By R.L. Bynum

The ACC regular-season title could still come down to No. 9 UNC’s visit to No. 10 Duke on March 9, but some scenarios would allow the Tar Heels to clinch the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament without winning that game.

But that got more challenging after Wake Forest (18–10, 10–7) lost 70–65 at Notre Dame (11–17, 6–11) on Tuesday.

Carolina (22–6, 14–3 ACC) has already clinched no worse than the No. 2 seed in the ACC tournament at Washington’s Capital One Arena, playing its first game on Thursday, March 14, in the quarterfinals at either noon (if it is the No. 1 seed) or 7 p.m. (if it is the No. 2 seed).

If the Tar Heels beat N.C. State (17–11, 9–8) at 4 p.m. Saturday (ESPN) and Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Tuesday (ACCN), both home games, that will force Duke (22–6, 13–4) to sweep two games in three days.

The Blue Devils host Virginia (21–8, 12–6) at 6 p.m. Saturday (ESPN), then visit N.C. State at 7 p.m. Monday (ESPN).

With wins over the Wolfpack and Irish, UNC clinches before the season finale if the Blue Devils lose either of those games because that would give the Heels a two-game lead.

If Duke sweeps those two games, Carolina could still lose in Durham and win the No. 1 seed, depending on who finishes third.

If UNC and Duke finish tied, it will come down to how they did against the team (or teams) below them:
— If Virginia and Clemson (20–8, 10–7) finish tied for third, Duke would get the No. 1 seed since it would have gone 2–0 against those two teams, while UNC went 2–1.
— If Clemson finishes alone in third, Duke would get the No. 1 seed since the Blue Devils won their only meeting with the Tigers and UNC split two games.
— If Wake Forest ends up third, UNC wins that tiebreaker because the Tar Heels won their only meeting with the Deacons and the Blue Devils split with Wake Forest.
— If Virginia finishes third, it would depend on who finishes fourth since UNC beat the Cavaliers, and Duke would have also beaten Virginia.

That last scenario is complicated. If that happens, as outlined in the tiebreakers above, Duke wins if Clemson is fourth, and Carolina wins if Wake Forest is fourth. Carolina also wins if Pittsburgh (winning its only meeting while Duke lost in its only meeting) is fourth.

The simple solution for Carolina, of course, is to simply go to Durham and finish a season sweep of the Blue Devils.

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