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.

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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.

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Team	League	Overall	NET*	WAB*
No. 1 Duke	17–1	29–2	1	2
No. 10 Virginia	15–3	27–4	13	11
Miami	13–5	24–7	32	28
No. 19 North Carolina	12–6	24–7	23	19
Clemson	12–6	22–9	36	33
No. 24 Louisville	11–7	22–9	14	25
N.C. State	10–8	19–12	35	45
Florida State	10–8	17–14	69	74
California	9–9	21–10	65	49
Stanford	9–9	20–11	59	51
SMU	8–10	19–12	39	50
Virginia Tech	8–10	19–12	53	52
Wake Forest	7–11	16–15	64	81
Syracuse	6–12	15–16	83	92
Pittsburgh	5–13	12–19	109	146
Notre Dame	4–14	13–18	93	121
Boston College	4–14	11–20	159	217
Georgia Tech	2–16	11–20	167	210

* — Through Sunday games
Saturday’s results
No. 1 Duke 76, No. 19 North Carolina 61
Boston College 77, Notre Dame 69
Clemson 79, Georgia Tech 76
No. 24 Louisville 92, Miami 89
Florida State 92, SMU 78
Stanford 85, N.C. State 84
Wake Forest 80, California 73
Pittsburgh 71, Syracuse 69, OT
END OF REGULAR SEASON
ACC tournament
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday through Saturday

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UNC season statistics

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Date	Month/day	Scores	Opponent/event (current ranks)	Record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. 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. 11 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	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. 9 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. 1 Duke	19–4, 7–3
10	Tuesday	L, 75–66	at No. 25 Miami	19–5, 7–4
14	Saturday	W, 79–65	vs. Pittsburgh	20–5, 8–4
17	Tuesday	L, 82–58	at N.C. State	20–6, 8–5
21	Saturday	W, 77–64	at Syracuse	21–6, 9–5
23	Monday	W, 77–74	vs. Louisville	22–6, 10–5
28	Saturday	W, 89–82	vs. Virginia Tech	23–6, 11–5
	March
3	Tuesday	W, 67–63	vs. Clemson	24–6, 12–5
7	Saturday	L, 76–61	at No. 1 Duke	24–7, 12–6
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte
12	Thursday	L, 80–79	Quarterfinals: vs. Clemson	24–8
		NCAA tournament
19	Thursday	L, 82–78, OT	First round: vs. VCU in Greenville, S.C.	24–9

Photo via @UNC_Basketball