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.

Team	League	Overall	NET*
California	0–0	12–1	45
No. 12 North Carolina	0–0	12–1	16
No. 6 Duke	0–0	11–1	3
No. 21 Virginia	0–0	11–1	23
Miami	0–0	11–2	35
Virginia Tech	0–0	11–2	62
No. 16 Louisville	0–0	10–2	17
SMU	0–0	10–2	36
Stanford	0–0	10–2	77
Clemson	0–0	10–3	38
N.C. State	0–0	9–4	31
Notre Dame	0–0	9–4	81
Syracuse	0–0	9–4	88
Wake Forest	0–0	9–4	67
Georgia Tech	0–0	8–4	191
Florida State	0–0	7–6	129
Pittsburgh	0–0	7–6	119
Boston College	0–0	6–6	189

* — Through Monday games
Sunday’s results
Pittsburgh 80, Penn State 46
N.C. State 76, Ole Miss 62
No. 11 Vanderbilt 98, Wake Forest 67
Purdue Ft. Wayne 72, Notre Dame 69
SMU 99, Central Arkansas 82
Clemson 68, Cincinnati 65
Miami 105, North Florida 67
California 74, Columbia 56
Monday’s results
No. 12 North Carolina 99, East Carolina 51
No. 21 Virginia 95, American 51
Syracuse 77, Stonehill 48
Boston College 72, Fairleigh Dickinson 61
Florida State 87, Jacksonville 63
Saturday’s game
Cal State Northridge at Stanford, 8 p.m., ACCN Extra
Sunday’s games
Le Moyne at Boston College, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Cal State Fullerton at SMU, 3 p.m., ACCN Extra
Florida A&M at Georgia Tech, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Tuesday, Dec. 30, games
Florida State at No. 12 North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Pittsburgh at Miami, 7 p.m., ACC Network
No. 16 Louisville at California, 9 p.m, ACC Network
Notre Dame at Stanford, 9 p.m., ESPN2

UNC season statistics

Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 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. 17 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. 9 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at 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	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 21 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 16 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte