Good and bad news for UNC’s NCAA resume after win over State

By R.L. Bynum

There was good and bad news for Carolina in the NET rankings coming out of the Tar Heels’ 80–69 home victory over N.C. State, with Selection Sunday 49 days away.

The good was that the Tar Heels (14–6, 6–3 ACC) moved up six spots to No. 32 in the NET rankings. The bad was that the Wolfpack (15–5, 5–4) fell nine spots to No. 36, meaning what UNC thought was a Quad 1 victory is now a Quad 2 win, reverting its Quad 1 record to 1–6. The rematch in Raleigh still should be a Quad 1 game.

Carolina is 4–0 in Quad 2 games, 3–0 in Quad 3 games and 6–0 in Quad 4 games.


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


Even though Syracuse (13–7, 6–3) moved up 10 spots to No. 100 after the Orange’s 80–63 win Saturday at Georgia Tech, UNC’s 9 p.m. game at Syracuse (ESPN) still will be another Quad 2 game. It would have been a Quad 3 game a couple of weeks ago.

The bad news from Syracuse’s win is that it downgrades Carolina’s victory over the Yellow Jackets (8–11, 1–8) from a Quad 3 win to a Quad 4 win.

UNC has potentially gained another Quad 1 opportunity, thanks to Wake Forest (14–6, 6–3) beating league-leading Clemson (16–4, 8–1) before losing to second-place Virginia (15–3, 7–2). That has increased the Deacons’ NET ranking to 71, making the Tar Heels’ game in Winston-Salem a Quad 1 as long as the Deacs’ can keep their ranking at 75 or higher.

That leaves the Tar Heels with five more Quad 1 games if opponents stay at about the same ranking. In addition to that rematch with Wake Forest on Feb. 7 and the N.C. State game in Raleigh on Feb 19, the home matchup with Virginia on Feb. 25, as well as both Duke games (Feb 4 and March 4), should be Quad 1 contests.

UNC quad breakdown

OpponentNET rankingQuadrantOutcome
UNCW1293Win
College of Charleston412Win
Gardner-Webb1934Win
James Madison843Win
Portland1623Win
Iowa State101Loss
Alabama31Loss
At Indiana231Loss
At Virginia Tech551Loss
Georgia Tech1804Win
The Citadel3134Win
Ohio State241Win
Michigan762Win
At Pittsburgh651Loss
Wake Forest713Win
Notre Dame1944Win
At Virginia131Loss
At Louisville3344Win
Boston College2014Win
N.C. State362Win
At Syracuse1002
Pittsburgh652
At Duke291
At Wake Forest711
Clemson592
Miami442
At N.C. State361
At Notre Dame1943
Virginia131
At Florida State1873
Duke291

TeamLeagueOverallNET*
No. 3 Duke0–011–02
California0–011–163
No. 12 North Carolina0–010–115
No. 23 Virginia0–09–121
Miami0–010–233
Virginia Tech0–010–255
No. 11 Louisville0–09–217
SMU0–09–243
Stanford0–08–297
Clemson0–09–331
Notre Dame0–09–364
Wake Forest0–09–359
N.C. State0–08–434
Georgia Tech0–07–4188
Syracuse0–07–495
Florida State0–06–6149
Pittsburgh0–06–6152
Boston College0–05–6185

* — Through Thursday games
Friday’s results
Florida State 96, Mississippi Valley State 49
California 97, Morgan State 50
Saturday’s games
Montana at No. 11 Louisville, noon, ACCN Extra
Lafayette at Georgia Tech, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Elon at Virginia Tech, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Ohio State vs. No. 12 North Carolina at CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta, 3 p.m., CBS
Northeastern at Syracuse, 4 p.m., ACCN Extra
Maryland at No. 23 Virginia, 6 p.m., ESPN
No. 3 Duke at No. 16 Texas Tech, 8 p.m., ESPN
Stanford at Colorado, 8 p.m., ESPNU
Sunday’s games
Penn State vs. Pittsburgh in Hershey, Pa., noon, Big Ten Network
Ole Miss vs. N.C. State in Greensboro, 1 p.m., ESPN
No. 13 Vanderbilt at Wake Forest, 1 p.m., The CW
Purdue Ft. Wayne at Notre Dame, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Central Arkansas at SMU, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Cincinnati vs. Clemson in Greenville, S.C., 3 p.m., ESPN
North Florida at Miami, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Columbia at California, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Monday’s games
American at Virginia, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Jacksonville at Florida State, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Stonehill at Syracuse, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Fairleigh Dickinson at Boston College, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
East Carolina at No. 12 North Carolina, 8 p.m., ACC Network


DateMonth/dayTime/scoreOpponent/event
(current ranking)
LocationRecord
October
28FridayW, 101–40Johnson C. Smith HomeExhibition
November
7MondayW, 69–56UNCWHome1–0
11FridayW, 102–86College of CharlestonHome2–0
15TuesdayW, 72–66Gardner-WebbHome3–0
20SundayW, 80–64James MadisonHome4–0
Phil Knight Invitational
24ThursdayW, 89–81First round: PortlandPortland5–0
25FridayL, 70–65Semifinals:
Iowa State
Portland5–1
27SundayL, 103–101,
4 OTs
Consolation:
No. 1 Alabama
Portland5–2
ACC/Big Ten Challenge
30WednesdayL, 77–65 No. 21 IndianaBloomington, Ind.5–3
December
4SundayL, 80–72 Virginia TechBlacksburg, Va.5–4,
0–1 ACC
10SaturdayW, 75–59Georgia TechHome6–4,
1–1 ACC
13TuesdayW, 100–67The CitadelHome7–4
CBS Sports Classic
17SaturdayW, 89–84, OTOhio StateNew York8–4
Jumpman Invitational
21WednesdayW, 80–76MichiganCharlotte9–4
30 Friday L, 76–74PittsburghPittsburgh9–5,
1–2 ACC
January
4WednesdayW, 88–79Wake ForestHome10–5,
2–2 ACC
7SaturdayW, 81–64Notre DameHome11–5,
3–2 ACC
10TuesdayL, 65–58No. 14 VirginiaCharlottesville11–6,
3–3 ACC
14SaturdayW, 80–59LouisvilleLouisville, Ky.12–6,
4–3 ACC
17TuesdayW, 72–64Boston CollegeHome13–6,
5–3 ACC
21SaturdayW, 80–69N.C. StateHome14–6,
6–3 ACC
24TuesdayW, 72–68SyracuseSyracuse, N.Y.15–6,
7–3 ACC
February
1WednesdayL, 65–64PittsburghHome15–7,
7–4 ACC
4SaturdayL, 63–57No. 12 DukeDurham15–8,
7–5 ACC
7TuesdayL, 92–85Wake ForestWinston-Salem15–9,
7–6 ACC
11SaturdayW, 91–71ClemsonHome 16–9,
8–6 ACC
13MondayL, 80–72No. 16 MiamiHome16–10,
8–7 ACC
19SundayL, 77–69N.C. StateRaleigh16–11,
8–8 ACC
22WednesdayW, 63–59Notre DameSouth Bend, Ind.17–11,
9–8 ACC
25SaturdayW, 71–63No. 14 VirginiaHome18–11,
10–8 ACC
27MondayW, 77–66Florida StateTallahassee, Fla.19–11,
11–8 ACC
March
4SaturdayL, 62–57No. 12 DukeHome19–12,
11–9 ACC
ACC tournament
8WednesdayW, 85–61Boston CollegeGreensboro20–12
9ThursdayL, 68–59No. 14 Virginia Greensboro20–13

Photo via @UNC_Basketball

2 Comments

Leave a Reply