By R.L. Bynum
One week away from Selection Sunday, No. 7 North Carolina has helped its NCAA tournament resume with six consecutive wins, including the Tar Heels’ seventh Quad 1 victory on Saturday.
After UNC’s 84–79 win at No. 9 Duke, the Heels (25–6, 17–3 ACC) moved up three spots in the NET rankings to seventh, their highest since they were sixth for five days in January.
The outright ACC regular-season champions are the No. 1 seed for the ACC tournament at Washington’s Capital One Arena, opening at noon Thursday against either No. 8-seed Virginia Tech (18–13, 10–10) or No. 9-seed Florida State (16–15, 10–10).
The Blue Devils (24–7, 15–5) dropped one spot in the NET to 10th.
Both the latest Joe Lunardi ESPN projection (released late Sunday) and the latest Jerry Palm CBS projection (released Sunday) still have UNC as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Regional. Both have UConn as the No. 1 seed in that regional and the Tar Heels playing first- and second-round games in Charlotte. Both also project No. 4 Tennessee (24–7) as the No. 1 seed in the West and also playing in Charlotte for the first two rounds.
The Vols, the fourth No. 1 seed under most projections and the SEC regular-season champions, lost at home 85–81 Saturday to No. 15 Kentucky (23–8), but their NET ranking (5) didn’t change.
With a 78–65 loss Saturday night at USC, Caleb Love’s No. 6 Arizona team (24–7) could slip down on the No. 2 seed line, although its NET (4) didn’t change. Entering the weekend, most projections on Bracket Matrix had the Pac-12 regular-season champion Wildcats as the top No. 2 seed, with UNC as the second-highest No. 2 seed.
Of the 110 projections on Bracket Matrix, SB Nation site Schmolik64 is the only one with UNC as the No. 1 seed. In its last update on Friday, UNC was listed as the No. 1 seed in the West Regional.
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
No. 6 Iowa State, which lost 65–58 at unranked Kansas State, fell a spot in the NET rankings to ninth and probably gives poll voters another reason to rank UNC higher when the new AP poll comes out on Monday.
The only bigger riser than UNC in the NET in the top 35 coming out of Saturday’s games was Kerwin Walton’s Texas Tech team (22–9), which moved up five to 30 after a 78–68 home win over No. 11 Baylor.
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.
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 tournament
Capital One Arena, Washington
Tuesday’s first-round results
No. 12 seed Notre Dame 84, No. 13 seed Georgia Tech 80
No. 10 seed N.C. State 94, No. 15 seed Louisville 85
No. 11 seed Boston College 81, No. 14 seed Miami 65
Wednesday’s second-round results
No. 9 seed Florida State 86, No. 8 seed Virginia Tech 76
No. 5 seed Wake Forest 72, Notre Dame 59
N.C. State 83, No. 7 seed Syracuse 65
Boston College 76, No. 6 seed Clemson 55
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 1 seed North Carolina 92, Florida State 67
No. 4 seed Pittsburgh 81, Wake Forest 69
N.C. State 74, No. 2 seed Duke 69
No. 3 seed Virginia 66, Boston College 60, OT
Friday’s semifinals
North Carolina 72, Pittsburgh 65
N.C. State 72, Virginia 65, OT
Saturday’s championship
N.C. State 84, North Carolina 76
| 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 |
tarheeltribune.com 
