By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina’s 89–84 overtime victory Saturday over Ohio State was huge on so many levels, including that it was the Tar Heels’ first Quad 1 victory of the season.

What makes it even bigger is that UNC won’t get many more chances to add to that in a top-heavy ACC. The victory moved Carolina’s NET ranking up five spots to No. 27.

The NCAA tournament selection committee uses the NET rankings and number of Quad 1 victories as considerations when seeding teams for the tournament.

Tar Heels needed that win after losing their four previous Quad 1 games to Iowa State (current NET ranking of 26), Alabama (7), Indiana (23) and Virginia Tech (20). On the plus side, the committee will view those as “good losses.”

NCAA quadrant system

Quadrant 1: Home games against teams with a NET ranking of 30 or better, neutral-site games against teams ranked 50 or better and road games against teams ranked 75 or better
Quadrant 2: Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3: Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4: Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower

When UNC announced Wednesday’s Jumpman Invitational matchup in Charlotte against Michigan (7 p.m., ESPN), that figured to be a Quad 1 win. But the Wolverines, No. 22 in the preseason AP Top 25, are 7–3 and only beat Lipscomb 83–75 at home on Saturday. That puts the Wolverines’ NET ranking at 86, making that a Quad 2 game for the Tar Heels.

That leaves North Carolina with only six more chances for Quad 1 wins (going by current NET rankings), and one of those is precarious. The Dec. 30 game at Pittsburgh is currently a Quad 1 game because the Panthers are No. 75. But if they fall one slot, that would be a Quad 2 game.

The other Quad 1 games remaining on UNC’s schedule are the two games against Virginia (current NET ranking of 17) and Duke (12), as well as the road game against N.C. State (49).

NET rankings fluctuate, and that could change the classification of those games. But if UNC only plays 11 Quad 1 games, that would be six fewer than last season, when the Tar Heels were 8–9 in those games.

Carolina played 12 Quad 1 games during the 2020–21 season (going 2–10) and in 2019–20 (3–9).

This season, UNC is 1–4 in Quad 1 games, 3–0 in Quad 2 games, 2–0 in Quad 3 games and 2–0 in Quad 4 games.

It will help the Tar Heels’ NET ranking that they only play the ACC’s two bottom-feeders, Louisville (344 NET ranking) and Florida State (254), once each. They would be two of the three lowest-ranked UNC opponents this season, along with The Citadel (292).

UNC opponent quad breakdown

Opponent	NET ranking	Quadrant	Outcome
UNCW	72	2	Win
College of Charleston	55	2	Win
Gardner-Webb	163	4	Win
James Madison	51	2	Win
Portland	130	3	Win
Iowa State	26	1	Loss
Alabama	7	1	Loss
At Indiana	23	1	Loss
At Virginia Tech	20	1	Loss
Georgia Tech	119	3	Win
The Citadel	292	4	Win
Ohio State	29	1	Win
Michigan	86	2
At Pittsburgh	75	1
Wake Forest	109	3
Notre Dame	164	4
At Virginia	17	1
At Louisville	344	4
Boston College	242	4
N.C. State	49	2
At Syracuse	147	3
Pittsburgh	75	2
At Duke	12	1
At Wake Forest	109	2
Clemson	92	3
Miami	59	2
At N.C. State	49	1
At Notre Dame	164	3
Virginia	17	1
At Florida State	254	4
Duke	12	1

Date	Month/day	Time/score	Opponent/event (current ranking)	Location	Record
	October
28	Friday	W, 101–40	Johnson C. Smith	Home	Exhibition
	November
7	Monday	W, 69–56	UNCW	Home	1–0
11	Friday	W, 102–86	College of Charleston	Home	2–0
15	Tuesday	W, 72–66	Gardner-Webb	Home	3–0
20	Sunday	W, 80–64	James Madison	Home	4–0
			Phil Knight Invitational
24	Thursday	W, 89–81	First round: Portland	Portland	5–0
25	Friday	L, 70–65	Semifinals: Iowa State	Portland	5–1
27	Sunday	L, 103–101, 4 OTs	Consolation: No. 1 Alabama	Portland	5–2
			ACC/Big Ten Challenge
30	Wednesday	L, 77–65	No. 21 Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	5–3
	December
4	Sunday	L, 80–72	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	5–4, 0–1 ACC
10	Saturday	W, 75–59	Georgia Tech	Home	6–4, 1–1 ACC
13	Tuesday	W, 100–67	The Citadel	Home	7–4
			*CBS Sports Classic*
17	Saturday	W, 89–84, OT	Ohio State	New York	8–4
			*Jumpman Invitational*
21	Wednesday	W, 80–76	Michigan	Charlotte	9–4
30	Friday	L, 76–74	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	9–5, 1–2 ACC
	January
4	Wednesday	W, 88–79	Wake Forest	Home	10–5, 2–2 ACC
7	Saturday	W, 81–64	Notre Dame	Home	11–5, 3–2 ACC
10	Tuesday	L, 65–58	No. 14 Virginia	Charlottesville	11–6, 3–3 ACC
14	Saturday	W, 80–59	Louisville	Louisville, Ky.	12–6, 4–3 ACC
17	Tuesday	W, 72–64	Boston College	Home	13–6, 5–3 ACC
21	Saturday	W, 80–69	N.C. State	Home	14–6, 6–3 ACC
24	Tuesday	W, 72–68	Syracuse	Syracuse, N.Y.	15–6, 7–3 ACC
	February
1	Wednesday	L, 65–64	Pittsburgh	Home	15–7, 7–4 ACC
4	Saturday	L, 63–57	No. 12 Duke	Durham	15–8, 7–5 ACC
7	Tuesday	L, 92–85	Wake Forest	Winston-Salem	15–9, 7–6 ACC
11	Saturday	W, 91–71	Clemson	Home	16–9, 8–6 ACC
13	Monday	L, 80–72	No. 16 Miami	Home	16–10, 8–7 ACC
19	Sunday	L, 77–69	N.C. State	Raleigh	16–11, 8–8 ACC
22	Wednesday	W, 63–59	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	17–11, 9–8 ACC
25	Saturday	W, 71–63	No. 14 Virginia	Home	18–11, 10–8 ACC
27	Monday	W, 77–66	Florida State	Tallahassee, Fla.	19–11, 11–8 ACC
	March
4	Saturday	L, 62–57	No. 12 Duke	Home	19–12, 11–9 ACC
			*ACC tournament*
8	Wednesday	W, 85–61	Boston College	Greensboro	20–12
9	Thursday	L, 68–59	No. 14 Virginia	Greensboro	20–13