The mood of Wolfpack Nation understandably will rise or fall based on the team's upcoming performance against archrival North Carolina, but -- win or lose tonight -- coach Herb Sendek quietly is putting together one of the best seasons in the last 30-plus years of N.C. State basketball.

Everyone remembers the Cardiac Pack of coach Jim Valvano in 1983, when the Wolfpack won the conference championship and the NCAA title in the same season. The Pack also captured the ACC Tournament in 1987, again under Jimmy V.

Otherwise, though, this is as good as it gets ... and it may get even better.

Here's a little factoid that may help you win a bar bet or two. In terms of both (1) victories AND (2) percentage, which NCSU basketball team has had the best conference record since the school's national champions in 1974?

About 11 days from now, the answer to that question likely will be the 2005-06 Wolfpack. The best in 32 years?! Hard to believe, but yes. If the Pack (21-5, 10-3 ACC) can win at least two of its final three regular-season games (UNC, Boston College, at Wake Forest), Sendek and Co. will leave some impressive marks on the record books.

Since David Thompson, Tommy Burleson and the boys finished 12-0 in the ACC on their way to a 30-1 record and the 1974 NCAA title under coach Norm Sloan, no State team has won three-quarters of its games in the league. No Wolfpack team has won 12 regular-season conference games in that span, either, although Sendek's 2003-04 bunch (21-10, 11-5) came close.

Sendek won the ACC coach of the year award for that (2004) performance. The only way that could happen this year is if the Wolfpack wins out (13-3) AND bad things happen to the teams of Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Roy Williams (UNC) and Dave Leitao (Virginia). Stranger things have happened, but there's probably no need to make extra room in the NCSU trophy case for that one.

More importantly, though, Sendek has built a team this season that has a serious chance of bringing home something much more important -- a banner.

Everyone knows that Duke is the best team in the ACC, but everyone also knows that in a tournament format, strange things can happen. If I were a betting man (I'm not) and somebody told me I had to pick a team not named Duke at the ACC Tournament, I'd take either the No. 2 or the No. 3 seed. Those two teams will be able to avoid the Blue Devils until the final (if not entirely), and at that point maybe three games in three days will have an effect on J.J. Redick's 38-minutes-per-game legs. With even a decent finish -- remember, State will hold a tiebreaker over BC if it can beat the Eagles at the RBC Center -- the Wolfpack has positioned itself nicely for another run.

However the ACC and NCAA seeds shake out, though, the 2005-06 Wolfpack should result in State fans uttering words many of them thought they'd never believe: This team is built in Sendek's image, and that's a GOOD thing.

Sendek is nothing if not steady. He chops wood, as he likes to say, and his teams chop wood. They don't get too high or too low, and that can be a good thing, especially in the postseason.

From game to game, this team bounces back extremely well. It hasn't lost two games in a row all season. Within games, too, this group tends to avoid the panic button, and the importance of that can't possibly be overstated. One of the few weaknesses of former Wolfpack great Julius Hodge was that he sometimes wanted to win so badly -- and so quickly -- that he tied himself (and his team) in knots during some of the season's most stressful moments.

One of the most common mistakes even good teams make in March is getting away from the habits that made them successful during the regular season. Instead of remaining patient when they get behind, they seek out the mythical 10-point possession. Instead of waiting for high-percentage shots, they force them. Instead of keeping steady hands in the backcourt, they panic or attempt ridiculous passes or turn the ball over. Instead of playing solid team defense, they freelance and end up paying for it.

This NCSU team has been built to avoid those problems. The Wolfpack still has a few warts (e.g., rebounding, holding big leads), but it has at least two things that every coach in America wants in the postseason: (1) a calm, experienced backcourt, and (2) a group of kids who believe in their coach and his message.

Senior Tony Bethel, junior Engin Atsur and senior Cameron Bennerman won't make the All-ACC first team and probably won't reach the NBA, either, but they all played important minutes on a Sweet 16 team last year, and they've all made enough big plays against good teams that they'll have a well of wisdom to draw upon in March. Bethel and Bennerman, in particular, have hit some huge shots and come up with key defensive stops this season.

Meanwhile, perhaps the most frequent words to come out of the State players' mouths this season have been these: "We don't care who gets the points. It can be a different guy every night, depending on who's hot and what the defense is doing. We don't worry about that stuff. We just want to win."

Every team says some version of those words. J.J. Redick and Daniel Ewing made that statement at Duke when it wasn't exactly true. Same with the me-first bunch at North Carolina three years ago. But as anyone close to this year's Wolfpack will tell you, this team believes those words, and that can make all the difference in the world.

Perhaps tonight's UNC game will be an example of what the Wolfpack has in store for March Madness. Perhaps it will be another bump in the road instead.

Either way, Sendek and the Pack will wake up on Thursday and chop more wood, and that's a good thing.