By R.L. Bynum
Considering that No. 3 North Carolina fell in the NET after Saturday’s win at Florida State and dropped another notch a day later, the damage to the Tar Heels’ NET ranking from Tuesday’s 74–73 loss at Georgia Tech was minimal.
The league-leading Tar Heels (17–3, 9–0 ACC) fell one spot to ninth after their first Quad 2 loss, switching spots with No. 16 Auburn (16–4). The logic of the NET is again hard to find since the Tigers didn’t play Tuesday and have lost two consecutive games.
Carolina gets its first Quad 1 game since Jan. 6 at Clemson when No. 7 Duke (16–4, 7–2) visits the Smith Center at 6:30 Saturday night (ESPN). UNC has three more Quad 1 opportunities after that: at Miami (14–6, 5–4) on Feb. 10, at Virginia (15–5, 6–3) on Feb. 24, and at Duke on March 9.
Before the loss, most bracket projections had UNC as the No. 1 seed in the West Regional at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, playing first- and second-round games in Charlotte.
The NCAA tournament committee uses the NET rankings as one of its metrics to determine who makes the field and how to seed teams. NET rankings will fluctuate throughout the season, and the only quad designation that matters is where your opponents stand on Selection Sunday, not where they ranked when the game was played.
NCAA quadrant system
Quadrant 1 (UNC was 9–3): 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 (UNC was 7–4): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC was 6–0): Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4 (UNC was 5–0): Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower
The minor positive is that if UNC had won by a wide margin, that likely would have dropped the Georgia Tech game under 135 in the NET to make that a Quad 3. With the win, the Jackets (9–11, 2–7) moved up six spots to 128.
Villanova (11–10) has lost three consecutive games, and UNC’s 83–81 overtime Nov. 23 loss to the Wildcats in the Bahamas could soon move from Quad 1 to Quad 2. The Wildcats’ NET ranking is 48, and the game becomes Quad 2 if they fall three more slots.
Carolina is No. 7 in KenPom and No. 10 in Bart Torvik’s rankings.
UNC’s NCAA resume
(Via bracketologists.com)
NET ranking: 8
Season-high: 6 (for five days in January)
Season-low: 38 (Dec. 9)
Average opponent NET: 91
Average NET win: 101
Average NET loss: 53
NET strength of schedule: 31
KenPom: 9
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 9
KPI: 5
Bart Torvick T-Rank: 9
UNC quad schedule breakdown
(Through Saturday’s games)
Opponent | NET ranking | Quad designation | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|
Radford | 236 | 4 | Win |
Lehigh | 267 | 4 | Win |
UC Riverside | 230 | 4 | Win |
(N) Northern Iowa | 109 | 3 | Win |
(N) Villanova | 41 | 1 | Loss |
(N) Arkansas | 115 | 3 | Win |
Tennessee | 7 | 1 | Win |
Florida State | 96 | 3 | Win |
(N) Connecticut | 2 | 1 | Loss |
(N) Kentucky | 19 | 1 | Loss |
(N) Oklahoma | 46 | 1 | Win |
Charleston Southern | 315 | 4 | Win |
At Pittsburgh | 40 | 1 | Win |
At Clemson | 35 | 1 | Win |
At N.C. State | 63 | 1 | Win |
Syracuse | 84 | 2 | Win |
Louisville | 217 | 4 | Win |
At Boston College | 80 | 2 | Win |
Wake Forest | 43 | 2 | Win |
At Florida State | 96 | 2 | Win |
At Georgia Tech | 127 | 2 | Loss |
Duke | 10 | 1 | Win |
Clemson | 35 | 2 | Loss |
At Miami | 101 | 2 | Win |
At Syracuse | 84 | 3 | Loss |
Virginia Tech | 60 | 2 | Win |
At Virginia | 54 | 1 | Win |
Miami | 101 | 3 | Win |
N.C. State | 63 | 2 | Win |
Notre Dame | 124 | 3 | Win |
At Duke | 10 | 1 | Win |
Florida State | 96 | 2 | Win |
Pittsburgh | 40 | 1 | Win |
