By R.L. Bynum

WASHINGTON — No. 4 North Carolina’s eighth consecutive win and ninth Quad 1 victory Friday night all but assured that the Tar Heels will be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Losses by No. 5 Tennessee (73–56 to Mississippi State in the SEC tournament) and No. 6 Arizona (67–59 to Oregon in the Pac-12 tournament), UNC’s competition for the fourth No. 1 seed, pretty much cemented that outcome.

The most likely scenario has Carolina playing its first- and second-round games in Charlotte, then going to Los Angeles as the No. 1 seed in the West Regional at Crypto.com Arena, with Caleb Love’s Arizona team (25–8) likely the No. 2 seed. ESPN and CBS are both projecting that.

Although the Tar Heels (27–6) are still seventh in the NET ranking after beating Pittsburgh 72–65 in the ACC tournament semifinals, more bracket projections now have them as a No. 1 seed ahead of facing N.C. State (20–14) in the ACC championship game at 8:30 p.m. Saturday in a Quad 2 game.

The Vols only fell one spot in the NET to sixth after the loss, and Arizona held at fourth.

After being predicted to be a No. 1 seed in 19 of 108 projections on Monday on Bracket Matrix, 33 of 105 on Thursday and on 44 of 94 projections Friday, the Tar Heels are listed as a No. 1 seed Saturday on 75 of 111 projections.

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NCAA quadrant system

Quadrant 1 (UNC is 2–1; 9 games left): 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 is 1–0; 6 games left): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC is 2–0; 4 games left): Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4 (UNC is 5–0; 1 games left): Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower

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Even before the Vols’ Friday loss, Lunardi had moved them to his 2 line. He has the Vols, who lost to UNC 100–92 in Chapel Hill, as the No. 2 seed in the South Region, which will be played in Dallas, where he has No. 1 Houston (29–3) as the top seed.

N.C. State’s NET ranking was 80 before making its run to the ACC tournament championship game. That jumped the Wolfpack to 68th, making the 67–64 victory in Raleigh on Jan. 10 Quad 1. Clemson’s 76–55 loss to Boston College in the second round on Wednesday, however, dropped the Tigers to 36, moving UNC’s 80–76 home loss on Feb. 6 to the Tigers from Quad 1 to Quad 2. Duke stayed at 10th in the NET rankings despite the loss.

UNC is a combined 16–6 in Quad 1 and Quad 2 games.

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.

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UNC’s NCAA résumé

(Via bracketologists.com)
NET ranking: 15
High NET: 13 (2 days)
Low NET: 26 (2 days)
Average opponent NET: 151
Average NET win: 165
Average NET loss: 10
NET strength of schedule: 92
KenPom: 22
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 34
Bart Torvick T-Rank: 24

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UNC quad schedule breakdown

(Through Wednesday’s games)

Opponent	NET ranking	Current quad designation	Outcome
Central Arkansas	240	4	Win
Kansas	13	1	Win
Radford	301	4	Win
N.C. Central	343	4	Win
Navy	208	4	Win
(N) St. Bonaventure	97	2	Win
(N) Michigan State	10	1	Loss
At Kentucky	28	1	Win
Georgetown	111	3	Win
USC Upstate	198	4	Win
ETSU	109	3	Win
(N) Ohio State	47	1
East Carolina	288	4
Florida State	148	3
At SMU	43	1
Wake Forest	59	2
At Stanford	98	2
At California	63	1
Notre Dame	65	2
At Virginia	21	1
Georgia Tech	189	3
Syracuse	96	3
Duke	2	1
At Miami	33	1
Pittsburgh	154	3
At N.C. State	34	1
At Syracuse	96	2
Louisville	17	1
Virginia Tech	58	2
Clemson	32	2
At Duke	2	1

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Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 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. 9 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. East Tennessee State	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	3 p.m.	vs. Ohio State	CBS
			—————————
22	Monday	8 p.m.	vs. East Carolina	ACCN
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 23 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 11 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte

Photo courtesy of the ACC