By R.L. Bynum
The pattern of blowout wins helping teams in the NET rankings didn’t hold for No. 7 North Carolina on Tuesday night as the Tar Heels set their sights on trying to win the ACC regular-season title outright.
The Tar Heels (24–6, 16–3 ACC) remained at 10th in the NET rankings after their dominant 84–51 senior day victory over Notre Dame, which secured a share of the regular-season ACC title.
They can win the championship outright by winning at No. 9 Duke (24–6, 15–4) at 6:30 Saturday.
Even if the Blue Devils win to gain a share of the title, UNC would be the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament if Pittsburgh (20–10, 11–8) wins its home game against N.C. State (17–13, 9–10) and Wake Forest (18–12, 10–9) wins its home game against Clemson (21–9, 11–8), both on Saturday.
With wins by Pittsburgh and Wake Forest, the tiebreaker would come down to how UNC and Duke did against the Panthers. UNC would win that tiebreaker because it beat Pittsburgh, while the Blue Devils split two games with the Panthers.
However, should either Pittsburgh or Wake Forest lose Saturday, UNC would need to beat Duke to secure the No. 1 seed.
Carolina is a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament on only three of 125 bracket projections listed on Bracket Matrix, where the average has the Tar Heels as the second-highest No. 2 seed behind Caleb Love’s No. 5 Arizona team (23–6).
Both Joe Lunardi’s projection on ESPN and Jerry Palm’s projection for CBS have UNC as the No. 2 seed at the East Regional in Boston, with first- and second-round games in Charlotte. Both have No. 2 UConn as the No. 1 seed in that regional.
After Georgia Tech’s 70–69 win at Wake Forest, the Yellow Jackets (14–16, 7–12) moved up nine spots to 124 and the Deacons fell 10 spots to 41.
UNC moved up in three metrics after the win over the Irish: From 9 to 8 in KenPom, 13 to 11 in T-Rank and 12 to 11 in BPI.
The NCAA tournament committee uses the NET rankings as one of its metrics to determine who makes the field and how to seed teams. NET rankings will fluctuate throughout the season, and the only quad designation that matters is where your opponents stand on Selection Sunday, not where they ranked when the game was played.
NCAA quadrant system
Quadrant 1 (UNC was 9–3): Home games against teams with a NET ranking of 30 or better, neutral-site games against teams ranked 50 or better, and road games against teams ranked 75 or better
Quadrant 2 (UNC was 7–4): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC was 6–0): Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4 (UNC was 5–0): Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower
UNC’s NCAA resume
(Via bracketologists.com)
NET ranking: 8
Season-high: 6 (for five days in January)
Season-low: 38 (Dec. 9)
Average opponent NET: 91
Average NET win: 101
Average NET loss: 53
NET strength of schedule: 31
KenPom: 9
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 9
KPI: 5
Bart Torvick T-Rank: 9
UNC quad schedule breakdown
(Through Saturday’s games)
| Opponent | NET ranking | Quad designation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radford | 236 | 4 | Win |
| Lehigh | 267 | 4 | Win |
| UC Riverside | 230 | 4 | Win |
| (N) Northern Iowa | 109 | 3 | Win |
| (N) Villanova | 41 | 1 | Loss |
| (N) Arkansas | 115 | 3 | Win |
| Tennessee | 7 | 1 | Win |
| Florida State | 96 | 3 | Win |
| (N) Connecticut | 2 | 1 | Loss |
| (N) Kentucky | 19 | 1 | Loss |
| (N) Oklahoma | 46 | 1 | Win |
| Charleston Southern | 315 | 4 | Win |
| At Pittsburgh | 40 | 1 | Win |
| At Clemson | 35 | 1 | Win |
| At N.C. State | 63 | 1 | Win |
| Syracuse | 84 | 2 | Win |
| Louisville | 217 | 4 | Win |
| At Boston College | 80 | 2 | Win |
| Wake Forest | 43 | 2 | Win |
| At Florida State | 96 | 2 | Win |
| At Georgia Tech | 127 | 2 | Loss |
| Duke | 10 | 1 | Win |
| Clemson | 35 | 2 | Loss |
| At Miami | 101 | 2 | Win |
| At Syracuse | 84 | 3 | Loss |
| Virginia Tech | 60 | 2 | Win |
| At Virginia | 54 | 1 | Win |
| Miami | 101 | 3 | Win |
| N.C. State | 63 | 2 | Win |
| Notre Dame | 124 | 3 | Win |
| At Duke | 10 | 1 | Win |
| Florida State | 96 | 2 | Win |
| Pittsburgh | 40 | 1 | Win |
| N.C. State | 63 | 2 | Loss |
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
| 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 |
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