SYRACUSE — That atrocity you call your NCAA Tournament bracket?
Blame it on Anthony “Cat’’ Barber and the rest of his North Carolina State teammates.
“A lot of people had Villanova winning and that’s cool, they’re the No. 1 seed,’’ Barber, a jet-quick sophomore point guard, told The Post on Thursday. “People are going to go with the one seed. We just came in, and I kind of like breaking everybody’s bracket because now it’s kind of like confusion, like, ‘What is N.C. State doing?’ ’’
Yeah, what IS NC State doing?
Well, the Wolfpack are still playing, seeking another upset when they face Louisville on Friday night in an East Region semifinal game inside the Carrier Dome. NC State (22-13) is a No. 8 seed, Louisville (26-8) is a No. 4 seed. This can be viewed as a fairly even matchup, which certainly was not the case last week in Pittsburgh, when the Wolfpack sent No. 1-seed Villanova (33-2 at the time) packing in a 71-68 stunner that reverberated through office pools ’round the country.
“For me, I kind of like being an underdog because people are like, ‘Where is this team coming from?’ ’’ Barber said. “I mean, beating Villanova, they’re a great team.’’
This is not a vintage Louisville team, but the Cardinals always seem to be around this time of year — it’s their fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance — and Rick Pitino is a known commodity this deep in the tournament. NC State beat Duke and North Carolina this season but can be viewed as an outlier, a team that easily could have gone out in the first round — the Wolfpack trailed LSU by 16 points in the second half — and the upstart role has been embraced.
“It’s not something I talk about with our team, but they’re like everybody else,’’ NC Stake coach Mark Gottfried said. “They watch TV. They read the papers. They listen. I do think it’s been a motivator for them. I think they have certainly heard and listened to the predictors.’’
The Wolfpack were 5-7 in the ACC and losers of five of their last six games when they went to Louisville on Valentine’s Day and showed the Cardinals no love, beating them 74-65. Barber scored 21 points and cut through Louisville’s full-court pressure, prompting Pitino to say Barber “dominated the game.’’
Gottfried called it, “kind of the turning point for us.’’
Since then, Louisville lost senior guard Chris Jones — the third-leading scorer on the team — when Pitino kicked him off the team. Jones has pleaded not guilty of raping one woman and sodomizing another.
Barber is leading NC State in scoring in the NCAA Tournament at 15 points a game, and he has a message for Pitino when it comes to throwing a full-court press at him.
“I don’t think he’ll go away from his game plan, that’s what he does,’’ Barber said. “It’s going to be kind of tough to press me again after what I did to them last time, but every game is different.
“If I was any coach on any team I would not press me.’’
Informed of this suggestion, Pitino was not impressed.
“Well, Duke just pressed them and just won by 20 points,’’ said Pitino, alluding to the ACC Tournament. “So that throws that theory out the window.’’
Without Jones, Pitino has thrust freshman Quentin Snider in as the starting point guard, and although Snider has kept his turnovers down — only 28 in 510 minutes this season — it’s a tough assignment to deal with Barber.
“One thing they’re going to have to do is contain me,’’ Barber said. “You been seeing it these last couple of games, I’m in attack mode right now. My speed, I’m so quick, and when they try to trap I can get past everyone pretty much.’’