By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — Quad 3 games will never help your NCAA tournament resume much unless you win by a wide margin, but that’s what North Carolina did on Wednesday night.
The Tar Heels’ 79–53 home win over California moved them up three notches to 34th in the NET rankings, five spots higher than the day after Saturday’s 63–61 win at N.C. State. UNC (12–6, 5–1 ACC) faces a similar scenario at 2:15 on Saturday (The CW) when they meet Stanford in another Quad 3 game.
Coach Hubert Davis has said he doesn’t pay attention to the NET rankings, but Seth Trimble said after the Cal win that the players are conscious of it, and that Assistant Coach Sean May mentioned the NET once to motivate them.
“We really emphasized it once it came down to crunch time; let’s put this team away,” Trimble said. “It’ll look good for the NET. When we start getting lazy in the second half, [me and RJ Davis] kind of re-emphasize it. Nobody emphasizes it too much, but I think we all have back here that we need to play these games out more.”
Four consecutive wins have translated to better bracket projections, with UNC now in all 59 brackets tracked on Bracket Matrix and the consensus projecting UNC as a low No. 9 seed. Get the details of those projections in this story.
The Bears (8–9, 1–5) dropped 13 spots to 123rd with the loss. The Cardinal (11–6, 3–3) fell five places to 84th with an 80–67 loss Wednesday at Wake Forest.
The NCAA tournament committee, which UNC athletics director Bubba Cunningham chairs, 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 6–8): 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 5–0): Home 31–75, neutral 51–100, road 76–135
Quadrant 3 (UNC is 8–0): Home 76–160, neutral 101–200, road 135–240
Quadrant 4 (UNC is 5–0): Home 161 or lower, neutral 201 or lower, road 241 or lower
After Saturday’s game, UNC faces a more formidable challenge at 9 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN) at Wake Forest (13–4, 5–1; 80 in NET) in the final Quad 2 game of the season against a Demon Deacons team that has won four consecutive games.
There’s one more game Carolina can’t afford to lose after that, a Quad 4 home game on Jan. 25 against Boston College (9–8, 1–5; 228) before the schedule ramps up with five consecutive chances to enhance UNC’s resume and possibly stay out of the dreaded No. 8-seed vs. No. 9-seed first-round NCAA game.
The Tar Heels visit Pittsburgh (12–5, 3–3; 27) on Jan. 28, No. 3 Duke (15–2, 7–0; 2) on Feb. 1, host Pitt on Feb. 8, and visit Clemson (14–4, 6–1; 37) on Feb. 10, all four Quad 1 games.
Carolina has two Quad 1 games after that, visiting Florida State (12–5, 3–3; 71) on Feb. 24 and hosting Duke on March 8.
Although UCLA (11–6) has lost four in a row, UNC’s 76–74 win over the Bruins on Dec. 21 in New York is still solidly Quad 1 because their NET ranking is 38. UCLA’s NET would have to fall below 50 for that victor to become Quad 2.
