By R.L. Bynum

GREENSBORO — North Carolina needs to keep winning to make the NCAA tournament but there was a surprising good sign for the Tar Heels in Thursday’s updated NET rankings.

The No. 7-seed Tar Heels (20–12) didn’t figure to go up in the NET by beating Boston College (now 171 in the NET) 85–61. But they moved up five spots to 44th heading into their ACC Tournament quarterfinal matchup Thursday at 7 p.m. (ESPN) against No. 2-seed Virginia (23–6) in the Greensboro Coliseum.

UNC benefitted from Ohio State’s 65–57 victory Wednesday in the Big Ten Tournament over Wisconsin, which jumped the Buckeyes six spots to 57.

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NCAA quadrant system

Quadrant 1 (UNC is 1–8 in these games): 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 (6–4): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (7–0): Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4 (6–0): Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower

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The Tar Heels’ 89–84 overtime victory over Ohio State (14–18) in New York on Dec. 17 is their best non-conference victory. It looks even better after the Buckeyes’ 73–69 second-round win Thursday over Iowa (19–13, 38 in the NET). That should help UNC’s NET ranking.

A rise of seven more spots by Ohio State in the NET would make that a Quad 1 victory, and that’s possible if the Buckeyes can beat Michigan State (19–11, 31 in the NET) on Friday.

The bad NET news is that Carolina will have only one Quad victory regardless of how tonight’s game with Virginia comes out.

ADVERTISEMENTS

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UNC’s 71–63 victory in Chapel Hill over the Cavaliers is currently classified as a Quad 1 win. That will become a Quad 2 win if the Tar Heels win tonight because Virginia is at 30 in the NET (the lowest possible for a home win to be Quad 1). 

Beating Virginia tonight, however, would make an ACC Tournament victory over the Cavaliers a Quad 1 win because a neutral-court win against a team with a NET of 50 or better is a Quad 1.

The current bracket projections show that the Tar Heels still have plenty of work to do to make the NCAA field. ESPN lists UNC as the third team on its “First four out” and only one of the 99 projections on bracketmatrix.com has it in the field. That one is Mondays are for Brackets, not the most high-profile site, and it has Carolina as a No. 11 seed, meaning a trip to the First Four.

Patrick Stevens, who does bracket projections for The Washington Post, said that UNC should be in the field if the Tar Heels advance to the ACC Tournament championship game.

ACC Tournament

Greensboro Coliseum

Tuesday’s first round

No. 13 Georgia Tech 61, No. 12 Florida State (9–23) 60

No. 10 Boston College 80, No. 15 Louisville (2–19) 62

No. 11 Virginia Tech 67, No. 14 Notre Dame (11–21) 64

Wednesday’s second round

No. 9 Wake Forest 77, No. 8 Syracuse (17–15) 74

No. 5 Pittsburgh 89, Georgia Tech (15–18) 81

No. 7 North Carolina 85, Boston College (16–17) 61

No. 6 N.C. State 97, Virginia Tech (19–14) 77

Thursday’s quarterfinals

No. 1 Miami 74, Wake Forest (19–14) 72

No. 4 Duke 96, Pittsburgh (22–11) 69

No. 2 Virginia 68, North Carolina (20–13) 59

No. 3 Clemson 80, N.C. State (23–10) 54

Friday’s semifinals

Duke 85, Miami (25–7) 78

Virginia 76, Clemson (23–10) 56

Saturday’s championship

Duke (26–8) 59, vs. Virginia (25–7) 49

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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

Photo courtesy of the ACC