By R.L. Bynum
Carolina is a No. 2 seed and the fifth overall seed in the bracket that the NCAA men’s basketball committee revealed Saturday.
During a bracket preview show on CBS and TNT, the committee revealed the top 16 seeds as they stood entering Saturday’s games. The actual field will be announced at 6 p.m. on Selection Sunday, March 17.
No. 7 UNC (20–6, 12–3), which entered Saturday’s 96–81 home win against Virginia Tech 11th in the NET rankings, was slotted for the East Regional in Boston, where No. 1 UConn, the second overall seed, is the No. 1 seed in the early bracket. No. 10 Iowa State is the No. 3 in the East with No. 20 Wisconsin the No. 4 seed.
No. 2 Purdue is the No. 1 overall seed in the bracket, slotted for the Midwest Regional in Detroit. No. 3 Houston is the No. 1 seed in the South Region in Dallas as the third overall seed. No. 5 Arizona, led by Caleb Love, is the No. 1 seed in the West Regional in Los Angeles as the fourth overall seed.
The other No. 2 seeds are No. 8 Tennessee in the Midwest, No. 4 Marquette in the South and No. 6 Kansas in the West.
No. 9 Duke is a No. 3 seed in the bracket, placed in the West Regional. The other No. 3 seeds are No. 12 Baylor in the Midwest and No. 15 Alabama in the South.
The other No. 4 seeds are San Diego State in the Midwest, No. 13 Auburn in the West and No. 14 Illinois in the South.
Committee chair Charles McClelland said that Clemson, along with No. 16 Dayton and No. 17 Creighton, were in the conversation to be among the top 16 seeded teams in the bracket.
The average of the 105 bracket projections listed on Bracket Matrix has the Tar Heels were the third-highest No. 2 seed, with six projecting them as a No. 3 seed and none projecting them as a No. 1 seed.
The bracket projections of ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and CBS’ Jerry Palm have UNC playing first- and second-round games in Charlotte as a No. 2 seed. Both project the Tar Heels for the East Regional in Boston with No. 1 UConn as the No. 1 seed.
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
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