UNC’s NCAA résumé
NET ranking: 24
WAB (wins above bubble) rank: 21 (5.37)
High NET: 13 (2 days)
Low NET: 30 (4 days)
Average opponent NET: 93
Average NET win: 113
Average NET loss: 35
NET strength of schedule: 31
KenPom: 29
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI): 30
Bart Torvik T-Rank: 27
UNC quad schedule breakdown
(Through Saturday games)
| Date | Opponent | NET ranking | Current quad designation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N3 | Central Arkansas | 166 | 4 | Win |
| N7 | Kansas | 21 | 1 | Win |
| N11 | Radford | 252 | 4 | Win |
| N14 | N.C. Central | 342 | 4 | Win |
| N18 | Navy | 136 | 4 | Win |
| N25 | (N) St. Bonaventure | 143 | 3 | Win |
| N27 | (N) Michigan State | 11 | 1 | Loss |
| D2 | At Kentucky | 28 | 1 | Win |
| D7 | Georgetown | 90 | 3 | Win |
| D13 | USC Upstate | 303 | 4 | Win |
| D16 | ETSU | 139 | 3 | Win |
| D20 | (N) Ohio State | 29 | 1 | Win |
| D22 | East Carolina | 267 | 4 | Win |
| D30 | Florida State | 62 | 2 | Win |
| J3 | At SMU | 37 | 1 | Loss |
| J10 | Wake Forest | 67 | 2 | Win |
| J14 | At Stanford | 61 | 1 | Loss |
| J17 | At California | 68 | 1 | Loss |
| J21 | Notre Dame | 94 | 3 | Win |
| J24 | At Virginia | 12 | 1 | Win |
| J31 | At Georgia Tech | 169 | 3 | Win |
| F2 | Syracuse | 86 | 3 | Win |
| F7 | Duke | 1 | 1 | Win |
| F10 | At Miami | 32 | 1 | Loss |
| F14 | Pittsburgh | 104 | 3 | Win |
| F17 | At N.C. State | 36 | 1 | Loss |
| F21 | At Syracuse | 86 | 1 | Win |
| F23 | Louisville | 16 | 1 | Win |
| F28 | Virginia Tech | 55 | 2 | Win |
| M3 | Clemson | 34 | 2 | Win |
| M7 | At Duke | 1 | 1 | Loss |
| M12 | (N) Clemson | 34 | 1 | Loss |
UNC schedule
| Date | Month/day | Opponent/event (final ranks) |
|---|---|---|
| October | Exhibitions | |
| 9 | 7 p.m. Friday, ACCN | vs. USC in Greensboro |
| 18 | 5 p.m. Sunday | vs. Indiana in Indianapolis |
| 27 | 7:30 Tuesday, ACCN Extra | vs. Charlotte |
| November | Regular season | |
| 2 | Monday | vs. Western Carolina |
| 6 | Friday | vs. Wofford |
| 10 | Tuesday | vs. Wyoming |
| 13 | Friday | vs. Georgia |
| 20 | Friday | vs. Marshall |
| 23 | Monday | vs. Monmouth |
| 27 | Friday, 7 p.m. | Dick Vitale Invitational vs. West Virginia in Charlotte |
| December | ||
| 1 | Tuesday, 7:30, ESPN2 | ACC/SEC Challenge vs. No. 13 Arkansas |
| 6 | Sunday | vs. Butler |
| 12 | Saturday afternoon | at Georgetown |
| 15 | 7 p.m. Tuesday | Tobacco Road Classic vs. N.C. State in Greensboro |
| 19 | 2:30 Saturday, CBS | CBS Sports Classic vs. Kentucky in New York |
| 21 | Monday | vs. The Citadel |
| 30 | Wednesday | vs. California |
| January | ||
| 2 | Saturday | at Boston College |
| 5 | 7 p.m. Tuesday | at Louisville |
| 9 | Saturday | vs. N.C. State |
| 13 | Wednesday | at Florida State |
| 16 | Saturday | vs. Stanford |
| 19 | Tuesday | vs. No. 17 Virginia |
| 23 | Saturday | at Syracuse |
| 26 | Tuesday | vs. SMU |
| 30 | Saturday | Nashville Hoops Showdown vs. No. 5 Illinois in Nashville, Tenn. |
| February | ||
| 2 | Tuesday | at Notre Dame |
| 6 | Saturday | vs. Georgia Tech |
| 8 | Monday, 7 p.m, ESPN | vs. Louisville |
| 13 | Saturday | at No. 4 Duke |
| 20 | Saturday | at Wake Forest |
| 22 | Monday, 7 p.m, ESPN | vs. No. 24 Miami |
| 27 | Saturday | at Virginia Tech |
| March | ||
| 2 | Tuesday | at Pittsburgh |
| 6 | Saturday | vs. No. 4 Duke |
| 9–13 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament in Greensboro |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
