“Sunday’s win against third-seeded Georgetown proved that this program doesn’t have to wait until the arrival of its heralded Class of 2012 to return to national relevance. N.C. State earned its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2005.”

– Jeff Goodman, CBSSports.com

“Eleven months ago, N.C. State was a program without a coach, ridiculed by the national media as the little brother to national powers North Carolina and Duke and as a job no one wanted, except Mark Gottfried. Gottfried, the first N.C. State coach since Jim Valvano to win 24 games in a season, beamed as he walked off the court at Nationwide Arena arm-and-arm with Brown. He took a team that went 15-16 a year ago into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005 and only the second time since 1989.”

– J.P. Giglio, Raleigh News & Observer

“John Wooden once told me, ‘Coach, don’t give them too much too fast, they might start expecting that every year.’ Well, we failed in that category already.”

– Mark Gottfried, NC State head coach

“One of the first things I said to Coach Gottfried when I met him was, ‘I don’t want this to be a rebuilding year. I don’t want to just play to get better. I think we’ve got talent and the pieces that we could be a dominant team.'”

– Scott Wood, NC State player

“After five miserable seasons away from the tournament, the Wolfpack is making the most of this trip. First, it dispatched of an overmatched San Diego State team. Then it excelled inside and out against a tough Georgetown group that entered the tournament as the nation’s No. 15 team.”

– Clark Leonard, The Shelby Star