By R.L. Bynum

The path to North Carolina’s seventh NCAA men’s basketball title would take the Tar Heels from the Queen City to the City of Angels and, they hope, culminate in the Valley of the Sun.

The No. 5-ranked Tar Heels (27–7) are the No. 1 seed in the West Regional, to be played at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (home of the NBA’s Lakers and Clippers and the NHL’s Kings). It’s the NCAA-high 18th time that UNC has been a No. 1 seed since seeding began in 1979, one season after missing the tournament.

Caleb Love’s No. 9-ranked Arizona team (25–8), which has lost two of its last four games, will be the No. 2 seed in the West, meaning the Wildcats and Tar Heels could play in the Elite Eight.

“I’m just really excited for the guys,” said Hubert Davis, the fourth UNC coach to lead his team to a No. 1 seed after Dean Smith (8 times), Bill Guthridge (once) and Roy Williams (8 times). “We’re a No. 1 seed because of the work this team has done this season. I’m a proud of how they have worked all season, how they’ve played, how they have prepared and how from the start of the season they have wanted to be a team.

“To be given an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament is a big deal,” Davis said. “I know the importance of being able to play close to home, so playing in Charlotte for potentially the first two rounds and being closer to our fans is a big deal for us, but it’s just fun coming into the tournament.”

To advance to Los Angeles for the Sweet 16, UNC must win two games at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center — in the first round Thursday against a No. 16-seed, the winner of the First Four game in Dayton, Ohio, at 6:40 Tuesday (truTV) between Wagner (16–15; NET ranking of 290) and Howard (18–16; 273), and in the second round Saturday against either No. 8-seed Mississippi State (21–13; 31) or No. 9-seed Michigan State (19–13; 24).

UNC is 12–1 in NCAA tournament games in Charlotte.

Wagner won the Northeast Conference tournament on Tuesday with a 54–47 win over Merrimack after finishing sixth in the regular season at 7–9. Howard won the MEAC tournament with a 70–67 win Saturday over Delaware State after finishing tied for second at 9–5. The Bison lost 88–85 at Georgia Tech on Nov. 9.

Carolina is 5–0 against Howard and never has played Wagner.

The Men’s Final Four will be in Glendale, Ariz., at the same stadium — now known as State Farm Stadium — where Carolina won its last national championship in 2017 by beating Gonzaga 71–65. Justin Jackson was ACC Player of the Year that season, the last time a UNC player had earned that honor before RJ Davis this season.

In the other half of the Charlotte pod, No. 2-seed Tennessee (24–8) faces No. 15 Saint Peter’s (19–13), and No. 7-seed Texas (20–12) faces a No 10 seed, the winner of the First Four game at 9:10 Tuesday (truTV) between Virginia (23–10) and Colorado State (24–10).

The Cavaliers are one of five ACC teams in the field. No. 11-ranked Duke (24–8) is the No. 4 seed in the East, playing Vermont (28–6) on Friday in Brooklyn, Clemson (21–11) is the No. 6 seed in the West, facing New Mexico (26–9) Friday in Memphis, and N.C. State (22–14) is the No. 11 seed in the South, playing Kerwin Walton’s Texas Tech team (23–10) on Thursday in Pittsburgh.

The selection committee said that Pittsburgh (22–11) was one of the top four teams left out of the field.

The Tar Heels’ last four national championships — 1993, 2005, 2009 and 2017 — all came after they won the ACC regular-season title but failed to win the ACC tournament.

UNC was projected as a No. 2 seed for weeks before winning nine consecutive games and adding the ACC title to its regular-season crown. As expected, the other three No. 1 seeds are No. 2-ranked and top overall seed UConn at the East Regional in Boston, No. 1-ranked and second overall seed Houston (30–4) at the South Regional in Dallas and No. 3-ranked and the third overall seed Purdue (29–4) at the Midwest Regional in Detroit.

The national semifinals match the winners from the East and West in one semifinal, with the South and Midwest in the other semifinal.

This is the eighth time UNC will play in the West Region, previously in 1978, 1981 (2 seed), 1986 (3 seed), 1988 (2 seed), 1999 (3 seed), 2015 (4 seed) and 2018 (2 seed).

West Regional

March 19 First Four result
No. 16 Wagner 71, No. 16 Howard 68
First-round results
Thursday, March 21
No. 9 Michigan State 69, No. 8 Mississippi State 51
No. 1 North Carolina 90, Wagner 62
No. 2 Arizona 85, No. 15 Long Beach State 65
No. 7 Dayton 63, No. 10 Nevada 60
Friday, March 22
No. 4 Alabama 109, No. 13 College of Charleston 96
No. 12 Grand Canyon 75, No. 5 St. Mary’s 66
No. 3 Baylor 92, No. 14 Colgate 67
No. 6 Clemson 77, No. 11 New Mexico 56
Last Saturday’s second-round results
Arizona 78, Dayton 68
North Carolina 85, Michigan State 69
Sunday’s second-round results
Clemson 72, Baylor 64
Alabama 72, Grand Canyon 61
Thursday’s regional semifinals
Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles
Clemson 77, Arizona 72
Alabama 98, North Carolina 87
Saturday’s regional final
Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles
Alabama 89, Clemson 82

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