By R.L. Bynum
No. 10 North Carolina’s seventh Quad 1 victory not only solidified the Tar Heels’ NCAA resume but puts them in a good position to win the ACC regular-season title.
UNC (22–6, 14–3 ACC), which moved up one spot in the NET rankings, has a one-game lead over No. 8 Duke (22–6, 13–4) because of the Blue Devils’ 83–79 loss Saturday at Wake Forest.
If UNC, which beat Miami 75–71 Monday, beats N.C. State (17–11, 9–8) Saturday and Notre Dame (11–17, 6–11) on March 5, the Heels could lose at Duke in the regular-season finale and possibly still earn the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament because of tiebreakers.
If the Blue Devils win every game before facing UNC and beat the Tar Heels to tie them, Carolina would likely be the No. 1 seed unless Clemson (20–8, 10–7) finishes third or Virginia (21–8, 12–6) and Clemson finished tied for third. In that later case, Duke would win the tiebreaker since it would then be 2–0 against those two teams while UNC went 2–1. Carolina split with Clemson, while Duke beat the Tigers in their only meeting.
NCAA quadrant system
Quadrant 1 (UNC is 5–5; 5 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
Most of the other tiebreakers work in UNC’s favor:
— Carolina has already beaten Virginia, which plays at Duke on Saturday.
— UNC beat Wake Forest (18–10, 10–7), while the Blue Devils lost to the Deacons.
— Carolina beat Pittsburgh (18–10, 9–8), while Duke lost to the Panthers. This likely is the definitive tiebreaker if UNC and Duke finish tied.
— If UNC sweeps N.C. State, it wouldn’t help Duke if it beats the Wolfpack on the road Monday. However, if State wins in Chapel Hill and the Blue Devils beat State, Duke would win that tiebreaker
— Both teams beat Florida State (15–13, 9–8).
— If it comes down to Syracuse (19–10, 10–8), which is sixth, Duke would win the tiebreaker since the Blue Devils won the only meeting and UNC split with the Orange.
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.
No. 1 UConn and No. 3 Purdue, with nine Quad 1 wins, are the only teams with more Quad 1 wins than UNC, No. 2 Houston, No. 4 Arizona, Houston, No. 9 Kansas and Wisconsin, with seven each.
UNC’s NCAA résumé
(Via bracketologists.com)
NET ranking: 25
High NET: 13 (2 days)
Low NET: 30 (4 days)
Average opponent NET: 109
Average NET win: 127
Average NET loss: 43
NET strength of schedule: 64
KenPom: 28
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 32
Bart Torvick T-Rank: 27
UNC quad schedule breakdown
(Through Wednesday games)
| Date | Opponent | NET ranking | Current quad designation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N3 | Central Arkansas | 181 | 4 | Win |
| N7 | Kansas | 13 | 1 | Win |
| N11 | Radford | 243 | 4 | Win |
| N14 | N.C. Central | 338 | 4 | Win |
| N18 | Navy | 153 | 4 | Win |
| N25 | (N) St. Bonaventure | 144 | 3 | Win |
| N27 | (N) Michigan State | 11 | 1 | Loss |
| D2 | At Kentucky | 27 | 1 | Win |
| D7 | Georgetown | 93 | 3 | Win |
| D13 | USC Upstate | 283 | 4 | Win |
| D16 | ETSU | 116 | 3 | Win |
| D20 | (N) Ohio State | 40 | 1 | Win |
| D22 | East Carolina | 278 | 4 | Win |
| D30 | Florida State | 94 | 3 | Win |
| J3 | At SMU | 34 | 1 | Loss |
| J10 | Wake Forest | 65 | 2 | Win |
| J14 | At Stanford | 69 | 1 | Loss |
| J17 | At California | 63 | 1 | Loss |
| J21 | Notre Dame | 88 | 3 | Win |
| J24 | At Virginia | 18 | 1 | Win |
| J31 | At Georgia Tech | 159 | 3 | Win |
| F2 | Syracuse | 71 | 2 | Win |
| F7 | Duke | 3 | 1 | Win |
| F10 | At Miami | 36 | 1 | Loss |
| F14 | Pittsburgh | 124 | 3 | |
| F17 | At N.C. State | 29 | 1 | |
| F21 | At Syracuse | 68 | 1 | |
| F23 | Louisville | 14 | 1 | |
| F28 | Virginia Tech | 51 | 2 | |
| M3 | Clemson | 33 | 1 | |
| M7 | At Duke | 3 | 1 |
| Team | League | Overall | NET* |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 4 Duke | 11–1 | 22–2 | 3 |
| No. 15 Virginia | 10–2 | 21–3 | 18 |
| No. 20 Clemson | 10–2 | 20–5 | 33 |
| N.C. State | 9–3 | 18–7 | 29 |
| Miami | 8–3 | 19–5 | 36 |
| No. 24 Louisville | 8–4 | 18–6 | 14 |
| No. 11 North Carolina | 7–4 | 19–5 | 25 |
| SMU | 6–5 | 17–7 | 34 |
| Virginia Tech | 6–6 | 17–8 | 50 |
| California | 5–7 | 17–8 | 63 |
| Syracuse | 5–7 | 14–11 | 68 |
| Stanford | 5–7 | 16–9 | 69 |
| Florida State | 4–7 | 11–13 | 95 |
| Wake Forest | 3–8 | 12–12 | 66 |
| Boston College | 2–9 | 9–15 | 150 |
| Georgia Tech | 2–10 | 11–14 | 158 |
| Notre Dame | 2–10 | 11–14 | 88 |
| Pittsburgh | 2–10 | 9–16 | 124 |
* — Through Thursday games
Tuesday’s results
Miami 75, No. 11 North Carolina 66
No. 15 Virginia 61, Florida State 58
SMU 89, Notre Dame 81
No. 4 Duke 70, Pittsburgh 54
Wednesday’s results
Virginia Tech 76, No. 20 Clemson 66
Syracuse 107, California 100, 2 OTs
Wake Forest 83, Georgia Tech 67
Stanford 70, Boston College 64
Saturday’s games
No. 20 Clemson at No. 4 Duke, noon, ESPN
Georgia Tech at Notre Dame, noon, The CW
California at Boston College, noon, ACC Network
Pittsburgh at No. 11 North Carolina, 2 p.m., ESPN
Florida State at Virginia Tech, 2 p.m., ACC Network
SMU at Syracuse, 2 p.m., The CW
No. 24 Louisville vs. Baylor in Fort Worth, Texas, 4 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
Stanford at Wake Forest, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Miami at N.C. State, 4 p.m., ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU
No. 15 Virginia vs. Ohio State in Nashville, 8 p.m., Fox
Monday’s game
Syracuse at No. 4 Duke, 7 p.m., ESPN
Tuesday’s games
Boston College at Florida State, 6 p.m., ACC Network
No. 11 North Carolina at N.C. State, 7 p.m., ESPN
No. 24 Louisville at SMU, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Virginia Tech at Miami, 8 p.m., ACC Network
UNC season statistics
| 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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