What are the latest NCAA projections and the ACC No. 1 seed scenarios?

By R.L. Bynum

There is more agreement in bracket projections that No. 7 North Carolina will be the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Regional, but there are plenty of opportunities for the Tar Heels to change that in the next two weeks.

A week after Jerry Palm’s CBS projection had the league-leading Tar Heels (23–6, 15–3) as the No. 1 seed in the West Regional, he is now projecting No. 4 Tennessee (23–6; which UNC beat 100–92 on Nov. 29) in that spot.

Palm now agrees with Joe Lunardi’s continued ESPN projection of UNC as the No. 2 seed in Boston at the Eastern Regional, with No. 2 UConn (26–3; which beat UNC 87–76 on Dec. 5) as that region’s No. 1 seed.

The average of 104 projections on Bracket Matrix has the Tar Heels as the second No. 2 seed behind Caleb Love’s No. 5 Arizona team (23–6), with Tennessee as the fourth No. 1 seed. Only two of those 104 projections — Bazinga Bracketology and Busted Bracketology — have UNC as a No. 1 seed.

After Duke (24–6, 15–4) won at N.C. State 79–64 on Monday night, the Blue Devils leapfrogged UNC in the NET rankings, with Duke now ninth and UNC 10th.

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Carolina can clinch at least a share of the ACC regular-season title with a victory at 7 p.m. Tuesday over Notre Dame. UNC would clinch the title outright and the No. 1 seed in next week’s ACC tournament by coupling a win over the Irish with a victory at Duke at 6:30 Saturday.

If UNC and Duke finish tied for first place, the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament would go to:

— Carolina if Pittsburgh (19–10, 10–8) or Wake Forest (18–11, 10–8) finish in third place (or tied for third place).
— Duke if Syracuse (20–10, 11–8) or Clemson (20–9, 10–8) are in third place (or tied for third place).
— Duke if Clemson, Wake Forest, Syracuse and Pittsburgh finish tied for fourth place, and Boston College (15–14, 6–12), Georgia Tech (13–16, 6–12) and Notre Dame (12–17, 7–11) finish tied for 12th place.

In relevant Tuesday games, Syracuse visits Clemson, Georgia Tech (13–16, 6–12) is at Wake Forest and Florida State (15–14, 9–9) is at Pittsburgh. On Saturday, Clemson is at Wake Forest, N.C. State (17–13, 9–10) visits Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech is at Virginia (21–9).

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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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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