Seeking Out Tough Opposition, N.C. State Reaps the Rewards LOUIS - One of Mike Gottfried's tasks after taking over as coach at North Carolina State involved overhauling the Wolfpack's cupcake-laden non-conference schedule. Rather than wait a year, Gottfried convinced Athletic Director Debbie Yow to cancel a contract with Houston Baptist, a mid-major, and pull out of the eight-team Las Vegas Invitational, which featured four mid-majors. Instead, the Wolfpack signed up for the Legends Classic, which led to games with 18th-ranked Vanderbilt (a loss) and Texas (a victory). They also added Stanford on the road, another loss. Those games, plus others against the N.C.A.A. tournament participants Syracuse, Indiana and St. Bonaventure, boosted the Wolfpack's strength of schedule to 30th in the country and its ratings percentage index to 47 - enough to get it in the N.C.A.A. tournament. I did question his sanity a little bit. Did we really want to do that?" said the assistant Bobby Lutz. But his thing was - and it's right - we want to schedule to where we want to be. If we're not quite ready this year, O.K., it will help us prepare for next year. He looked at the talent and said, we have a chance to be better than most people think. What we don't want to do is under-schedule and regret it at the end of the year. So he's a pretty smart guy. Gottfried thinks all Atlantic Coast Conference teams should do the same to raise the conference's profile, though adding Syracuse and Pittsburgh alone helps. "We have to win more games in November and December against quality opponents, all of us in the league," Gottfried said. That's what elevates your league. I think we're in the process of that. I like the fact that I think in another year or two or three, our league will be the best basketball league in America. I don't have any doubt about that.