North Carolina State has done what it can do. The Wolfpack has won at Syracuse, which was undefeated and ranked No. 9 at the time. The Wolfpack has won at Virginia, which was undefeated and ranked No. 4 at the time.

After beating Virginia to open ACC play, N.C. State was 11-3 and winners of six of its last seven. The loss was a 72-65 slugfest with Maryland -- ranked No. 6 at the time.

Look for the Wolfpack in the rankings this week and ... forget it, they're not there. What gives? N.C. State coach Herb Sendek doesn't know, and he doesn't care.

	Ilian Evtimov is part of N.C. State's talented group of freshmen who've been asked to play major minutes right away.

"I don't think it matters a great deal at this point," Sendek said Tuesday afternoon. "It's so early in the season, it's more irrelevant than anything. The games are coming so close together right now. Things change quickly. Our main focus has to be to continue to get better and prepare for the next game on the schedule."

That game was coming fast, only a few hours later. Fresh off its victory against No. 1 Duke and riding a four-game winning streak, Florida State came into the Entertainment and Sports Arena on Tuesday night and left humbled by the score of 77-62. The Wolfpack dominated behind an array of early 3-pointers and steady defense, continuing a number of trends.

Namely, N.C. State has put itself in position for an NCAA Tournament bid, risen above the morass of mid-level ACC mediocrity and de-fanged Sendek's critics. And there were a lot of critics after last season, when the Wolfpack failed to reach the postseason following NIT bids in each of Sendek's first four years in Raleigh. The Wolfpack hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1991, but that could change this season thanks to their amalgamation of old and young talent.

The young: a horde of freshmen led by wing Julius Hodge and center Josh Powell, the team's best athletes who combine for more than 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. N.C. State also is getting meaningful minutes from physical freshman forward Ilian Evtimov (15 points against Virginia) and center Jordan Collins (13 minutes per game in the last three contests). A fifth freshman, Levi Watkins, usually was the team's first or second player off the bench before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the Maryland loss.

The old: senior guards Anthony Grundy and Archie Miller, who average a combined 23 points per game and give N.C. State veteran leadership at the most crucial positions on the floor. Before the Wolfpack's 81-74 victory Jan. 5 against Virginia, Sendek had a heart-to-heart with Grundy, who historically has been just as likely to score 20 points as he is to go 3-for-14 from the floor.

"We have not minced any words (with Grundy)," Sendek said. "We have flat-out told him our team needs him to be consistently at his best. Not to put our troubles in his lap, but it's a compliment to him."

"He was right," said Grundy had 19 points, six assists and three steals against the Cavaliers.

Along with Grundy, Miller and sophomore forward Marcus Melvin (11 points, 6.1 rebounds), Sendek has essentially staked the fate of this team -- and perhaps his Wolfpack future -- on the freshmen. And they haven't let him down.

"We have maybe asked too much of them so early in their careers, but they've responded," Sendek said.

The response has been unequivocal. If the Wolfpack can win enough games in league play to get on the NCAA Tournament bubble, their victories against Syracuse and Virginia ought to push them over the edge and into March Madness.

Game of the Week

Notre Dame at Pittsburgh Saturday Two of the Big East's best point guards, Chris Thomas and Brandin Knight, go at it in a key West Division matchup. St. Bonaventure at Saint Joseph's Sunday The Bonnies have looked good. The Hawks could look better. This'll be a big win for somebody. Duke at N.C. State Sunday The Wolfpack already has a pair of top-10 wins this season, and Duke -- thanks, Florida State -- clearly can be beaten on the right day.

Best & Worst of Big East
Pittsburgh and Georgetown are heading in opposite directions about as fast as they possibly can.

Led by junior point guard Brandin Knight, who averages 16.2 points and leads the Big East in assists at 6.7, the Panthers are off to the program's best start in more than a quarter-century, since the 1973-74 team opened with a 22-1 record. No longer can the validity of Pittsburgh be questioned. After breezing through a mostly lackluster non-conference schedule, the Panthers opened Big East play with attention-grabbing victories against St. John's (by 23 points) and at Boston College. The 77-74 victory against the Eagles ended Boston College's 25-game winning streak at home, the fifth-longest home streak in the country.

"You can't get too high, but it's hard," Pittsburgh coach Ben Howland told reporters after the BC game. "It's a huge win for us. We're feeling good about ourselves."

Even if nobody else seems to be. The Panthers entered last week with one of the best five or six records in college basketball -- and out of the national rankings. In the ESPN/USA Today poll they were 18th among others receiving votes, or No. 43 overall. That changed this week, if grudgingly. Pitt finds itself No. 25 in the coaches' poll.

Meanwhile, Georgetown has disappeared from the Top 25. After a 9-1 start, the Hoyas lost their next four games, the last a disastrous defeat at Rutgers -- disastrous not because of who beat them, but how. Georgetown led the Knights by 18 points in the first half, and led by five or more late in regulation and overtime before losing 89-87. That followed a trio of respectable losses to ranked teams Virginia, UCLA and Miami by an average of seven points per contest.

But the Rutgers loss was especially hard for Hoyas coach Craig Esherick to take.

"This is going to stick with me for some time ... because at times we played as well as we've played all year," he told the Washington Post.

Georgetown's problems really began in August, when starting shooting guard Demetrius Hunter stunned the program by transferring to UNLV to be closer to family. Senior Kevin Braswell and freshman Tony Bethel have responded by averaging a combined 26 points on roughly 45-percent shooting from the floor, 38 percent from 3-point range. Those numbers are serviceable.

These are not: 4.5 points, one rebound per game. That's what Georgetown has received in two Big East games from 6-11 center Wesley Wilson, who had been one of the league's biggest pre-conference surprises.

Wilson averaged 14 points and 6.8 rebounds in 12 non-conference games, but is way down in league play. That leaves all the inside pressure on Mike Sweetney, who hasn't exactly buckled (25.5 points, 10 rebounds in league play), but who could use some help. He hadn't been getting much help all season from junior Courtland Freeman or freshman Harvey Thomas. And now he's not getting it from Wilson, either.

He better get help fast. The Hoyas' next game is Saturday against Boston College, putting Georgetown in danger of being buried beneath an 0-3 league start.

Making Sense of UMass
You try to figure out Massachusetts. Earlier this season, the Minutemen beat Oregon and N.C. State in consecutive games. Three days after dominating the Wolfpack on the road, UMass lost at home to Holy Cross.

Since then, the Minutemen have nearly won at Boston College, hung tough in a loss to Connecticut -- and laid a 63-38 stinker against visiting Saint Joseph's, Massachusetts' lowest point total ever at the Mullins Center.

The biggest Minutemen -- 6-10 Kitwana Rhymer and 6-11 Micah Brand -- combined for four points in the loss to St. Joe's. Rhymer didn't score at all, his second straight donut. Last week, Rhymer and Brand were averaging a combined 25 points.

"We can't beat a Division II team if Kit and Micah get four points between them," Lappas told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Around the East