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 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
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 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
UNC season statistics
| 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 |
tarheeltribune.com 
