By R.L. Bynum
A month from Selection Sunday, No. 7 Carolina appears to be solidly on the No. 2 seed line.
The league-leading Tar Heels (20–6, 12–3 ACC) moved up two spots to ninth in the NET rankings after Saturday’s home Quad 2 victory over Virginia Tech despite losing a Quad 1 win.
Although ninth would suggest a No. 3 seed, the NCAA tournament selection committee confirmed UNC’s standing when it had the Tar Heels as the top No. 2 seed in its bracket reveal on Saturday afternoon before the 96–81 victory over the Hokies.
It’s the highest NET ranking for the Tar Heels since the day before their 80–76 home loss to Clemson on Feb. 6.
UNC gets six days off before visiting No. 22 Virginia (20–6, 11–4; 40th in the NET) at 4 p.m. Saturday (ESPN) in one of two remaining Quad 1 games, the other being the regular-season finale at No. 7 Duke (20–5, 11–2; 17th). The Tar Heels have a half-game lead atop the ACC over Duke and a one-game lead over Virginia.
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 is 5–4; 6 games left): 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 is 2–0; 1 game left): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC is 7–0; 1 game left): Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4 (UNC is 5–0; no games left): Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower
Miami’s 85–77 loss Saturday at Boston College dropped the Hurricanes five spots in the NET to 78th. That slipped Miami (15–11, 6–9) below the threshold of 75 for UNC’s 75–72 road win Feb. 10 to be Quad 1, moving the win to Quad 2.
That means Carolina is now 5–4 in Quad 1 games, 6–1 in Quad 2 games, 4–1 in Quad 3 games and 5–0 in Quad 4 games.
Two of the Tar Heels’ remaining games are Quad 3: the Feb. 26 home game against Miami and the March 2 home game against N.C. State (16–9, 8–6; 76th). The March 5 home game against Notre Dame (9–16, 4–10; 152nd) will be Quad 4.
The Wolfpack moved up seven spots after winning Saturday at Clemson 78–77, and the rematch in the Smith Center will become Quad 2 if they can move up one more spot. The Miami home game would become Quad 2 if the Canes move up three more spots.
UNC’s NET strength of schedule went up from 23 to 19, and its Bart Torvik T-Rank went up two spots to 12th.
The NCAA tournament committee’s bracket means much more than other bracket projections. That’s good for UNC, considering that the Tar Heels are the third-highest No. 2 seed on Bracket Matrix when averaging 102 projections.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and CBS’s Jerry Palm both have UNC playing first- and second-round games in Charlotte and in the East Regional in Boston as the No. 2 seed, where No. 1 UConn is projected by both to be the No. 1 seed.
UNC’s NCAA résumé
(Via bracketologists.com)
NET ranking: 22
High NET: 13 (2 days)
Low NET: 30 (4 days)
Average opponent NET: 122
Average NET win: 141
Average NET loss: 44
NET strength of schedule: 50
KenPom: 27
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 32
Bart Torvick T-Rank: 27
UNC quad schedule breakdown
(Through Sunday games)
| Date | Opponent | NET ranking | Current quad designation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N3 | Central Arkansas | 179 | 4 | Win |
| N7 | Kansas | 13 | 1 | Win |
| N11 | Radford | 244 | 4 | Win |
| N14 | N.C. Central | 339 | 4 | Win |
| N18 | Navy | 159 | 4 | Win |
| N25 | (N) St. Bonaventure | 141 | 3 | Win |
| N27 | (N) Michigan State | 12 | 1 | Loss |
| D2 | At Kentucky | 28 | 1 | Win |
| D7 | Georgetown | 94 | 3 | Win |
| D13 | USC Upstate | 281 | 4 | Win |
| D16 | ETSU | 116 | 3 | Win |
| D20 | (N) Ohio State | 40 | 1 | Win |
| D22 | East Carolina | 279 | 4 | Win |
| D30 | Florida State | 95 | 3 | Win |
| J3 | At SMU | 34 | 1 | Loss |
| J10 | Wake Forest | 67 | 2 | Win |
| J14 | At Stanford | 70 | 1 | Loss |
| J17 | At California | 60 | 1 | Loss |
| J21 | Notre Dame | 89 | 3 | Win |
| J24 | At Virginia | 16 | 1 | Win |
| J31 | At Georgia Tech | 151 | 3 | Win |
| F2 | Syracuse | 68 | 2 | Win |
| F7 | Duke | 3 | 1 | Win |
| F10 | At Miami | 37 | 1 | |
| F14 | Pittsburgh | 122 | 3 | |
| F17 | At N.C. State | 27 | 1 | |
| F21 | At Syracuse | 68 | 1 | |
| F23 | Louisville | 17 | 1 | |
| F28 | Virginia Tech | 55 | 2 | |
| M3 | Clemson | 30 | 1 | |
| M7 | At Duke | 3 | 1 |
| Date | Month/day | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. No. 22 BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 9 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 10 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at No. 25 Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 15 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 87–77 | vs. Syracuse | 18–4, 6–3 |
| 7 | Saturday | W, 71–68 | vs. No. 4 Duke | 19–4, 7–3 |
| 10 | Tuesday | L, 75–66 | at Miami | 19–5, 7–4 |
| 14 | Saturday | 2 p.m. | vs. Pittsburgh | ESPN |
| 17 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN |
| 21 | Saturday | 1 p.m. | at Syracuse | ABC |
| 23 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 24 Louisville | ESPN |
| 28 | Saturday | 6:30 or 8:30 | vs. Virginia Tech | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 20 Clemson | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | at No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
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