By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina’s men’s basketball team will get two huge neutral-site tests this week with a golden chance to enhance the Tar Heels’ early NCAA tournament resume.
The Tar Heels’ NET ranking moved up five spots to 36th after their 93–67 home victory Saturday over La Salle. That dropped the Explorers to 161 in the NET, barely making that a Quad 4 win.
Undoubtedly helping move UNC (6–4, 1–0 ACC) up was Dayton’s 71–63 home win over No. 6 Marquette, which jumped the Flyers (8–2) — 92–90 losers on Nov. 25 to Carolina in the Maui Invitational — 15 spots in the NET to 23 and solidified that lone Quad 1 victory.
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 is 1–4): 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 0–0): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC is 2–0): Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4 (UNC is 3–0): Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower
Both Carolina games this week are Quad 1 opportunities, beginning with No. 9-ranked Florida (10–0; 5 NET ranking) at 7 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN) at the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte’s Spectrum Center. At 3 p.m. Saturday in Madison Square Garden, UNC takes on No. 24 UCLA (9–1; 14 NET ranking) in the CBS Sports Classic (CBS).
The Gators have rolled to wins over three ACC teams: Florida State 87–54 on Nov. 15, Wake Forest 75–58 on Nov. 28, and Virginia 87–69 on Dec. 4. They are coming off an 83–66 win over Arizona State in Atlanta on Saturday.
The Bruins, already 2–0 in the Big Ten, upset No. 12 Oregon 73–71 last Sunday and beat Caleb Love’s Arizona team 57–54 on Saturday.
Wins in both games or at least a split will be important for UNC since there are only six more Quad 1 chances left on the Tar Heels’ schedule after that: the Jan. 1 game at Louisville (6–5, 0–1 ACC; 58 NET ranking; the games on Feb. 1 and March 8 with No. 4 Duke (8–2, 1–0; 3 NET ranking), the games on Jan. 29 and Feb. 8 against Pittsburgh (9–2, 1–0; 12 NET ranking) and the Feb. 10 game at No. 16 Clemson (9–2, 1–0; 19 NET ranking).
UNC’s NCAA resume
(Via bracketologists.com)
NET ranking: 36
Average opponent NET: 90
Average NET win: 143
Average NET loss: 12
NET strength of schedule: 6
KenPom: 28
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 15
KPI: 59
Bart Torvick T-Rank: 26
UNC quad schedule breakdown
(Through Saturday’s games)
| Opponent | NET ranking | Quad designation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elon | 88 | 3 | Win |
| At Kansas | 17 | 1 | Loss |
| American | 219 | 4 | Win |
| At Hawai’i | 193 | 3 | Win |
| (N) Dayton | 23 | 1 | Win |
| (N) Auburn | 1 | 1 | Loss |
| (N) Michigan State | 21 | 1 | Loss |
| Alabama | 10 | 1 | Loss |
| Georgia Tech | 171 | 4 | Win |
| La Salle | 150 | 4 | Win |
| (N) Florida | 5 | 1 | |
| (N) UCLA | 14 | 1 | |
| Campbell | 251 | 4 | |
| At Louisville | 62 | 1 | |
| At Notre Dame | 99 | 2 | |
| SMU | 39 | 2 | |
| At N.C. State | 110 | 2 | |
| California | 113 | 3 | |
| Stanford | 73 | 2 | |
| At Wake Forest | 119 | 2 | |
| Boston College | 196 | 3 | |
| At Pittsburgh | 12 | 1 | |
| At Duke | 3 | 1 | |
| Pittsburgh | 12 | 1 | |
| At Clemson | 19 | 1 | |
| At Syracuse | 146 | 3 | |
| N.C. State | 110 | 3 | |
| Virginia | 103 | 3 | |
| At Florida State | 80 | 2 | |
| Miami | 167 | 4 | |
| At Virginia Tech | 187 | 3 | |
| Duke | 3 | 1 |
| Date | Month/day | Time/ score | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 15 | Tuesday | W, 84–76 | at Memphis | Exhibition |
| 27 | Sunday | W, 127–63 | vs. Johnson C. Smith | Exhibition |
| November | ||||
| 4 | Monday | W, 90–76 | vs. Elon | 1–0 |
| 8 | Friday | L, 92–89 | at No. 10 Kansas | 1–1 |
| 15 | Friday | W, 107–55 | vs. American | 2–1 |
| 22 | Friday | W, 85–69 | at Hawai’i | 3–1 |
| Maui Invitational | ||||
| 25 | Monday | W, 92–90 | Dayton | 4–1 |
| 26 | Tuesday | L, 85–72 | No. 2 Auburn | 4–2 |
| 27 | Wednesday | L, 94–91, OT | No. 21 Michigan State | 4–3 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 4 | Wednesday | L, 94–79 | vs. No. 7 Alabama | 4–4 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Saturday | W, 68–65 | vs. Georgia Tech | 5–4, 1–0 ACC |
| 14 | Saturday | W, 93–67 | vs. LaSalle | 6–4 |
| Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte | ||||
| 17 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | No. 9 Florida | ESPN |
| CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden | ||||
| 21 | Saturday | 3 p.m. | No. 24 UCLA | CBS |
| ————————— | ||||
| 29 | Sunday | 8 p.m. | vs. Campbell | ACCN |
| January | ||||
| 1 | Wednesday | 6 p.m. | at Louisville | ACCN |
| 4 | Saturday | Noon | at Notre Dame | CBS |
| 7 | Tuesday | 9 p.m. | vs. SMU | ACCN |
| 11 | Saturday | 4 p.m. | at N.C. State | ACCN |
| 15 | Wednesday | 7 p.m. | vs. Cal | ACCN |
| 18 | Saturday | 2:15 | vs. Stanford | The CW |
| 21 | Tuesday | 9 p.m. | at Wake Forest | ESPN |
| 25 | Saturday | 2:15 p.m. | vs. Boston College | The W |
| 28 | Tuesday | 9 p.m. | at No. 18 Pittsburgh | ESPN |
| February | ||||
| 1 | Saturday | 6:30 p.m. | at No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 8 | Saturday | 4 p.m. | vs. No. 18 Pittsburgh | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 10 | Monday | 7 p.m. | at No 16 Clemson | ESPN |
| 15 | Saturday | 6 p.m. | at Syracuse | ESPN |
| 19 | Wednesday | 7 p.m. | vs. N.C. State | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 22 | Saturday | 4 p.m. | vs. Virginia | ESPN |
| 24 | Monday | 7 p.m. | at Florida State | ESPN |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Saturday | Noon | vs. Miami | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 4 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at Virginia Tech | ESPN, ESPN2 orESPNU |
| 8 | Saturday | 6:30 | vs. No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 11– 15 | Tues.–Sat. | ACC tournament Spectum Center, Charlotte |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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