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.

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).


ACC standings

TeamLeagueOverall
No. 4 North Carolina17–325–6
No. 11 Duke15–524–7
Virginia13–722–9
Pittsburgh12–821–10
Clemson11–921–10
Syracuse11–920–11
Wake Forest11–919–12
Virginia Tech10–1018–13
Florida State10–1016–15
N.C. State9–1117–13
Boston College8–1217–14
Georgia Tech7–1214–17
Notre Dame7–1312–19
Miami6–1415–16
Louisville3–178–22

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


DateMonth/dayScoreOpponent/event
(current ranks)
Record
October
27FridayW, 117–53vs. St. Augustine’sExhibition
November
6MondayW, 86–70vs. Radford1–0
12SundayW, 90–68vs. Lehigh2–0
17FridayW, 77–52vs. UC Riverside3–0
Battle 4 Atlantis
in the Bahamas
22WednesdayW, 91–69Northern Iowa4–0
23ThursdayL, 83–81, OTVillanova4–1
24FridayW, 87–72Arkansas5–1
ACC/SEC
Men’s Challenge
29WednesdayW, 100–92vs. No. 6 Tennessee6–1
December
2SaturdayW, 78–70vs. Florida State7–1,
1–0 ACC
Jimmy V Classic
in New York
5TuesdayL, 87–67No. 1 Connecticut7–2
CBS Sports Classic
in Atlanta
16SaturdayL, 87–83No. 12 Kentucky7–3
Jumpman Invitational
in Charlotte
20WednesdayW, 81–69Oklahoma8–3
—————————
29FridayW, 105–60vs. Charleston Southern9–3
January
2TuesdayW, 70–57at Pittsburgh10–3, 2–0 ACC
6SaturdayW, 65–55at Clemson11–3, 3–0 ACC
10WednesdayW, 67–54at N.C. State12–3, 4–0 ACC
13SaturdayW, 103–67vs. Syracuse13–3, 5–0 ACC
17WednesdayW, 86–70vs. Louisville14–3, 6–0 ACC
20SaturdayW, 76–66vs. Boston College15–3, 7–0 ACC
22MondayW, 85–64vs. Wake Forest16–3, 8–0 ACC
27SaturdayW, 75–68at Florida State17–3, 9–0 ACC
30TuesdayL, 74–73at Georgia Tech17–4, 9–1 ACC
February
3SaturdayW, 93–84vs. No. 13 Duke18–4, 10–1 ACC
6TuesdayL, 80–76vs. Clemson18–5, 10–2 ACC
10SaturdayW, 75–72at Miami19–5, 11–2 ACC
13TuesdayL, 86–79at Syracuse19–6, 11–3 ACC
17SaturdayW, 96–81vs. Virginia Tech20–6, 12–3 ACC
24SaturdayW, 54–44at Virginia21–6, 13–3 ACC
26MondayW, 75–71vs. Miami22–6, 14–3 ACC
March
2SaturdayW, 79–70vs. N.C. State23–6, 15–3 ACC
5TuesdayW, 84–51vs. Notre Dame24–6, 16–3 ACC
9SaturdayW, 84–79at No. 13 Duke25–6, 17–3 ACC
ACC tournament
Washington
14ThursdayW, 92–67Quarterfinals:
Florida State
26–6
15FridayW, 72–65Semifinals:
Pittsburgh
27–6
16SaturdayL, 84–76Final:
N.C. State
27–7
NCAA tournament
21ThursdayW, 90–62First round in Charlotte:
Wagner
28–7
23SaturdayW, 85–69Second round in Charlotte:
Michigan State
29–7
28ThursdayL, 89–87Sweet 16 in Los Angeles:
No. 19 Alabama
29–8

Photo via @UNC_Basketball

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