State pushed out to the UNC 47-yard line with 3:31 to play.

The Heels called time, and O’Brien motioned Wilson to come to over to him. When Wilson didn’t come all the way, O’Brien demaned he come further. Relax, O’Brien said. Be smart. Finish it off. And Wlson did, hitting Owen Spencer on a perfect throw for a first down on thrd-and-11. State didn’t relinquish the ball until only 23 seconds remained and won, 28-27.

Asked Wednesday if that game “carried over,” O’Brien said, “I think certainly it did. You go back to even the year before – Russell going down at halftime of the bowl of game was a harbinger [of the 2009 season]. By the same token, the last game we had last year, I think that set the table for where we were headed and what we were going and the belief we could be a good football team.

“We’ve shown the ability. We’re 7-3 but the three losses are all in overtime, in the last minute, last three minutes.”

N.C. State finished last season only 5-7, its fourth straight losing season and third under O’Brien. But asked to assess his program overall, O’Brien said, “I think we’re definitely on the way. We had some situations the last two years that didn’t allow us to get into the position we are in today.”

Now, State has seven wins for the first time since 2005.

“It speaks volumes to where the program is headed,” O’Brien said. “We came in here, we had a plan, we stuck to our plan. We plan was set back by defections and injuries and not having a consistency on the field.”

That plan got a big lift last year in the final minutes of that win over UNC.

How did so many ACC schools miss on Russell Wilson? Who knows? Even the University of Virginia passed on him. Whatever you think of Chuck Amato, he sure left Tom O’Brien with a great quarterback for his program.

With Wilson headed toward what might be his last game against North Carolina, here is an interesting look from YouTube of Wilson’s days at the Collegiate School in Richmond, Va. If you were a college coach, would you have wanted this elusive runner with a strong, accurate arm? Absolutely.

You can’t help but wonder, when you watch Duke play, how Seth Curry wound up signing with Liberty after his older brother, Stephen, was overlooked by ACC schools.

Much of the talk so far about Duke has been about Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith and the impact of the true freshmen. But what’s interesting is how easily Curry is fitting into the Duke rotation. Obviously, he had a year to practice with the team, but his impact on Duke, and perhaps the ACC, can’t be overstated.

Curry’s father, Dell, was  the Charlotte Hornets’ first pick in the expansion draft back in 1988. He was a brilliant shooter out of Virginia Tech with a smooth stroke and quick release. Curry, Rex Chapman and Kelly Tripucka were about all the offense those early Hornets ever had.

You can see Dell Curry, who wore No. 30, in the YouTube video above. The Hornet wearing No. 25 is Tony Bennett, now the Virginia head coach. Watching Seth Curry brings back memories of that Curry jump shot from the Charlotte Coliseum’s heyday.

Seth Curry is headed toward being one of the ACC’s best players this season. He had 17 points Tuesday in the 79-45 win over Miami (Ohio), and played only 22 minutes.

This is a deep Duke team, but if you’ve followed the Blue Devils program, you have heard that before. Coach Mike Krzyzewski often talks in November about how he can play 10 guys, but that rotation shortens to around seven by conference play in January. Some of the Blue Devils you are seeing on the floor now will be weeded out by then.

It’s hard to see that happening with Curry. His game is so fluid, and his stroke is so pure, that you watch him and think, Wow, he’s going to make a difference this season. His father was one of the NBA’s top sixth men, a calm scorer who could enter a game at any time and start producing points, and Seth Curry is headed toward a similar role for the Blue Devils.