By R.L. Bynum

If Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner was on the NCAA tournament selection committee, North Carolina would likely be a high seed. If he had a vote in either poll, the Tar Heels would probably be ranked.

He says that you should keep an eye on the Tar Heels and, in fact, he claims to use three.

“You can see I got my third eye. I’ve got two eyes and this eye right here popped out a huge pimple,” Pastner said Monday at an ACC media availability, pointing to the left side of his forehead. “Because when you play Carolina, that’s the stress. That does that to you. Just forms another eye on your forehead.”

As it stands, the AP poll voters are so unimpressed that UNC only appeared on one ballot, with ESPN’s Dick Vitale voting the Tar Heels No. 24. Jerry Palm’s latest bracket projection has the Tar Heels as the No. 11 seed in the East Region.

Carolina (12–4, 4–1 ACC) gets another chance to improve its standing when it plays at Miami (13–4, 5–1) on Tuesday night at 7 (ACC Network).

After absorbing a pair of one-sided losses to Carolina, the latest an 88–65 setback Saturday in Chapel Hill, Pastner is more than convinced.

“I think North Carolina is really good,” Pastner said. “I think they’re good enough to go the Final Four. They’re a top 10 team. I don’t know why they’re not ranked; I don’t get it. Not having them in the top 10 in the country? I think you’re missing something there.”

If Carolina finally returns to the poll, Armando Bacot will have a lot to do with it.

Bacot, the ACC player of the week for the second consecutive week, has played himself into the ACC player of the year conversation with back-to-back 29 point games and seven consecutive double-doubles. That has the attention of Miami coach Jim Larrañaga, who calls Bacot a complete player.

“You don’t see a lot of big guys today that can play with the back to the basket. You can throw him the ball, and they can just put the ball in the basket a number of different ways,” Larrañaga said. “He’s playing like a power player. And in today’s game, there’s just so few of those, and he’s doing it so efficiently.

“He’s doing it by outrunning the opponent,” Larrañaga said. “He’s doing it by getting an offensive rebound and he’s doing it by hitting a jump hook. He’s doing it by drop-stepping and dunking on you. He’s doing it by screening and rolling and catching it on the roll and laying it in. He’s doing it by catching it at the high post and driving the ball to the basket. When you have an offensive arsenal like he does, it makes him very, very difficult to guard.”

Larrañaga certainly will be keeping an eye on Bacot, with, at the most, two eyes.

No. 4 UNC 16, Sacred Heart 5

Date	Score, record/ day, time, TV	Location	Opponent (current rank)
	November (4–2)
5	83–55 exhibition win	Home	Elizabeth City State
9	83–67 win, 1–0	Home	Loyola Maryland
12	94–87 win, 2–0	Home	Brown
16	94–83 win, 3–0	Road	College of Charleston
20	93–84 loss, 3–1	Uncasville, Conn.	Y — No. 7 Purdue
21	89–72 loss, 3–2	Uncasville, Conn.	Y — No. 22 Tennessee
23	72–53 win, 4–2	Home	UNC Asheville
	December (5–1, 1-0 ACC)
1	72–51 win, 5–2	Home	X — Michigan
5	79–62 win, 6–2, 1-0 ACC	Road	Georgia Tech
11	80–63 win, 7–2	Home	Elon
14	74–61 win, 8–2	Home	Furman
18	98–69 loss, 8–3	Las Vegas	Z — No. 18 Kentucky
21	70–50 win, 9–3	Home	Appalachian State
	January (3–1, 3–1 ACC)
2	91–65 win, 10–3, 2-0 ACC	Road	Boston College
5	78–73 loss, 10–4, 2-1 ACC	Road	Notre Dame
8	74–58 win, 11–4, 3–1 ACC	Home	Virginia
15	88–65 win, 12–4, 4–1 ACC	Home	Georgia Tech
18	Tuesday, 7, ESPN	Road	Miami
22	Saturday, 8, ACCN	Road	Wake Forest
24	Monday, 8, ACCN	Home	Virginia Tech
26	Wednesday, 7, RSN	Home	Boston College
29	Saturday, 2, ACCN	Home	N.C. State
	February
1	Tuesday, 8, ACC Network	Road	Louisville
5	Saturday, 6, ESPN	Home	No. 8 Duke
8	Tuesday, 9, ESPN or ESPN2	Road	Clemson
12	Saturday, 2, ESPN or ESPN2	Home	Florida State
16	Wednesday, 8, ACCN	Home	Pittsburgh
19	Saturday, 4, ESPN or ESPN2	Road	Virginia Tech
21	Monday, 7, ESPN	Home	Louisville
26	Saturday, 2 or 4, ESPN or ESPN2	Road	N.C. State
28	Monday, 7, ESPN	Home	Syracuse
	March
5	Saturday, 6, ESPN	Road	No. 8 Duke
8– 12	ACC Tournament	Brooklyn