N.C. State | 63 | 2 | Loss |
ACC standings
Team | League | Overall |
---|---|---|
No. 4 North Carolina | 17–3 | 25–6 |
No. 11 Duke | 15–5 | 24–7 |
Virginia | 13–7 | 22–9 |
Pittsburgh | 12–8 | 21–10 |
Clemson | 11–9 | 21–10 |
Syracuse | 11–9 | 20–11 |
Wake Forest | 11–9 | 19–12 |
Virginia Tech | 10–10 | 18–13 |
Florida State | 10–10 | 16–15 |
N.C. State | 9–11 | 17–13 |
Boston College | 8–12 | 17–14 |
Georgia Tech | 7–12 | 14–17 |
Notre Dame | 7–13 | 12–19 |
Miami | 6–14 | 15–16 |
Louisville | 3–17 | 8–22 |
Saturday’s games
No. 4 North Carolina 84, No. 11 Duke 79
Virginia Tech 82, Notre Dame 76
Florida State 83, Miami 75
Boston College 67, Louisville 61
Wake Forest 81, Clemson 76
Pittsburgh 81, N.C. State 73
Virginia 72, Georgia Tech 57
ACC tournament
March 12–16, Capitol One Arena, Washington
Date | Month/day | Score | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
---|---|---|---|---|
October | ||||
27 | Friday | W, 117–53 | vs. St. Augustine’s | Exhibition |
November | ||||
6 | Monday | W, 86–70 | vs. Radford | 1–0 |
12 | Sunday | W, 90–68 | vs. Lehigh | 2–0 |
17 | Friday | W, 77–52 | vs. UC Riverside | 3–0 |
Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas | ||||
22 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | Northern Iowa | 4–0 |
23 | Thursday | L, 83–81, OT | Villanova | 4–1 |
24 | Friday | W, 87–72 | Arkansas | 5–1 |
ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | ||||
29 | Wednesday | W, 100–92 | vs. No. 6 Tennessee | 6–1 |
December | ||||
2 | Saturday | W, 78–70 | vs. Florida State | 7–1, 1–0 ACC |
Jimmy V Classic in New York | ||||
5 | Tuesday | L, 87–67 | No. 1 Connecticut | 7–2 |
CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
16 | Saturday | L, 87–83 | No. 12 Kentucky | 7–3 |
Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte | ||||
20 | Wednesday | W, 81–69 | Oklahoma | 8–3 |
————————— | ||||
29 | Friday | W, 105–60 | vs. Charleston Southern | 9–3 |
January | ||||
2 | Tuesday | W, 70–57 | at Pittsburgh | 10–3, 2–0 ACC |
6 | Saturday | W, 65–55 | at Clemson | 11–3, 3–0 ACC |
10 | Wednesday | W, 67–54 | at N.C. State | 12–3, 4–0 ACC |
13 | Saturday | W, 103–67 | vs. Syracuse | 13–3, 5–0 ACC |
17 | Wednesday | W, 86–70 | vs. Louisville | 14–3, 6–0 ACC |
20 | Saturday | W, 76–66 | vs. Boston College | 15–3, 7–0 ACC |
22 | Monday | W, 85–64 | vs. Wake Forest | 16–3, 8–0 ACC |
27 | Saturday | W, 75–68 | at Florida State | 17–3, 9–0 ACC |
30 | Tuesday | L, 74–73 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 9–1 ACC |
February | ||||
3 | Saturday | W, 93–84 | vs. No. 13 Duke | 18–4, 10–1 ACC |
6 | Tuesday | L, 80–76 | vs. Clemson | 18–5, 10–2 ACC |
10 | Saturday | W, 75–72 | at Miami | 19–5, 11–2 ACC |
13 | Tuesday | L, 86–79 | at Syracuse | 19–6, 11–3 ACC |
17 | Saturday | W, 96–81 | vs. Virginia Tech | 20–6, 12–3 ACC |
24 | Saturday | W, 54–44 | at Virginia | 21–6, 13–3 ACC |
26 | Monday | W, 75–71 | vs. Miami | 22–6, 14–3 ACC |
March | ||||
2 | Saturday | W, 79–70 | vs. N.C. State | 23–6, 15–3 ACC |
5 | Tuesday | W, 84–51 | vs. Notre Dame | 24–6, 16–3 ACC |
9 | Saturday | W, 84–79 | at No. 13 Duke | 25–6, 17–3 ACC |
ACC tournament Washington | ||||
14 | Thursday | W, 92–67 | Quarterfinals: Florida State | 26–6 |
15 | Friday | W, 72–65 | Semifinals: Pittsburgh | 27–6 |
16 | Saturday | L, 84–76 | Final: N.C. State | 27–7 |
NCAA tournament | ||||
21 | Thursday | W, 90–62 | First round in Charlotte: Wagner | 28–7 |
23 | Saturday | W, 85–69 | Second round in Charlotte: Michigan State | 29–7 |
28 | Thursday | L, 89–87 | Sweet 16 in Los Angeles: No. 19 Alabama | 29–8 |