It gets a little overlooked in my front-page story today about N.C. State’s turnaround under Mark Gottfried, but the role of the classic UCLA high-post offense, handed down from John Wooden to Jim Harrick to Gottfried, should not be underestimated.

Wooden, who died in 2010, won 10 national championships in 12 years at UCLA running that offense (although not, as N.C. State fans would note, in 1974). Harrick, with Gottfried as an assistant, won another in 1995.

“The system we run is not the only way to play,” Harrick said. “It’s just the best. … It’s taken these kids this long to really learn it, but they’ve got confidence and see the reads now.”

COLUMBUS, Ohio — San Diego State coach Steve Fisher has taken two different programs to the NCAA tournament 12 times, three of his Michigan teams made the Final Four and his Wolverines won it all in 1989.

So Fisher knows what a winner looks like in March and after N.C. State beat his San Diego State team on Friday, 79-65 in the NCAA tournament, he recognized a certain quality in the Wolfpack.

"They're playing with a togetherness you have to have to win," Fisher said.

Three Points from N.C. State's 76-62 loss to Florida State on Saturday:

1) Reloading the gun

N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried compared the timing of the turnaround from Thursday's loss at Duke to Saturday's game with Florida State to the setup of the NCAA tournament.

One problem with that comparison: You don't have to play again after a loss in the NCAA tournament.

It's tough to reload the gun that quickly, even under normal circumstances, and this did not qualify as normal.

Three Points from Wednesday's 56-51 win at Boston College:

1) Body language counts

When Richard Howell, Lorenzo Brown and C.J. Leslie slumped their shoulders, dropped their heads and sloughed off to the locker room at halftime, they were greeted with a warning from N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried.

"I told them that is not acceptable and we won't do that — and we have not done that any night this year," Gottfried said. "We were allowing things to bother us. Mentally, we were out of synch."

N.C. State forward Richard Howell had a career-best 18 rebounds against Virginia on Saturday but fouled out for the third straight game.

Howell, a junior, had fouled out in only two career games before State's trip to Miami on Jan. 22. He fouled out, after playing only 18 minutes against the Canes, after 16 minutes against UNC last Thursday and 28 minutes on Saturday.

1) The Richard Howell Fan Club

Junior forward Richard Howell lost 25 pounds in the offseason and found his game. Howell always played with a high basketball IQ but didn't always have the physical means, or stamina, to maximize his potential.

Howell's still undersized — he's listed at 6-8 but is really about three inches shorter — but he's made up for his lack of height with effort. He was all over the court on Thursday with 11 points, 16 rebounds and three steals. (I actually think he was short-changed by the official scorer in the latter category as State produced a season-best 16 steals.)

RALEIGH — N.C. State already gave away an ACC home game to one of the teams at the bottom of the conference standings earlier this month.

The Wolfpack wasn't interested in repeating any such mistakes against an out-manned Boston College team on Thursday night at the RBC Center.

With a focused and high-energy effort, State dispatched the Eagles, 76-62 to improve to 3-1 in the ACC for the first time in six years.

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1. Fun and games

N.C. State hasn't had many chances, in the first 15 games, to have a little fun. The Wolfpack did just that Wednesday in the 78-44 win over Delaware State.

A 22-0 run to close the first half took any suspense out of the outcome and C.J. Leslie's alley-oop to himself during that run signaled the beginning of the fun and games.

RALEIGH —  What N.C. State lacked on offense in the first 4 minutes of Saturday's game with Western Carolina, it made up for in the final 36.

All five starters scored in double-figures to more than make up for a sluggish holiday start in a 82-55 win over the Catamounts.

Senior C.J. Williams led the scoring parade with 21 points and forward Richard Howell added 12 points and 14 rebounds for one of the Pack's most dominant wins of the season.

RALEIGH — Since N.C. State left for the RBC Center 12 years ago, the occasional game at Reynolds Coliseum has been more of a nostalgic indulgence than a basketball test.

Campbell changed that Tuesday night in front of a capacity crowd at the Old Barn. N.C. State needed every bit of 24 points and eight assists from Lorenzo Brown to turn away the Camels, 87-81.

A friendly exhibition between two in-state schools it was not. There were three technical fouls in the second half and dueling chants between the fan bases, a sizable portion of about 2,500 Campbell fans showed up, hoping for a repeat of history.